Barnes & Morgan

Barnes & Morgan is a tea room and bespoke garment studio located in the historic Merchant Hotel building (1880) in Portland, Oregon's Old Town neighborhood.  

Owner Amir Morgan's parents encouraged his creative self-expression through fashion.  Tea was a part of his family's daily routine and he was inspired to bring these integral parts of his life together and create Barnes & Morgan, a combination of his parents' surnames, opening for business in February 2023.

The tea room at the front has good lighting and plentiful seating.  Here you can enjoy a cup or several of freshly brewed tea and shop for loose leaf tea, teaware, and fashion accessories.

Through the curtained archway is another room with ample seating, ideal for community events, surrounded by racks of Amir's ready-to-wear garments, all of which are available for purchase.  Barnes and Morgan also offers garment fittings and tailoring.  

The tea room currently offers bottomless self-serve tasting flights rather than individual tea service.  When we visited, the tea flight included Golden Snail, Ginger Tings, Sierra Blend, Rosella & Friends, Green Roselle, Blooming Dragon, Earl Grey Citrus, and Citrus Puerh.

For this visit, I started out with a cup of Golden Snail black tea paired with a Black Sesame Madeleine.  I eventually worked my way through each of the teas and brought home a few of my favorites.

On Saturdays Barnes & Morgan hosts R&B & Tea where the community is invited to drop in for tea, conversation, and music from a live DJ.  Follow Barnes & Morgan on Instagram and check out their reels for the latest events and updates!  

Address:
131 NW 2nd Ave, Portland, OR 97209

Hours:
Friday & Sunday 12:00pm - 5:00pm

Saturday 11:00am - 5:00pm
Closed Monday-Thursday

Tea Shout-Out: Roste Chocolate House

The Tea Shout-Out highlights restaurants and other businesses who go the extra mile to serve good quality tea.

 
This shout-out goes to Roste Chocolate House in Portland, Oregon. In addition to delicious serving single-origin chocolate beverages and pastries, they offer a nice selection of green, black, and herbal loose-leaf teas sourced from Portland-based Portal Tea, as well as chai and matcha lattes.

Eugene Tea Festival 2026

A well-timed visit with family in Oregon gave me the opportunity to attend the Eugene Tea Festival for the first time.  The festival is in its fourth year, kicking off in 2023 and preceded by virtual tea tastings and local events.  This year's festival took place on on May 31st at the Farmer's Market Pavilion in Eugene, Oregon's downtown arts district.  The Pavilion and the adjoining plaza were lined with booths for tea, artisan, and food vendors.

The tea festival is free to attend, though donations are welcome and come with a tasting cup to enjoy all the tea samples available at the vendor booths.  

At a table inside the Pavilion, Josh Brock (The Empty Tea Cup) and Laurie Dawson (Whatcom Tea) prepared tea throughout the day, providing a welcoming space to decompress and meet new tea friends.

The vendor booths had an impressive range of teas and tisanes from around the world, as well as handcrafted teaware, art, and decor.

Thanks to everyone who worked to bring this festival to the local community.  It was a wonderful event!

The next Eugene Tea Festival will take place on May 30, 2027.

Cascadia Tea Festival 2026

The Cascadia Spring Tea Festival was held on April 11, 2026 in Everett, Washington. This was the volunteer-run community tea event's 5th year!

The festival returned to beautiful Forest Park in Everett, Washington.  Vendor were located in Floral Hall and a dedicated tea tasting space was a short walk away in Lions Hall.  My day began with vendor booth exploration and catching up with tea friends.

Lions Hall Tea Tastings

Lions Hall was lined with tea tasting tables as well as a crafting area for young people (and the young at heart).

Ward and Barbara Everson presented a tasting of shou puerh lightly infused with different flowers.  The dried flowers are placed in a strainer so some of their aroma and flavor is introduced when the brewed tea is poured through the filter into the cha hai (fairness pitcher.)  This results in lighter floral notes than if they were steeped allowing the flavor of the tea to come through.  

Dark Depths (Crimson Lotus) poured over lavender

Diarmuid Fahy & Sam Culwell were brewing intriguing teas from their collection.

Li Shan

Li Shan 30-Year Aged Roasted Oolong

Thanks to the volunteers and vendors for making this tea festival happen!  

Tea Review: Premium Spring Sencha Green Tea (Hachimanjyu Yakushima Tea)

Premium Spring Sencha Green Tea
Hachimanjyu Yakushima Tea (Yabukita & Asatsuyu)
Type: Green
Origin: Japan, Kagoshima Prefecture
Product Description:

The Yabukita is an Asamushi tea, or lightly steamed. This results a leaf that is kept more intact than longer steaming, and therefore results in a clearer, liquid that extracts more slowly from the leaf for multiple steepings. This type of steaming is usually reserved for higher quality leaf.

Meanwhile the Asatsuyu leaf, known for its strong umami flavor, is steamed chumushi, or regular steaming. This adds a delicious umami flavor and aroma to the tea.

