Fly Awake Tea House — Restaurant in Portland

The person who served me (skinny guy with long hair) was extremely smug and condescending. It also seemed like he didn't really care to talk about tea or to sell the product. I asked him, "What kind of tea is that?" he answered, "Oolong." Then I asked, "What kind of oolong?" he replied, "Taiwan." I asked, "Where in Taiwan?" He said "Anxi." Asking for more details was painful so I just stopped there. Also Anxi isn't in Taiwan at all. I feel like most tea experts would have loved to share all their knowledge about tea. I didn't think this was that bad though since maybe he just did feel like talking, I ordered a raw Pu'er tea.

After I got the tea, I asked him if he could brew my tea for a few seconds longer because I preferred it a bit stronger (this was the second infusion of a gong fu style brew). And he smugly responded "I don't take requests." Which was kind of baffling since all I asked was for him to leave the tea in the gaiwan for a few extra seconds, I don't think it was that big of a request.

The annoying part is that he later went back to dig for some ice someone else had requested for their tea, so clearly he does take requests. The guy clearly had a clique of friends/regulars with whom he was very nice and chatty with, telling them about the various teas, asking about their lives, and taking requests. He was also bragging to his friends about "being the tea shop guy" when visiting other tea shops.

Overall it was not a welcoming environment and it didn't seem like he wanted to serve anyone but his friends. The tea was decent but I saw a few Yunnan Sourcing packages in their trash and bathroom, which funnily is where I order a lot of my teas. It was $12 for one gong fu session.

I also couldn't help but notice I was the only non-white person there and all of the customers he was nice to were white. So maybe if you are a POC you should stay away from this place or when that guy if he is working. Hopefully that guy isn't the owner and other employees...

This shop is amazing, kind of, no, it really really is. For 10 dollars you get a real Occidental teahouse experience. They steep your tea just so and pour and serve till the leaves loose all taste, or you realize you've spent your whole afternoon there entranced by the high caliber conversation. Add this lovely full service tea barista experience to a mystically themed atmosphere and a bookshelf unsurpassed outside of an OTO library and you get for one of my absolute favorite places in the world. Then today I overheard the proprietor not only kvetching loudly about homeless people to his customers, he actually proceeded to mock the homeless people commenting pejoratively about their religious preferences. Comments which I unfortunately could hear all the way on their balcony. Never patronizing this amazing shop again is almost as tragic as his comments were inexcusable. Smh.

Diana the barista/tea goddess is one of the coolest most insightful people I've ever met. If you do support this unfortunately bigoted store, please tip her well, she...

Fantastic Pu-Erh tea selection! Service needs work. Mislabeled teas.

So their Pu-Erh tea selection is probably the best in town. Very high quality Pu-Erh. Expensive prices though. But you do get quality.

However the service is where they lack. The guy at the counter had a super bad attitude. He seemed very pretentious and snobby: the opposite of a welcoming tea house feel. He definitely was not warm and welcoming. Also their teas are inaccurately named. Instead of naming their teas what they actually are: they rename them strange hippy names which obscures their Chinese origins. So if you get a "ripe" pu Erh they just have like five different made up hippy names instead of calling the tea what it actually is. Which not only obscures the original name which doesn't honor the farmers and Chinese brands, it also makes it difficult for connoisseurs to appreciate the origins. So yeah they DO have great tea but the service is like -10, and the tea labeling itself is -10.

If you're looking to get good high quality tea they...