Tea in Porto
Coffee lovers as they may be, the Lion and the Fish are occasionally seduced by the soothing fragrance and focused inner calm offered by a good cup of tea—the caffeine elevates your energy, while the theanine brings you back to the earthly realm, bringing forth a state of flow.
So, on Saturday night, we set our sights on the two only worthwhile tea stores to visit in Porto and ventured out. After getting lost and heading in the wrong direction, we finally found our way. The shops are close by to each other, so you can visit both in one fell swoop and if you’re going to visit a tea shop, these are the ones. Even some highly acclaimed tea cafes sell cheap tea bag tea for an extremely high mark up. We were looking for unique, high grade teas that we wouldn’t be able to find in your average grocery store—leaf quality, odor, fragrance, and taste were going to be the main factors, not price.
Our first stop was Rota do Chá. It’s a tight space and the walls are covered from floor to ceiling with shelves of large tins filled with various teas, filling the air with a multitude of aromas. The lighting is dim, a red tint flooding the room. While a place like this has the potential to be comfy, Rota do Chá felt cluttered and borderline claustrophobic. As for the teas, there was a long list to choose from, but it also had many of the classics that you can find anywhere or recreate yourself at home—mint, lemon and ginger, etc. Still, they had others that felt more unique, though in general, the teas didn’t smell quite as fragrant as those at Muí Concept.
The biggest problem we had with Rota do Chá was that we had to ask to smell every and any tea. So every time we wanted to smell one (and realistically, unless you know the flavors you like well enough, how can you buy tea without smelling it?), we had to request the help of the person working there. The fact that some teas had names unrelated to their constituents was not very helpful. Elizabeth is an indecisive fish and needed to smell every tea contender at least five times before she could possibly make a decision. At Rota do Chá, this made for an awkward situation, and we couldn’t help but feel like we were inconveniencing the worker, even though it was her job. We would have preferred the freedom to smell teas at our own leisure, rather than needing to ask for assistance each time. Despite this complaint, Rota do Chá did offer many teas to choose from, making it easy to find one that suits you. Because they are not prepackaged, you can decide how much to get. We ended up settling with a tea called “Holiday,” a white tea.
Next on our list was a visit to Muí Concept just down the street, a tea shop manned by an enthusiastic old school Vietnamese lady. We were happy to see that it was an ampler space with more room to breathe. The store had a wall of tea that was prepackaged in bags. The best part? Each tea had a sample in front for us to smell without asking for assistance. Elizabeth was able to smell every tea as many times as she wanted, and we did end up smelling nearly every one just for fun. The teas were extremely fragrant, flooding our noses as soon as we opened the glass jars holding them. Additionally, almost every tea at Muí Concept had a cute and quirky name to accompany it. Elizabeth took the bait and especially appreciated that.
At Muí Concept, we picked out a Port Wine tea (we couldn’t resist) and one called “Brasil, Brasil” that was bursting with the deep aroma of dark chocolate and vanilla. Both of these teas were a decadent and delicious combination of flavors.
The Taste Test
The Sunday Morning after, we woke up eager to try our new teas. We opened up the blinds, got comfy in our slippers and pjs, and brewed away… all teas were consumed as is.
“Holiday” (Rota do Chá), 🌡80℃/176℉ ⏳5"
Fruity and bright, “Holiday” was our choice for a more traditional, white tea. As far as leaf quality goes, this one was the weakest, and the leaves were somewhat coarsely ground and dissimilar. Though Elizabeth did appreciate the diverse variety of colors. Cristiano, on the other, couldn’t have cared less about them—his only concern was the quality and taste. However, and despite its intense scent, it was by far the least odoriferous of the three. The outcome was as expected for a tea with this name—a light, flowery summer tea.
“Brasil, Brasil” (Muí Concept), 🌡90℃/194℉ ⏳5"
Our favorite by a long-shot. A velvety, mellow black tea that coats the mouth, with bitter dark chocolate notes, amalgamated with the sweet aroma of vanilla beans, “Brasil, Brasil” is probably the third chocolate tea we have tried. Upon first analysis, the dry leaves were deeply dark, slim, and homogeneous, indicating a high grade black tea. Additionally, we detected the presence of very finely ground pure cocoa. The resulting beverage adopted a deep amber color characteristic of superlative tea of this kind, without the astringency that subpar teas are infamous for. Tea purism aside, this one can be elevated to another level with an iota of milk.
“Porto Wine Touch” (Muí Concept), 🌡90℃/194℉ ⏳5"
Yet another black tea. Tried out of curiosity and our love for Port wine, the “Porto Wine Touch” exhibits a flavor profile reminiscent of a well aged Tawny Port. Leaf quality is comparable to “Brasil, Brasil,” and raisins can be observed with the naked eye. The resulting tea is ever so slightly lighter in color than “Brasil, Brasil,” and acutely floral and mellow. A splash of brandy will go a long way and add a kick to it but, like all things, use in moderation.
Unpopular opinion: the raisins can and should be eaten after the steeping step.
To us, Muí Concept was the clear victor, with its slightly higher quality, sleek aesthetic, ample space, and the superior scope of their tea selection. That being said, Porto is certainly big enough for the two of them — Rota do Chá offers teas that Muí Concept does not and vice-versa, and the ones that do overlap, though of lower quality, are generally €1 cheaper than their counterparts (per 50g), making for a good budget-friendly high quality alternative.
Will we ever go back there? Most certainly, once we exhaust our unimpressive, lilliputian collection of tea, but that might take us a while… It can only rain so much.
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