As I seated myself in the Halda Valley Tea Lounge, seeing the way the welcome drinks were served left me in awe.

A transparent chawan or Asian tea bowl, as it is called, had a brew of the bud and the tea leaf, which were a mild tint of olive green. Alongside it a glass jar of detox water with tangerines and lemons skewers. The small and fancy detailing in serving set the tone of the café. 

I was really missing an authentic tea house or lounge in Dhaka, and finally, this aesthetically pleasing place did justice to my imagination of how a tea lounge should look.

Halda Valley Tea is not something that needs an introduction to Dhaka readers, but their almost hidden café, located at YN Center 6/A Rd 113, Dhaka, serving tea that is exclusively plucked from their garden at Narayanhat, Fatikchhari Upazila, Chattogram, is worth a preamble.

The prosperous tea estate, spread around 500 hectares of land amidst the Khagrachhari and Sitakundu hill ranges, offers tea varieties that can be in direct competition with global tea market produce. Their distinctive emerald green and flattened leaves of green tea, finest young green silver hairy buds of white tea, clean chocolate brown with golden hue tea grains of strong black tea, and the famous Red Robe Oolong Tea which has an earthly aroma with floral hints, are a result of hard work to incorporate state-of-the-art technology and unpolluted environments to become one of the best tea estates of Bangladesh.

Recently, the lounge cheered our winter pitha season, with platters of bhapa pitha, chitoi with an assortment of dry fish, mustard, mint chutneys, soft pillow-like patishapta filled with coconut shavings drenched in molasses, narikel puli, date juice, rice flour flatbreads with duck curry, and the quintessential Bengali winter must-have dessert, the payesh.

Photo: Courtesy

"This was done on a trial or experimental basis; I sort of wanted to add a fun variation to our existing menu. The live station of pitha making always brings in an animated charm," says Dr Labiba Yasmin, Director of Operation, Halda Valley Food & Beverage.

The pithas were freshly made after the orders were taken, which kept the taste authentic. They sourced rice flour, and coconuts from the chawk in old Dhaka, but their date juice and molasses were exclusively ordered from Jashore. The only drawback of this festival was that it was not hyped enough, meaning Dhaka residents were not aware of it.

Halda Valley Tea Lounge has always been low-key when it comes to marketing, but trust me, their weekend breakfast is worth mentioning.

Their chefs are trained in continental and Mughal cuisine. They share a sample tasting with Labiba and she adds her spin to the recipe, if required.

"Our paya, served in the breakfast menu, is a game changer. It is the same recipe I use at home. Our rezala is an authentic Dhakai shahi recipe where I added grated mawa, poppyseed, and almond -- a note I took from my mother. I discouraged the chef's adding of tomato puree, which gives it an Indian twist. So, these small changes and variations have made our weekend breakfast a success," she shared.

All these rich deshi foods, gulped down with cups of chai like shahi, masala, malai or Mughal chai recipes, fill your mind with a kind of fuzzy warmth. They use tea grains sourced only from their garden; thus, these cups boast their favourite Golden Eyebrow Black Tea.

However, their Dragon Well Green Tea makes for their café favourite Moroccan Mint tea. Their Arabian tea menu is a crowd pleaser, especially the Egyptian karkade tea with rose petals. So, at the end of this gruelling week, try a soothing tea.