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In the News

Taste of Tea: A Secret Healdsburg Tea House

BITECLUB

Healdsburg teahouse is a quirky combination of homestyle Japanese cuisine, teas and relaxing spa.

"The reason Taste of Tea has come back on my radar is the authentic Japanese comfort food created by owner and executive chef Nozomu (Nez) Tokugawa. The Classic Bento ($18) includes meticulously prepared offerings of pickled sea vegetables, miso soup, small bites of sashimi and chicken katsu, all served in a lacquered bento box that looks and feels like a small gift rather than a simple lunch. Specials like the katsu changeup, but teriyaki beef and chicken as well as fried tofu are always on the menu." (Read entire article here.)

Healdsburg’s Taste of Tea goes all-out for full Japanese experience

I’m a ramen fiend, and this superb stuff is the real deal. The miso recipe is Japanese-born chef-owner Nozomu “Nez” Tokugawa’s specialty, though his other varieties are excellent, too. So far, I’ve tried the miso pork ramen loaded with meat ($16/$19), the mild curry spiced pork ramen that the chef will adjust to extra-spicy if we like ($14/$17) and the ramen topped in three big, juicy pork gyoza, a whole soy cured egg and garlic chips ($17/$19). (Read the entire article)

Calm Healing

Amy K. Schaus

IMAGINE SITTING IN a comfortable chair, cup of tea in hand and surrounded by Japanese decor, soft lighting and the peaceful sounds of burbling water. A warm herbal-tea neck wrap gently brings the shoulders down to a relaxed state, feet sigh “ahhhh” in a tea soak, and tension melts away under a facial mask. The relaxation room at The Taste of Tea in Healdsburg offers this healing retreat, leaving guests feeling rejuvenated and refreshed, skin aglow from green tea’s antioxidant properties. (To read the entire article click here.)

 

Taste of Tea is located in Healdsburg, right in the epicenter of Sonoma wine country. And with the mantra of “stay loose” (a reference, of course, to loose leaf tea), owners Donna and Nez Tokugawa are offering visitors the kind of convivial experience they’d enjoy in nearby wine tasting rooms. While traditional tea service is offered, visitors are encouraged to watch what the Tokugawas call the “art and science” of tea being prepared at the bar and then enjoy their beverages on the sofa, in the lounge area, or on the front patio.

See the entire article, click here and go to page 22.

Bohemian

Tea for Two: Taste of Tea refreshes body and soul

By Flora Tsapovsky

GOING GREEN Wine isn't the only way to get your antioxidants.

A teahouse in the middle of wine country? Why not.

The Taste of Tea in downtown Healdsburg offers more than just a cup of tea. Owners Donna and Nez Tokugawa initially planned to focus on a business that was 80 percent production and 20 percent retail. But after finding a space on North Street and gauging local interest, they decided to offer a full-blown teahouse with food offerings. Taste of Teas also features a spa with tea-based treatments.

Read the entire article click here.

Gratitude Gourmet had the most amazing Tea and Spa Getaway to Healdsburg last weekend.

1. Taste of Tea has a Lounge, Tasting Bar and Relaxation Room which is an Experience we highly recommend.  We enjoyed the Soba Noodle Salad with Soy Miso Ginger Vinaigrette andMilky Oolong Tea pairing, Green Tea Kyoto Bancha where the leaves are buried for 3 years to take out tannins and is superhigh in antioxidants paired with Japanese Ramen and local organic Edamame. Afterwards we enjoyed the Spa and Guided Tasting Flight with Kyoto Karigane Green Tea (Green Tea is an anti-inflammatory) and Face Mask. It was Heaven with rejuvinated skin as a bonus! In the Tasting Bar, we enjoyed Siphon Pot Tea with Chrysanthemum Gogi Berry Puerh Tea paired with Matcha Cheesecake topped with Raw Cocoa and Fresh Strawberry then enjoyed the Emerald Cocktail with Coconut Milk and Matcha. 

Read the entire article click here.

VIDEO: San Francisco (KRON)- KRON 4’s Marty Gonzalez spoke with Yelp Community Manager Abby Schwartz to talk about the new cafe favorites in the Bay Area.

Tea Marteani

Weekend escape

The Taste of Tea in Wine Country
Drive the 70 miles north to Healdsburg, in Sonoma County, for a day or weekend of winetasting in the seemingly endless tasting rooms and wineries. But this time, also drop in at The Taste of Tea, a combined cafe, tea shop, and spa. Spend a few hours eating lunch (try the homemade ramen), sipping virgin marTEAnis, indulging in green tea foot soaks and face masks, and learning all about this young business’s delicate teas from Japan, China, and Taiwan. 

 To read the entire article, click here.

A bachelorette weekend needs to include a stop at The taste of Tea in Healdsburg.

To read the article click here.

The Taste of Tea Lounge, which opened in March, is offering discounted to-go lunches to Healdsburg employees. It’s called the Healdsburg Employee Recognition Opportunity, or H.E.R.O. The program’s goal is to make eating and working in Healdsburg fast, convenient and affordable, and to get people to want to work in town.

