Formosa Art Tea House - Pflugerville

Formosa Art Tea House - Pflugerville

Written by Mark Collins Sunday, 07 October 2007

Family heritage poured into tea house venture

Riva Chung has managed to turn her passion into her work. After practicing Kung Fu-style tea ceremonies for more than 20 years, Chung opened Formosa Art Tea House at 200 E. Pecan Street.

“Ever since I was little, my father loved to drink tea and he taught me about the Kung Fu tea ceremony,” Chung said.

Chung moved to the United States eight years ago after working as a molecular biologist and studying Entomology in Taiwan. She worked as a photographer in Pflugerville for four years before opening Formosa Art Tea House in February 2006.

“People said “Don’t open a tea house in America because most people there drink coffee,’” Chung said. “But I introduce and educate people about tea, and once you try it, you will love it.”

Formosa Art Tea House thrives on return customers. Chung remembers when the Art Tea House first opened, being able to take days off and keep irregular hours. Now, she maintains regular business hours from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.

“Everyone that walks in here keeps coming back and bringing friends and family,” Chung said.

She says locals who used to travel to Austin with out-of-town guests now stay in Pflugerville and go to Formosa Art Tea House.

The tea house is not just traditional Kung Fu tea ceremonies. Chung also offers a full beverage menu which includes frappuccino, bubble tea and individual cups of tea.

Unlike typical English-style tea, Formosa Art Tea House doesn’t add any milk or sugar to the tea. Chung relies on the tea leaves’ original flavor to provide those sensations, which she says is so effective it often fools customers.

In addition to the full beverage menu, Chung also sells an array of gifts from tea sets to T-shirts and hand-painted wall hangings.

Chung also hosts several social events, including calligraphy lessons, poetry readings, concerts and plans to start Chinese speaking lessons.

She hopes her customer base keeps growing, but enjoys the connection she has with patrons.

“Our interaction is more like a family, it’s not like a business,” Chung said. “You won’t walk into Starbucks and say ‘I have a problem I need to talk about’ or ‘can I show you my art’ but those are things we do here.”

Steps of a Traditional Kung Fu Tea Ceremony:

• Preparation: Fill the teapot with tea leaves and fill the pot with water. Quickly pour the tea into the cups. This stage is to cleanse the pallet and prepare the mouth for the tea.
• Brewing: Fill the teapot again and let it stand for 20 to 50 seconds. Pour the remaining tea from the first batch over the teapot to season the pot.
• Serving: Pour into small serving cups before flipping into drinking cups. Smell the serving cup before enjoying the Kung Fu tea.

What is in a name?

• The word formosa means “beautiful island” in Chinese, describing the oasis of a tea shop that Riva Chung wanted to create.

Formosa Art Tea House, 200 E. Pecan St., Ste. 5, Pflugerville, TX 78660, 512-989-8678 • www.drinkarttea.com