Tired of the Coffee Buzz? Have A Peaceful Cup of Tea at a New Downtown Oasis

Sure, Santa Cruz is coffee crazy, with more coffee shops downtown than any other business.

But David Wright is hoping that the city's only tea shop may start a peaceful new craze.

He opened Hidden Peak Teahouse at its new location Saturday at 1541-C Pacific Ave., in the alley way where the drum shop Rhythm Fusion used to be.

The shop was formally known as Chaikhana and was on Cedar Street. It specialized in selling exotic teas to bring home. Hidden Peak does for tea what Starbucks does for coffee: gives a place for tea lovers to sit and languish and enjoy the brew.

“It has always been a dream to have a place to sit down and serve people tea,” said Wright, 41, as he looked at the outside patio of his new store, where people were quietly sitting and drinking tea in the warm sunlight. “We learned enough from having a small store to finally expand.”

Hidden Peak offers the largest selection of tea in Santa Cruz from green teas to white teas from simple black tea to exotic pu-erh tea, which can range in cost from $5 to $500 a pot. Regular house teas go for 99 cents to $1.99.

While many stores and coffee shops have free WiFi, Hidden Peak will be WiFi free. There will be no digital devices allowed in the shop.

“It is important to observe the spirit of the way people came together in tea houses before digital devices existed,” said Wright. “To go into places and see everyone sitting solo with a blank stare and face lit up with blue light is disheartening because I reaped so much benefit from the social aspect of tea houses and coffee houses.”

Hidden Peak’s atmosphere is similar to that of a dojo from a Kung Fu movie: lots of bamboo and fountains of gently running water. In front, you can buy teas in bulk as well as books, and teapots. Behind a shoulder high wall, is a sitting room with several little places you can take a load off and have a tea while reading a book or socializing.

Wright started studying tea when he was in high school, but began taking the craft seriously when he was 27.

“I read every tea book I could find and canvassed the country, visiting tea houses,” said Wright. His tea education took off when he met has tea master, Master Wong, who walked into Chaikhana, liked what he saw and invited Wright to China. For the past three years, Wright has been visiting China once a year and learning more about tea.

He started selling tea at markets and fairs in Hawaii. Before long, Wright moved to Santa Cruz with his wife, Marilee, and opened up the Chaikhana on 41st Avenue. That store lasted a few months before he moved to Cedar Street.

“To me, tea has become an analogy for everything,” said Wright, who claims that he is still learning about tea every day.

“I relate every life choice to tea. It has become a microscope through which I view everything. The reason why the British coined the saying ‘not my cup of tea’ is because the tea is such an individualized process.

"It is a metaphor for all personal preference.  Each tea demands something different: the way you brew, the vessel you chose, the temperature of the water and the setting all become uniquely tailored to the chosen tea.”

Moving to a shop that is four times bigger than his last was not the smooth blend he would have hoped for.

The entire process took him over a year, partly because of how much red tape he had to wade through. It took him six months just to get the permits he needed to open the store.

“The system really needs a facelift,” he said. “It has been hard trying to maintain my energy going through the permit process.”

Wright explained that the city didn't have a category to put a business like his and he had to go through the hassle of getting all the permits that a full restaurant would have, even though his business just simply served "leaves and water."

"We had people on our side, trying to help us," he said "But the way the system is set up their hands are tied."

You can sip your favorite teas 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday