If you want to get a crash course in tea, Oolong Bar is a top-tier school.

The Oolong Bar was born when Josh Chamberlain, a tea fanatic, was looking for a place to let his creativity fly.

“Oolong bar is a dream for I’d say going on about ten years, where I saw these opportunities to create amazing tea drinks and present tea in a certain way, but yet I didn’t have the right format to make that tea,” Josh said.

Oolong Bar is just that dream. It takes tea and turns it upside-down.

“It’s kind of like a tea playground, we take awesome teas and then play with them. We make tea lattes, bubble teas, iced teas,” Oolong Bar manager Jeni Tinkle said.

But these aren’t the sticky-sweet drinks you’re used to. Josh spent 6 years in Taiwan learning about tea. Their creations are made with quality and creativity in mind.

“We start with a matcha concentrate which we make…we get a really good stone-ground Japanese matcha from Mizuba in Portland,” Jeni said.

Even simple iced matcha lattes are lovingly crafted into something special. House-made jellies and pearls appear frequently in their drinks, like their charcoal dawn tea with lavender jellies.

“Some of it’s happy accident, but for the most part, it’s based on knowledge of tea to create the best drink we can,” Josh said.

They do milk drinks, too- like the APP. That stands for almond milk, plum and pearls. It’s one of the many drinks that features their housemade fruit compotes.

“Different teas match the different fruits, so we don’t always know what the best thing is going to be until we have the ingredients, and then we start mixing,” Josh said.

Josh and his crew are passionate about the drink that is tea, and it shows.

1607 E 19th Ave, Eugene

(541) 972-3832

KVAL’s Tasty Tuesday brings you what to eat and where to eat it around Lane County and beyond. Tasty Tuesday is hosted by KVAL reporter Ellen Meny. Want to suggest Ellen a restaurant? Contact her at emeny@kval.com or find Tasty Tuesday on Facebook and Twitter.

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