Most people who visit this Killingsworth bakery visit for creatively spiced pastries made with Pacific Northwestern flours, or some of the most underrated square slices in town. But the cafe’s chai, a house blend, is the hidden gem on the menu, distinctly peppery and restrained in its sweetness. It’s available on the weekends, when the bakery is open.

Tiffin Asha’s house chai uses a foundation of Nilgiri tea, grown in the blue mountains of Tamil Nadu, which adds a layer of aromatics on top of the spice blend and caramel of the brown sugar. This chai is well-suited to the restaurant’s sweets, like the coconut ladoo, though it would be criminal to visit Tiffin Asha and not walk out with a dosa. The restaurant is open for takeout.

The longstanding location for Indian street food in Portland unsurprisingly serves a great glass of chai. Bollywood’s masala chai mix is imported from Kannur, Kerala, India and sent to the restaurant whole. The blend was is custom-made for Bollywood Theater, so the restaurant’s chai is truly available nowhere else. The masala chai can be served hot or cold, and the gingery flavor complements the full range of Bollywood Theater’s menu.

Off of the bustling Fremont street, Pip’s serves chai lattes in multiple flavors that veer in different nontraditional directions, such as the “Heart of Gold” which mixes green and black tea with toasted coconut, turmeric, clove, and cardamom. All the flavors pair excellently with Pip’s made-to-order mini donuts, especially the “Ginger Rogers” hot and spicy chai, which offsets the sweetness of the donuts. All chai flavors are also available as bottled concentrates to make at home. Pip’s does not offer delivery or curbside pickup. 

Deadstock is downtown Portland’s sneaker-themed “snob-free” coffeeshop that slings house-roasted drip coffee and shoe advice. The shop makes chai lattes with Portland-made One Stripe Chai, which uses a blend of spices, a mix of unrefined palm sugar, local clover honey, and “premium brand Orange Pekoe black tea from the upper regions of Assam in India.” The concentrate is a great base for a dirty chai, made with the house-roasted espresso. Deadstock does not offer online ordering or delivery. 

This essential old-school haunt on Belmont is located in an old Victorian-style house, but it also boasts an impressive patio area with fire pits for outdoor seating and sipping. Pied Cow offers both herbal and black tea chai, with the latter available iced. The cafe also offers communally served kava, and chai serves as an excellent palate cleanser in between sips of the herbal drink. Orders can be placed online or in-person and picked up at the window on the side of the house.

Tea Bar is perhaps Portland’s most minimalist tea company—its stores have white walls and large glass windows reminiscent of an Apple store. The shop is best known for its boba, which is made fresh daily in enameled dutch ovens filled with infused tea syrups, but their chai is also worth seeking out. Tea Bar sells two styles of chai—cardamom and ginger. Those who prefer a sweeter chai will enjoy the warming cardamom flavor, whereas those who want a spicy, headier chai will enjoy the ginger. They also sell both styles as bottled concentrates to make at home. Orders can be placed in-person or delivered through Postmates or Caviar.

Mamancy Tea, the new shop based in the tea culture of Kenya, sells an impressive masala chai blend. Although originally conceived as a place for communal sitting and tea drinking, opening during the pandemic has turned Mamancy into a top choice for Beaverton tea lovers. The owner, Anne Johnson, is a certified tea sommelier and chocolatier, so visitors should expect to pick up a decadent dessert to eat alongside their chai tea. Mamancy does not currently offer online ordering for drinks, but tea blends can be purchased through delivery on their website.