VANCHA Downtown Shop 温茶里DT店

5 Stars Service 5 Stars Environment 5 Stars Tea Flavour

Had a relaxing and thoughtful cleanse of both the palate and spirit, thanks to Doris. Hope to come back to try different flower tea. Their selection of flower rotates! I had rose tea. Just rose petals, carefully steeped and tasted in 4 or 5 stages. Simple, natural flavours to dwell on and let sensitivity be your guide to. The tea making ritual is soothing to watch, and it's curious to see different ways to steep and serve tea. The whole place is very clean. There's even high absorbtion hand moisturizer in the bathroom. It's temperature-controlled and sound insulated to a good degree. So you can really open up all five of your senses and breathe. Especially during the last cup, when the incense is lit. Highly recommend when you don't have anything to do for a while (it's a long commitment to enjoy each steep of the tea) and need to detoxify.

I wish I could give more than 5 stars. Gracious, knowledgeable hostess, delicious and unique tea, charming, elegant, sophisticated, calming... I walked in alone on a bleak day. I was invited to join their group and served the most delicious tea I have ever experienced. Belongs in New York. I highly recommend this place. I look forward to joining them for a "tea ceremony" and "tea tasting". Bring your family, friends and enjoy and absorb the wonderful ambience. We are fortunate to have such a place in our midst.

I really enjoyed my experience here! I am not familiar with Chinese culture so definitely learned a lot here. They recommended me “White peony” which is actually such an amazing tea!! Wow! It goes down very smooth, slightly sweet, and helps me relax at night after work. I will definitely go back there to try other products. I definitely recommend this!

TLDR: Experience fell down a cliff from when I was here pre-lockdown. 0 stars. Cut down review: I came in Sunday around 15:15 and my first impression on entering is that the staff (lady) member and the 2 gentlemen (guests) sitting immediately in front of her was particularly surprised from their expression that were was another guest (me) coming in. So much so, that I basically seated myself –after enduring a pause and stares– by remarking that the other window side table near the entrance is unoccupied and seated myself. It was immediately noticeable to me the female staff member wasn’t experienced with my tea choice whatsoever. It appears she didn’t know what tea she needed to take out from the cabinet. This continued until one (the gentlemen with glasses and shorter hair and sitting farthest left from the window sitting at the main tea table) which I presumed were guests sitting in front of the table stood up, and went up to talk with her and after some chit chat pulled a tea from the cabinet. Thus, after this interaction I understood that the “guest” was either a close friend, boyfriend who happens to like tea, but not a staff member. She took a considerable amount of time brewing this tea. So much so after some time, I timed it. Another 10 mins. By the time I received the tea, it was approaching quarter to four. The female staff member then proceeded to give me the tea in a usual clear small approx. 200ml glass pitcher. The staff member then gave me the usual small tea drinker cup. It was also clear that she didn’t strain the tea. There wasn’t fine particles of tea in pitcher, there were a few evident pieces of tea leaves of at least 0.5-1cm squared tea leaves in the pitcher. Onwards, the female staff member gave me to the usual small tea cup to drink from. Compared to the usual service prior to lockdown, the staff would pour hot water over tea cup over the drainage tray for sanitary reasons and to pre-warm the cup such that the tea would have too much of a significant drop in temperature ideal for drinking. I considered that a minor issue since its covid and I assumed she did the same procedure at the main table. Prior to the lockdown, each time I went here, the service level was such that after placing the pitcher down, the staff member would tell the guest of the tasting notes of the tea and how long to wait before drinking (i.e. too hot now) or that it is ready to drink. However, I assumed since the staff member didn’t tell me, it was ready to drink considering the amount of time it took me to receive the drink. I clearly was wrong. It was piping hot. This can be forgiven if the tea was brewed well. But it was a disappointment. The female staff member came back to ask how it was. I politely said it was “ok” or “I guess it’s alright” knowing say otherwise is pointless since she appears not knowledgeable about the product, and asked her to maybe brew it differently again. So after going back to the main table sitting behind the two gentlemen who I first assumed were “guests”, same guy who went to chat with her earlier at the tea cabinet suddenly swapped sides with her. It was as if going to Starbucks and witnessing the barista swap spots with a friend whom she was chatting with who may or may not be tea enthusiast; and then proceeding to make coffee for you instead of the barista. It appears to my eyes that he didn’t appear to clean his hands or take the appropriate sanitary measures prior to swapping spots to brew my tea. Since he said to “try the tea”, I naively assumed like my previous experiences here that the tea was ready to drink. Was I wrong. It was too hot to hold. Tea was also brewed poorly once I tried it. I thought there was an ownership change owing to the huge gulf in experience prior to lockdown and now. I messaged a contact who knows the owner and I was told the owners haven’t changed. At 15:55 I paid my bill of $81.90 for one for a tea which I drank less than 50ml. The disrespect to the tea in the treatment and brewing of it and the lack of knowledge of the product was glaring.

It was really an excellent experience for tasting traditional Chinese tea in here. Just a few minutes walk for the Canada conference center! The clerk in here was really nice, they explained so detail about the difference between each teas category! Recommend to everyone visit here experience the wonderful tea in China!

A Vancouver must-do if you're a lover of Chinese teas. Try to a pot of premium tea from 1000-year-old trees to savor the complex, woody notes of Old Growth Imperial, or sip the smooth beauty of a raw aged pu-erh. Some of the best tea I've ever had! It's a tea bar, so you can order it by the pot, and re-steep for as long as you like. You can also buy a brick to take home with you, or a part of brick if you can't afford a whole one. We met two of the owners, and they were both friendly and passionate about tea, and about making premium tea accessible.

Very much enjoyed my authentic Chinese Tea Ceremony! Had a lovely time chatting with lovely Doris who shared her tea expertise with me. I definitely recommend you try it! Cheers