On a Saturday morning, Veronica Vogler stands at the entrance to Bardot Tea in Killingsworth, greeting visitors. She takes off her shoes, hangs up her coat, and heads to the back room of the teahouse. A ring of meditation cushions surrounds the station, along with three small teapots and a shiny ceramic vessel bearing the potter’s thumbprint. Once the guests are seated, sitting cross-legged on her thighs in a lotus position, Vogler begins making the tea. Pu-erh has an almost damp, floral funk of April backyard, daffodils, grass, and earth.
Vogler’s visitors meditate with their eyes closed, relying on their other senses to notice when a new cup of tea is in front of them. The sound of water as Vogler pours it, the feel of steam as she bends over and places the cup in front of her. One of them. When visitors take their first sip, the flavor lingers, and when Vogler talks about the tea, they talk about its warmth spreading to their shoulders, limbs, fingertips, sitting on their chests and where it resides in their bodies. “Meditation uses mantras to bring you back to the present and uses your breath,” she says. “We use tea here.”
Vogler has worked as a mindfulness teacher for more than 20 years, but her professional career in the tea world has been more limited. The intricacies of her tea knowledge are the domain of their partner, Ravi Clausen. Ravi Clausen is an experienced tea curator best known in Portland as the former vice president of tea production for Smith Tea Maker. The companies launched Bardo Tea in January 2023 to sell tea online, before opening Bardo Tea’s Killingsworth tea store earlier this year. During that time, Baldo became a cult favorite tea house in Portland’s culinary world. With star bartenders like Jim Meehan as customers and collaborators, Octa, a Willamette Valley destination restaurant, serves a complex tasting menu followed by Bardot tea. Clausen and Vogler talk about tea with the seriousness of a sommelier, talking about the region, terroir, season, and producer behind each tea. But they also provide customers with tools to interact with tea intuitively, teach those unfamiliar how to use Gaiwan, and encourage them to slow down as well as feel the taste and aroma of tea. To do.
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Clausen’s relationship with tea began at a young age, albeit under difficult circumstances. He was raised within the 3HO organization founded by the late Yogi Bhajan, which some experts consider a cult. Bhajan, who has been accused of repeated sexual assault and physical abuse, is known for popularizing Kundalini yoga and founding the tea brand Yogi Tea. Although Clausen left 3HO decades ago, his connection to tea and yoga remains. “After morning sadhana, we had a big cup of yogi tea,” he says. “That was my first encounter with tea through chai.”
His brother helped him get his first tea job and established the Tao of Tea warehouse. While working there, he came across the revered Phoenix Oolong Honey Orchid scent. “I was shocked,” he says. “Nectarine, peach, honey. I was amazed that black tea could have these flavors without adding anything. It was such a beautiful and mind-expanding experience that it changed my entire life. ”
After years of working as a tea buyer and traveling the world tasting and learning about tea, she met Vogler at a yoga class. He was drawn to her esoteric approach to yoga, which reminded him of a good part of her childhood.
Vogler left the Soviet Union as a political refugee when he was five years old and moved with his family to New York. Her family had their own cultural connection to tea, both as a pastime and as a social ritual. As she became interested in mindfulness, she encountered tea many times, often used as a tool for spiritual practices. “Tea, like meditation, can bring back and release memories that are stuck in your body,” she says.
The two began working on Bardo in 2022. Their approach to finding tea is multifaceted. Obviously, they are looking for something tasty and nuanced. They consider terroir, varietal, farming practices, and even the drinking experience, such as flavor notes and how they appear and linger in the mouth. But beyond that, Vogler and Clausen also try to find teas that have a story behind them, a meaningful person or place. “How tea feels in your body and how it feels sensory is important to us, but we’re also trying to tell stories about tea that aren’t being told,” Clausen said. says.
For example, Yu-Fang Tseng is a fourth-generation tea master who makes Bardot Oriental Beauty Oolong, which originates from Qingxin grown in Miaoli County along Taiwan’s west coast. Mr. Tseng’s oolong is oxidized to his 75 percent. This is higher than most modern oolongs, which often live at oxidation rates of 20 to 60 percent. It is representative of an old style that is starting to disappear in this area. Or Fu Chen, a third-generation Taiwanese tea farmer and tea master who, along with his daughters, makes Bardot Jade Mountain tea. As a long-time Buddhist practitioner, Chen incorporates the religion’s tenets into his approach to tea making.
Vogler and Clausen have a vehicle on hand to sell these single-origin teas in-store and provide visitors with typical Kung Fu tea service. Some people stop by for take-out tea or take home loose-leaf or pu-erh cakes. Some stay for the store’s blends, the double-fold vanilla-scented Earl Gray Pot, or the jasmine oolong blend with sarsaparilla and rose.
After their Saturday morning tea meditation, Vogler and Clausen begin welcoming more customers into the space, who settle into the store’s various social tea rooms. Many are regulars and treat Saturday trips to the Bardo like a weekly ritual, even if they don’t meditate.
Before the tea meditation, Vogler talks about the vulnerability and tolerance needed to accept oneself. “There is something so powerful about letting go and being vulnerable,” they say. “What a rare moment.”
Bardo Tea is now open at 2926 NE Killingsworth Street.