To read the entire article click here.

True aficionados of world's best fresh, local, seasonal, and exceptional foods, wine and refreshing fermented beverages consider historic downtown Healdsburg, heart of Sonoma County's Chalk Hill, Dry Creek, Alexander, and Russian River valleys, a veritable edible Eden. 

Healdsburg (with its friendly population of just over 11,000), provides a warm and refreshingly down-to-earth welcome to wine and food lovers from all over the globe. This five-star farm town is a jewel in the crown of Sonoma County, built around an inviting central plaza. Its walkability and diversity of wine tasting and dining options are unrivalled. In fact, Fodor's Guide names Healdsburg as "One of the 10 Best Small Towns in America."

Taste of Tea

With so many splendid selections of where to eat and drink, visitors and locals alike are truly spoiled for choice. With this in mind and not being one to miss out on the best of the West, Savor Healdsburg Food Tours — a three-hour, six-stop, seated, progressive dining experience, had me chomping at the bit for finding out what I've been missing around the town's quintessential plaza and neighboring boutique district.

Whether you are looking for expert local insight on where to eat and drink over a stay of a few days or, like me, eager to soak in all the latest and greatest of the town's tastes in a half-day gourmet tour, Savor Healdsburg Food Tours offer remarkable insight, first-class bites, sites, and sips for just $89 per person. 

We were offered a fascinating insight into the world of teas on our fifth stop.The Taste of Tea owners Donna and Nez Tokugawa had a hunch that serious wine tasters and locals alike would find respite in their unique take on a retail tea store, tearoom and spa.

We sampled and learned about three teas during our refreshing taste, an astringent Japanese steamed cut green tea, a lighter, milky Taiwanese Oolong, and a Chinese black tea called "Golden Monkey." To read the entire article click here.

Adrienne

The next morning, after coffee and a gourmet buffet breakfast at Honor Mansion, we checked out of our suite and headed to The Taste of Tea. I was scheduled to have a green tea facial, foot soak and tasting. I was so intrigued and looked forward to finding out all about this concept of tea parlor and tea spa.The Taste of Tea is a relatively new business in Healdsburg that is getting rave reviews from visitors and locals alike, and after my experience, I can see why!

Outside The Taste of Tea, there are café tables for patrons to sit and enjoy a cup of hot tea or a chilled MarTEAni and even perhaps a bowl of their special ramen.

I was taken to the Relaxation Room where a lovely woman named Tamera invited me to choose a chair and get comfortable. As Tamera began to prepare the tea, she explained how their special tea was brewed: not steeped with boiling water but with room-temperature water that has been treated with crystals using a VitaJuwl wand (read more about that here).

Read the entire article on her blog by clicking here.

Tasting Bar The Taste of Tea

Sonoma Wine Country isn’t just know for wine: Tea is making a slash in downtown Healdsburg.

There’s tea to drink, and then there’s tea to soothe the body and soul. With Healdsburg’s new The Taste of Tea, that’s quite literal, because the parlor on Healdsburg Avenue and North Street combines a tearoom with a retail tea store, a tea-centric café, and a spa using tea as a soothing ingredient for facials. First, let’s sip, selecting from Japanese, Taiwanese, Chinese, or artisan blends served hot or iced. The line up is lengthy and exotic, such as Pharaoh’s chamomile from Egypt, Night Blooming Jasmine, Chinese White Peony, Organic Sakura Karigane, and Ceremonial Grade Usucha Premium Matcha.

Click to Read the entire article.

Taste of Tea Salmon Ochazuke

The Taste of Tea owners Nez and Donna Tokugawa not only want you to drink their tea, but they’d like you to rub it on your face, too.

In what has to be one of the more unique concepts in Wine Country, the Healdsburg the new shop on Healdsburg Avenue and North Street combines a tea room with a retail tea store, a tea-centric café, and a spa using tea as a soothing ingredient for facials.

The idea took seed back in founded in 2003, when the couple formed their Chado-En LLC to import and wholesale premium loose leaf teas. It grew into an online retail business in 2008, and by 2013, The Taste of Tea was a regular presence at the Santa Rosa Original Certified Farmer’s Market.

Now, customers of the brick-and-mortar salon can stop in for Japanese, Taiwanese, Chinese and other artisanal blends served hot or iced – Pharaoh’s chamomile from Egypt, perhaps, or Night Blooming Jasmine that promises “the therapeutic value of jasmine as well as the affect on ‘desire’” among its ingredients ($4 cup / $6 pot).

 

Click to Read the entire article.

The Tea Lounge at The Taste of Tea

If you’re headed to Healdsburg here are three new and exciting restaurants worth checking out.

The Tea Lounge at The Taste of Tea: The menu here includes Japanese, Taiwanese, Chinese or artisan tea blends and a selection of small bites, including locally made granola with Straus Family Creamery yogurt, farro, Japanese-style green tea roll cake, and green tea ice cream. 109 North Street, thetasteoftea.com 

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