Temperature: 140° F
Amount: 3 grams
Steeping Time: 1 minute

The dry leaves have a deep aroma of macadamia nuts with a hint of sweet grass.

The liquor is pale jade green with a rich and savory aroma of nuts and edamame.  The taste is savory with umami and nutty with edamame notes and a long, green, nutty finish.

For the purpose of this review, I followed the recommended brewing instructions, steeping the tea for 1 minute in 140° F water and the results were excellent.  The first infusion was filled with umami followed by spring green notes at the front of the second infusion, with a darker liquor color and thicker broth.  The long finish was particularly refreshing.

This tea was purchased by me.

Tea Review: Yumesuruga Sencha (Charaku)

Yumesuruga Sencha

Charaku
Type: Green
Origin: Japan, Shizuoka Prefecture, Honyama
Product Description:

Infuses to a light green liquor with a slightly grassy aroma. Nice mouthfeel and a light amami (sweetness) that stays through a few infusions. It also has a very light shibumi (astringency) finish, so is a well-balanced tea with fresh notes across the spectrum.

The Honyama region of Shizuoka is in the northern part of the prefecture, containing the Abe River and the it's branches of the Ashikubo and Warashina Rivers, and near the foothills of Mount Fuji. Suruga was the old provincial name of current Shizuoka, and the Yumesuruga varietal can be translated as "Dream Suruga". The aroma of tea is everywhere in Suruga, and must have been for some time as poem of Matsuo Basho (1644-1694) recounts, "Suruga road / Even the mikan (orange) blossoms / Smell of tea bushes".

Temperature: 176° F

Amount: 3 grams
Steeping Time: 45 seconds-1.5 minutes

The dry leaf aroma is nutty and marine green.

The liquor is pale green with a savory aroma of nuts and edamame.  The taste is savory and sweet with light edamame notes and a sweet green grassy finish.

This sencha was delicious with savory umami notes followed by a sweet green finish throughout three infusions.  The aroma and liquor color deepened by the third infusion.  

This tea was purchased by me.

Tea Shout-Out: White Rabbit Espresso

The Tea Shout-Out highlights restaurants and other businesses who go the extra mile to serve good quality tea.

This shout-out goes to White Rabbit Espresso located on Highway 101 in Newport, Oregon.  They offer a selection of teas from Smith Teamaker as well as Matcha Lattes, Masala Chai, Newport Fog, a Tea & Tonic cocktail.  They also sell most of the teas they serve.  I warmed up on a rainy visit with a pot of Lord Bergamot black tea.

Velvet Monkey Tea

While passing through McMinnville on a recent trip, I stopped for tea at Velvet Monkey.  Original owner, Salem Sharfeddin opened the tea room in 2010 and sold his tea business to longtime Velvet Monkey regulars, Richard and Serengeti, when he retired in 2021.

The tea room is located in the historic Wright Building (1893) in downtown McMinnville and can be accessed by stairs on the corner of NE Davis Street and NE 3rd Street or inside the home goods store, La Bella Casa.

The tea room is cozy and well-lit with plentiful table seating, a comfortable sofa, and books to read during your visit.

Velvet Monkey has over 200 loose leaf teas to choose from, including many house blends.  Tea can be purchased by the ounce or brewed to enjoy in-house and to-go.  

In addition to tea, they also offer an impressive selection of teaware and chocolates, as well as bubble tea and infused lemonade.

For this visit, I warmed up from the cold weather with a pot of Chocolate Peppermint black tea, dark chocolate maple and salted caramel truffles, and some light-hearted Moomin adventures.  

Address:

216 NE Davis Street, McMinnville, Oregon

Hours:

Tuesday-Saturday 10:00am - 5:00pm

Closed Sunday & Monday

Skywater Tea House

While in town for Tea Fest PDX, we had afternoon tea at Skywater Tea House.  Owners Hans Ramos and Neil Thompson opened the doors to the afternoon tea room in downtown Hillsboro in August 2022, shortly after opening Skywater Fine Wines.

 

Inside the entrance, tea and teaware are on display and available for purchase.

The dining area is well-lit with plentiful seating.  Tables are spaced well to prevent a sense of crowding when seats are filled, as most were shortly after our arrival.

Our table setting was lovely with matching dinnerware, tea cups, and saucers.  Even the wainscoting seemed to be a part of the table display.

The tea menu includes white, green, oolong, black, and puerh teas, flavored blends, chai, and tisanes.  Each guest receives their own pot of tea.

My tea selection for this visit was an earthy Shu-cha Pu-erh and the meal began with a refreshing Golden Pomelo Vanilla Panna Cotta.  Everything was delicious and the service was excellent.  I'm looking forward to a return visit!

Online reservations are required in advance.  Note that they do not offer alternatives for dietary restrictions with the exception of vegetarian and pescatarian diets which can be accommodated with advance notice.

Address:
1601B SE River Rd, Hillsboro, Oregon

Hours:
Thursday-Sunday 11:00am to 2:30pm
Closed Monday-Wednesday