Asian Tea Bar and Art Gallery Infuse La Jolla With Custom Milled Matcha

Paru Tea Bar is unveiling a second, much larger specialty tea shop in the heart of downtown La Jolla on Tuesday, November 16 where the Girard Avenue space will operate Wednesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Originally launched in 2017 with cold brew tea pop-ups and a premium tea subscription box, the company opened its first retail location in Point Loma in 2019.

Founders Amy Truong and Lani Gobaleza met a decade ago during a study abroad program in Japan and bonded over their love of tea. At Paru Tea Bar, the now-married couple offers a large variety of loose leaf teas sourced directly from farms in East Asia and Southeast Asia as well as Japanese matcha milled in-house on a custom matcha mill from Kyoto which they say is the only one of its kind in California. The matcha and loose leaf teas will be available for retail as well as at the tasting bar alongside specialty drinks like hojicha lattes made with oat milk and cold brew tea sweetened with Okinawa black sugar.

The shop, which sells an assortment of teaware along with local products like Mikolich Honey and tea-infused chocolates from Deux Cranes, will not have a food menu but the owners plan to bring in area food producers for seasonal pop-ups.

Studio Luniste

Designed by Sunset Projects, the 1,200-square-foot space includes an art gallery called Bow Hall that will showcase ceramicists, illustrators, and other artists on a rotating basis. The first exhibit, from La Jolla High School alum Kristi Lin, features landscapes created with dried tea leaves from Paru.

• All Openings Coverage [ESD]