Neil and I have been trying to get a little more creative with our date nights instead of the same old dinner and drinks. On our most recent date we (finally) visited the Smith Teamaker Southeast Tasting Room. The space is bright with a modern industrial feel – I’m terrible at explaining interiors so just look here.
The tea list is pretty extensive so we decided to go share a tasting flight of four teas of our choice. We had a hard time narrowing down four but eventually we did. We chose a oolong tea, two black teas and an herbal tea.
For the tasting you are presented with a tray of teas, a spoon each, a cup of water to rinse your spoon, a few little cookies and info cards for each tea along with the teas in their un-steeped form. From there it works a lot like a coffee cupping but instead of spitting the tea out after tasting you just drink it all down.
While we peacefully sipped our teas we read through The Teamaker’s Almanac that had been left at our table. It was filled with a variety of little stories about tea, how to taste tea and what do all those numbers really mean on Smith Teamaker teas. It was pretty comical at times as well. 
Overall this is has become one of my must visit spots in Portland. Stop in and try the flight if you have time but make sure to bring a friend or you’ll be downing 4 full cups of tea on your own. If you’re in a rush grab one of their cold teas they have on draft. We sampled the chai but were too full of tea to grab one to go but you know where I’ll be next time a chai craving comes on. 
How fun! I love that you switched things up for date night. It looks like a nice place to hang out and relax too.
Tip #10 is very important. I love the Smith Tea Tasting Room – one thing I keep recommending is to try their teas on draft, especially now during the summer, and which you can get little growlers are for an impressive non alcoholic beverage option for a party!
Lindsay- we just visited their new tasting room recently too! We were part of a group and got to do a botanical tasting with samples of many different tea components. All the staff (including Tony, the head teamaker) were all very knowledgeable and generous with their time. I’m definitely heading back for growler fills. Happy to hear their flights are good too!
I love the idea of a tea flight date night! I have heard such great things about Smith Teamaker. Will definitely check this out next time I am in PDX. Thanks for sharing!