|
Tea Houses
For a relaxing change, try tea
Andreea Tincea
When you feel that having the usual coffee with friends has become just too boring and you would like a touch of mystery to accompany your conversation, Bucharest teahouses silently offer their voluptuous spices and aromas.
Refugees from the noise and smoke of the city, bohemians, lovers, those looking for peace and warmth or simply for their inner selves choose teahouses. They are one of the city’s more intriguing secrets but word is spreading.
A highlight last summer was the appearance at the corner of Bocşa Street and Popa Rusu, of “La Metoc.” Sadly, it is closed during the winter – even the mild winter we are experiencing this year. May we profoundly hope the owners reopen for 2007? The house itself nestled among trees and wild greenery, with summer tables and an old fashioned advert (“tea, sweets, sherbet, verdure”).
Since the end of 2002, we have happily enjoyed the Cotroceni teahouse. Between the Botanical Gardens and Cotroceni Palace, just in front of an old boyar house, a street lamp marks the entry point to the wonders hidden downstairs. First came the idea to sell “tea for home usage”, then the image of a space where people could feel “just like at home” enjoying their tea, said a staff member.
In January 2005 a newborn sister of the Cotroceni experiment sprang to life: Vasiliada. On the central Magheru Boulevard, on the first floor of a bookstore, an ordinary apartment became a bohemian retreat. Lila Passima is the design artist who decorated the space: small tables, chairs, colors all harmoniously fitted into the bookstore ambience and whispering ‘Welcome!’ Here you can find, just like at Cotroceni, 120 tea variations: green, black, white, Oolong – the result of many different techniques of preparing and drying tea leaves.
From Monday to Saturday, between noon and 10 pm and on Sundays between 2:30 and 11 pm, Vasiliada becomes a transit point for young people. “I think this place is mostly visited by people who are not yet car owner as there are no parking spaces round here. Some are just taking a school break, others hangout with friends,” says Ana, the young lady preparing the liquid gold for expectant clients.
Music helps set the mood. Starting with classical, moving to jazz, Irish, French tango or carols, at Vasiliada, and also at Cotroceni, one can find the same magic that “La Metoc” diffused last summer. Even during crowded evenings and weekends, there’s something about these teahouses that cafes just don’t offer: a chance to rediscover friendship, savor a poetic atmosphere and breathe the enchantment hidden within the steaming cups.
|
