Artisan Teas

Why don't you sell blended/flavored whole leaf teas?

We have some flavored whole leaf teas, like the King's Tea (ginseng), Genmaicha (toasted rice) and Jasmine, but we prefer to sell our artisan teas in their purest form because we want to highlight the natural flavors of the teas themselves. 

Why don't you offer more selection for your whole leaf teas?

We've learned that having too many choices actually makes it harder for our customers to select a tea to try. Our 34-tea collection was carefully curated to provide tea novices and tea lovers alike with a comprehensive, yet focused selection to explore.

I already get whole leaf tea from Retailer X. Why should I try yours?

As with wine and coffee, the taste and quality of tea varies from producer to producer, season to season and even lot to lot! Trying teas from multiple retailers over time will help develop your palette. While we can't claim to be "the best" (taste is subjective, after all!), we pride ourselves in serving darn good tea. We source teas directly from farmers that share our obsession with quality, and strongly believe that you can taste the difference in our teas.

Cafe Teas / Tea House

Why don’t you have boba until 11:45am when you open at 11:00am? Can’t you just start making boba earlier?

It takes us 90 minutes to make boba, but only 30 minutes to get everything else ready. If we waited until our boba is ready to open, our team members would have nothing to do for 60 minutes!

Why can't I get boba in any drink I want?

Our mission is to get everyone excited about tea by serving hand-crafted, globally-inspired tea beverages. Boba, and ingredient of Tapioca Milk Tea from Taiwan, is not a traditional ingredient in any other drink. We recognize that there is a high demand for boba due to its popularity, but tea is the focus of our business, and not boba, so we only offer the option of adding boba to a limited number of drinks on our menu.

Why don't you allow outside food?

Being able to smell both unsteeped and steeped teas is an important part of the tea tasting experience. We don't allow outside food because we want our customers to be able to smell the tea that they are enjoying, and not the sandwich from Brazil Cafe, or the Pad Thai from Bangkok Thai (even though both are undoubtedly delicious!).

Why don't you have Egg Tarts any more?

Our baker extraordinaire Maria was making Matcha Mochi and Portuguese Egg Tarts for us in her spare time. Unfortunately, other priorities began to take up more of her spare time, and we eventually had to stop offering the snacks. We stopped selling Egg Tarts in early 2014.

Why don't you have Thick Toast any more?

Acme Bread Company imposed a daily bread order minimum that we cannot meet. We've tried countless other breads, but were not able to find a satisfactory substitute. We stopped selling Thick Toast in mid-May 2015.

Why is it that when I ask for “no ice,” my drink looks like someone took a big gulp out of it?

Our recipes are designed for a drink that includes ice, so your cup will look emptier because there isn’t any ice in it. We don’t fill the extra volume with tea or water because it will change how the drink tastes.

Why do you ask if I want my drink “for here” or “to go” if they both cost the same?

Asha pays a sales tax for all beverages that are consumed at our tea house. So if our team member does not ask you “for here” or “to go” when you order, please remind them! 

Why can't I mix and match flavors? Can't you just add them to my cup? I'm OK with paying extra.

Our drinks are carefully crafted to bring out the flavor of the base tea, because we want the drink to be more about the tea, and less about the flavorings.

Your drinks aren't sweet enough. Why don't you just make them sweeter by default?

Our recipes were carefully crafted to ensure that all drinks are lightly sweetened to allow our customers to appreciate the taste of the tea. If you want a specific level of sweetness in your drink, please specify this when you order. Otherwise, we have a bottle of simple syrup on the island that you can use to sweeten your drink.