Čaj Chai
Gòtic

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Open since January 2005, Čaj Chai is a teahouse that follows the tradition of Prague’s bohemian tearooms, and was brought to Barcelona by a Czech girl and New York guy who really missed places where you could enjoy a well-prepared tea in a chill, comfortable, relaxed and smoke-free environment.

Decorated with cozy recycled furniture from the 50’s and 60’s (the place had been an old furniture warehouse), and with old art-deco table lamps giving off warm, intimate light.

The entire design reflects a refined taste but certainly the most impressive element is to be found in its stone walls and four Romanesque arches, which can’t help but leave you feeling the transcendence of time evoked by the Gothic Quarter’s long history.

At Čaj Chai the focus is on top quality, properly prepared fresh tea. It’s a great place to go with your partner or to chat with close friends and, of course, it’s also ideal for sitting a while
and following your inspiration or for sitting back and reading a book. They have a really nice collection of books and magazines to read in English and Spanish.

Tea prices range from 1,50 – 5,00 with Arab pastries ranging between 1,00 and 1,25. They also have a shop area where they sell their leaves to go and beautiful handcrafted Chinese Yixing teapots.

Customers range from people who don’t know very much about tea and are curious to see what it tastes like in such a specialized place, to tea lovers who go there because they know there is nothing like it in the whole city. From local neighbors to fiending tea freaks, including travelers who just happen to stumble upon it.

The teahouse is highly specialized and offers the best teas of the world (China, Formosa, India, Sri Lanka, Ceylon, Japan, Vietnam...) served in beautiful handmade Yixing teapots. Some of their most interesting teas include Dragon’s Well, Tiny Spring Spirals, Silver Needles, Water Nymph, Iron Goddess, Fancy Black Dragon Oolong and Darjeeling Singbulli. And as you might intuit from their name, they prepare a fabulously spiced Chai.

In summer, in addition to hot tea you’ll also find refreshing iced teas made with homemade recipes and interesting combinations. And to go with their tea you can always sweeten up with their delicious Arab pastries and homemade cakes.

The large number of languages you might hear there reflect tea’s universal popularity, even though it’s only been very recently, and thanks to a combination of an increased awareness as to its health properties, the effort of people like Gabriela and Antonio and such pleasant places to drink it, that Spaniards are slowly getting turned on to its charm.

And you can’t speak about Čaj Chai without mentioning the great care they put into the music playing. Gabriela had worked as a radio DJ in Prague and Antonio had been a music journalist. Music varies greatly depending on the atmosphere but the most typical styles you might hear would be great jazz, flamenco, alt-folk, alt-rock and world music.