ChaBliss

CONTACT

4/177 Parnell Road Parnell
Auckland, 1052
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Opening Hours

SUN 10:30am - 6:00pm
MON closed
TUE 10:30am - 6:00pm
WED 10:30am - 4:00pm
THU 10:30am - 4:00pm
FRI 10:30am - 8:00pm
SAT 10:30am - 8:00pm

The Details

Cuisine
  • Chinese
Need to Know
  • Great for Dates

An idyllic tea space has brought all the comfort and ease of the Third Space to a champagne glass. Here, life pauses. Here, it’s all about drinking tea and blissing out. In fact, that’s exactly what the name means ‘cha’ being the Chinese word for tea and ‘bliss’, well, we could all do with more of that on the daily. 

Aside from the odd bookshop and traditional tea houses hidden away in temples, Tāmaki Makaurau’s tea scene is almost exclusively the domain of bubble tea. And while we love boba as much as the next person, the grab-and-go tea, which is born from a sea of single-use plastics, isn’t doing any favours for the environment. Didn’t plastic straws go extinct a long time ago? 

You won’t find a smidge of this particular offender at ChaBliss and that’s because its concept is counter-cultural. It isn’t to be reached for as a sugar-spike to get you through the daily grind. It’s a space to linger, a liquid meditation, and every part of the ChaBliss experience has been curated accordingly. 

Their menu is extensive without triggering the usual overwhelm we’ve all had standing in front of the movie credits-like lineup of bubble tea options. Unlike the latter, everything at ChaBliss is made from fresh ingredients—not powder—and the tea leaves have been carefully selected from China. 24-year-old owner, Alice, will happily guide you through the options, drawing on ancient Chinese knowledge of mind and body to match your moment with a tea that’ll complement it perfectly. 

“Dark tea—puer— is more like sticky rice flavor. It’s quite interesting. And oolong has a very rich flavor but is quite similar to green tea,” explains Alice. “Different teas have different functions, too. Green tea can help your digestion. Black tea is very good for winter—it’ll make you warm. But green tea isn’t suitable when you’re on your period.”

Then again, ChaBliss is not a traditional tea house either. It’s intentionally grounded in the contemporary. On traditional tea-drinking culture Alice explains “I’m not very interested in it. I’m thinking I need to sit there for a long time just drinking tea. I thought that’s not fun. So, I think, if you find the right way to understand the tea, it’ll be interesting.” At ChaBliss, she’s done exactly that. Along with black and green tea, and teas using real fruit, the menu features some ways to enjoy tea we’d never before encountered. 

A (delectable) case in point is their nitro tea served in an aesthetically pleasing siphon bottle for two, with flutes. High-pressure nitrogen transforms the tea into a luxuriously silky tipple worthy of any celebration. Beer more your style? There’s a tea for that too. ChaBliss’ Tea Beer is one of their most popular offerings and it’s gluten-free. We’ll repeat: gluten-free beer. 

The nitro, beer, and champagne iterations bring a much-needed elegance to alcohol-free options, finally releasing us from the burden of having to grit our teeth and smile through mocktails that are— let’s be honest—still pretty subpar. 

Actually froth-worthy sober libations aren’t the only trailblazing happening at ChaBliss. Even the regular tea is concocted in a unique way. Astonishingly, the team grinds, tamps, and extracts tea as you would coffee using the only machine of its type in the country. It’s a nod to tea artistry and a beautiful process that takes time, which is the antithesis of what we’ve come to expect in hospitality. We demand coffees appear in our hands within seconds of ordering them, we become restless if our cocktails lag. In fast food and fine dining alike, the rush culture is baked into everything we consume. Until now. And the reprieve is very welcome indeed. 

Why is ChaBliss the exception? It's an immersive, ritualistic luxury for all. “We’re not a tea shop, we’re a tea space,” says Alice. “We try to involve our customers in the process. For example, with our tea latte, you actually have to wait for the tea to brew for eight minutes, then you mix it with the milk base. It’s kind of up to you—it’s not just a drink, it’s an experience.”

Words: Alice Rich | Imagery: Wono Kim