Victor's Review: ZenCha Tea Salon - Post 11

A relaxing oasis in the Short North, ZenCha has a very simple charm with plenty of natural bamboo and other wooden furnishings to evoke a sense of serenity stereotypically conjured up at the thought of the Far East and its teas.

For those who are not tea aficionados (a category your humble guide falls into), the tea menu can appear quite daunting. Approximately 100 choices are listed on the 2 sided fold out tea menu, many similar to the one directly adjacent to the other, but each unique & subtly different. Fortunately, the items are grouped in a manner that allows the diner to chose a type that they're familiar with or to try something related to another choice they've previously enjoyed.

ZenCha touches on virtually all manners of tea that I can think of - iced, hot, Indian Chais, English, Arabic, milk teas, bubble teas, herbal "teas", seasonal fruit teas, and so on. Additionally, the Salon offers two menus - one for brunch and one for the remainder of the day.

The afternoon / evening menu consists of a satisfying array of food from soups & salads to Asian noodle dishes to English Tea snacks (scones, cookies, cakes & the like). As I did not go during brunch, I didn't inspect the menu that closely - but you can find the full menu here.

Since Chai is the tea that I am most fond of, I started with a pot of the Indian Vanilla Chai (~$5). This was a very welcome departure from the mass produced mixes most of the coffee shops use. Black tea and milk mixed with subtle vanilla & honey undertones produced a sweet & flavorful beverage that was not overly sugary - as many of the prepared mixes are.

Accompanying my Chai was a decent sized ginger scone (~$2), served with a whipped butter concoction such as one you'd use with a cinnamon roll. In all, it was a satisfying snack.

Following this combination, I decided to try another variety - after all, with ~100 to choose from, you may as well, right? For my second pot, I traveled to the Arabic section of the menu for the Cinnamon Orange variety. This was a black tea mixed with fresh ground cinnamon & a generous amount of orange peel. The cinnamon had a nice strong bite to it, evocative of the childhood candy Hot Tamales, but the orange was a subtle background note adding its citric sweetness. Unsullied with sugar & milk - this is the way flavored black teas should be enjoyed.

Basic info:
Website - http://zen-cha.com/
Location - Short North District @ 982 N. High Street, Columbus 43201
Phone - 614.421.2140
Victor's Rating = 4.0 (0-5 scale)