Roji Tea Lounge

Although this place is not technically a restaurant, it's a great place, and it's very veg friendly. Roji is located near Armory Square, by the corner of Salina Street and Washington Street. The tea lounge is owned and run by a very sweet Japanese woman. The lounge has a very comfortable and warm feeling despite the fact that all the walls are brick. You have your choice of seating: American furniture (couches and tables) or more Asian (sitting on the floor with your shoes off at a very low table). They serve a wide variety of high quality leaf teas including white, green, black, red, oolong, rooibos, herbal, floral and many combinations of these. The hot teas are served in small Asian inspired tea pots that steep the tea right inside. They provide you with an extra pot of hot water so you can have as many cups as you would like. They also serve bubble tea. If you have never tried bubble tea I recommend going to Roji just to experience that. Bubble tea gets it's name from the small fruit flavored balls of tapioca that rest at the bottom of the glass. The bubble tea is served with an extra wide straw in order for the tapioca bubbles to fit through it. Bubble tea is considered a dessert tea, as it is usually sweet and served cold. Bubble tea can be served with or with out milk (soy or dairy) and comes in a variety of flavors like strawberry, melon, lychee, jasmine green tea and more.

In addition to the wonderful atmosphere and beverages, Roji serves an assortment of homemade snacks. You can satisfy your sweet tooth with cookies made with tea (peach, green, or earl grey), green tea cake, ice cream, chocolate mousse, or their cookie of the day which can vary. If you prefer to snack on something less sweet they serve hot rice with seaweed wrap. It looks a lot like sushi, only warm and minus the fish. Oh, yeah, and all the snacks are vegan and delicious.

As an added bonus, Roji sells the majority of their tea in leaf form. So if you find a tea you particularly like, you can take some home to brew yourself.

Roji is open fairly late, until 12 or 2am depending on the night and they open around 3pm. This really is a wonderful cozy little place and it really won't break the bank. I spent about 8 dollars for an order of green tea cookies, jasmine green bubble tea, a sample bag of white tea and the tip.