in the news
World Tea News
By April Corbin
This Article appeared in The World Tea News. Thursday, April 30, 2009
http://www.worldteanews.com/index.php/20090430566/Tea-Rooms/At-Half-Year-Ku-Day-Ta-Is-Bullish.html
Young Ku Day Ta Is Bullish on Future
“It’s a tea lounge,” owner Bee Bee Liew clarifies, pointing out the lounge’s ambient lighting and ottoman seats bear little resemblance to a stuffy Victorian tea room catering only to women. The concept behind the lounge is to be a melting pot of different cultures and teas.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
San Jose Tea Examiner
By Elizabeth Urbach
This Article appeared in The Examiner.com. April 25, 2009
http://www.examiner.com/x-8683-San-Jose-Tea-Examiner~y2009m4d25-Review-Ku-Day-Ta-Tea-Lounge-at-the-Great-Mall-in-Milpitas
Said to be a play on words (from the French coup d’etat), Ku Day Ta’s unusual name is not the only thing that sets this little tea lounge apart from the others. I set up a private tea tasting there, in March 2009, for the South Bay Ladies’ Tea Guild, and we received top-notch service, tea, and “tea snacks” for $25 per person.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
The Wave Magazine | Feature Article section
This Article appeared in Volume 9, Issue 05 of The Wave Magazine. March 23 - April 05, 2009
http://www.thewavemag.com/pagegen.php?pagename=article&articleid=26979
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
News for Chinese
By Debbie Juan
This Article appeared in News for Chinese, p osted on: 04/01/2009
http://epaper.newsforchinese.com/showpaper.html?pub=NFC&issue=20090401 | Page 6
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Tea is Hot
For a long time, it was listed on menus just by color. Then, suddenly, there were tastings and classes, talk of varietals, origin, terroir. Like wine 20 years ago, tea has become the drink to know.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Milpitas Post
by Ali Abdollahi
This Article appeared in Milpitas Post, Volume 55, Number 41, Thursday, October 9, 2008
Lounge seeks to revolutionize tea experience
Atmosphere combines Western and Southeast Asian design concepts
After years on conceptualizing, researching and planning, local entrepreneur Bee-Bee Liew has created what she hopes will be an attractive alternative to bustling coffee houses and café’s by opening the Ku Day Ta tea lounge in GreatMall. Even the name Ku Day Ta (the phonetic spelling of coup d’etat) is meant to represent a "revolutionizing of tea lounges and the way tea is viewed and experienced." Many sources state that tea is the second-most consumed drink in the world behind water, yet Liew said that America is an established coffee-drinking society.
She said that traditional Chinese teahouses can be found in big cities with large immigrant populations - like Atlanta, New York and San Francisco - but they are rare in suburban areas. Liew added that Victorian-style high tea rooms in the British tradition are usually more formal and do not allow patrons to enjoy the relaxation associated with drinking tea. Ambiance is a central focus at Ku Day Ta, Liew said. She worked closely with a designer to create a soothing atmosphere that combined Western and Southeast Asian design concepts. The numerous health benefits of tea that motivated Liew to create the lounge.
Liew worked as a senior hardware engineer at Cisco Systems in San Jose, but left the company in 2003 to pursue an MBA at Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania. She spent six months traveling after earning her masters.
"When I went to home to Malaysia, my father was very ill," Liew said. "I started researching and learning a lot about the non-invasive health benefits of tea to see how it could help my father."
She spent the next six months traveling to several Asian countries - including China, South Korea, India, Thailand and Indonesia - learning about how each culture grows, brews and uses tea.
Liew has spent the past two years compiling that knowledge and using it to create a lounge that combines the best practices of all the world’s tea-drinking cultures. She only uses the highest quality, additive-free loose tea (no tea bags), and prepares each tea in the customary manner from that particular culture.
"For example, Japanese tea is very delicate and cannot be boiled, so it must be steamed. Our Chinese tea is traditionally hand-roasted. Our chai is never from concentrate, and is carefully spiced like it would be in a home recipe."
Liew has taken a "fine wine" approach with the teas. In addition to a list of more than fifty favorite iced, chai, white, black and herbal teas, Ku Day Ta also features a detailed offering of premium teas that reads much like a wine list. The special list offers more than thirty teas categorized as either "Fine Tea," "Supreme," or "Exceptional, Rare, Limited." Selections include Pu-Erh teas aged more than ten years, and artisan handcrafted "blooming" teas in which the tea bud slowly opens in front of the customers’ eyes when placed in the boiling water.
"The café is about the entire tea-drinking experience," Liew said. "That is why we make sure that the entire preparation and presentation is authentic for each type and culture of tea."
She said that what separates Ku Day Ta from the tea offerings at other cafés is the high quality of the tea, and the quality and temperature of the water, which is softened and purified before being used in the tea. The lounge does not serve coffee because "the coffee aroma is often not pleasing to the tea-taster," Liew said. Ku Day Ta does offer a list of healthy snacks and confections, as well as free Wi-Fi service. It is located across from the Century movie theatres and Outback Steakhouse at GreatMall. More information is available at www.kudayta.com.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
The Union. Student Voice of Milpitas High School
by Ginger Lo
This Article appeared in The Union, Volume XXVII, Issue I, October 2008
Ku Day Ta opens at mall
The Ku Day Ta Tea Lounge, located in the Great Mall, offers a wide selection of specialty tea from Chine, Taiwan, Japan, Africa, South America, and India, a few rarities that date back from 1992 to 1997.
Although the prices are a little bit more expensive than your average pearl tea, with drinks ranging from $4.75 to $5.75, each cup is freshly-made and individually brewed to give you the best quality of tea.
Ku Day Ta’s most popular item on the menu is the Mango Jazz Iced Tea. This refreshing beverage is a sweet, tropical fruit-flavored tea served elegantly in a tall-cocktail glass and decorated with a fresh orange slice.
The third most popular item among the customers is the Cherry Mist Iced Tea. This tea is hinted with a slight cherry flavoring and is visually appealing, served in a rounded glass and topped with a red cherry and green mint leaves.
The tea lounge also sells snacks and confections with prices ranging from $2.25 to $3.75. One of the favorites is the Nutty Cranberry Orange Crunch, which is a blend of walnuts, almonds, pecans and dried cranberries covered in a hint of citrus, tangy crust.
From the outside, Ku Day Ta may look a little intimidating because of the few customers and dim lighting, but do not let that discourage you from going in. The employees are extremely friendly, and the mellow environment and the hip, electronic music give you a very calm and relaxed Zen-feeling. Incorporating a blend of modern and South East Asian design, the sitting areas features a large face of Buddha carved into plated water fountain and several live plants and flowers, making you tea experience visually enjoyable.
Store Owner Bee-Bee Liew said that the unique name and the inspiration to open the tea lounge is to “revolutionize” and change the public’s perception that tea is only “hot, boring, and bitter.” The creation of Ku Day Ta is to introduce the idea that tea can be “fun, trendy, and delicious,” Liew said.
According to Liew, tea has amazing health benefits which including high in anti-oxidants and having the ability to prevent cancer. Her goal is to “blend in the health benefits and the fun part together to allow people to experience the enjoyment of tea.”
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
