Our Story

In the spirit of sharing our heritage and our vision for a modern-day, Asian-style tea house, we welcome you to Cha House.

Our Inspiration

Family Values and Kind Hearts

My sister Lulu (Ya Wen) and I, Julia (Ya Huei), were born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan. In the heart of the city, on Wuxing Street in the Xinyi District, we grew up working in our parents restaurant. It specialized in a popular, cold noodle dish and Taiwan Oolong tea.

Our parents would rise before the sun seven days a week to begin their daily preparations. Watching them, we learned to embrace hard work, and were taught to treat customers as though they were family. From their mentoring, an aspiration was born: to one day open our own shop, one that welcomed customers with warm service and quality food.

Our family balanced the busy lifestyle of that restaurant with frequent visits to the mountainous Nantou region of Taiwan. This is where our aunt and uncle maintained their fields of tea and where we made wonderful memories running through those rows of leaves. During these retreats, we were also exposed to the many aspects of tea plant cultivation and selection. These carefree yet formative experiences would eventually sow the seeds of our vision to open a tea house in America.

Pictured: An article in the Taipei city newspaper written on our noodle shop. That's me and my father.

Opening The Doors

The Dream Becomes A Reality

Fast forward to 2016, and we found ourselves both married with children and ready to rekindle our childhood dream. Lulu, her husband Andy, and I attended a well-respected tea school in Taiwan, advancing our education and nurturing our passion for Cha. We set our sights to the West and Andy began developing a business plan to get us there.

Before we could open we all had our parts to play. Lulu and I started by visiting the tea plantations of our childhood, selecting only the best quality leaves for our craft beverages. My husband, Liam, fine tuned the food fare in the kitchen. Andy utilized his business and financial background, and guided us forward with his entrepreneurial spirit.

We searched several cities across America, hoping to find a place we could call “home” for ourselves and for our vision. But, it wasn’t until Andy recommended a trip to Chapel Hill, North Carolina that we realized this would be the perfect community in which to introduce our love for the many unique presentations of tea.

Our journey began long ago. With the help of friends, family-members, and the city of Chapel Hill, all of whom we are forever grateful, our dream has become a reality. In the spirit of sharing our story, our heritage and our vision for a modern-day, Asian-style tea house, we welcome you to Cha House!

Our Vision

Our Driving Values

The Mandarin character for 'cha' comes together to form the shape of a home. In the same way, our core values, taken together, form the vision for our Cha House.

Authenticity

We know tea

The Taiwanese tea culture has evolved for 100's of years. We are proud to be part of that tradition. We make it our business to know all there is to know about tea, from field to cup. In keeping with this commitment, we strive to make every visit a genuine, authentic tea experience.

Community

It is our dream to be not just a tea shop, but part of something larger.

We believe in nurturing relationships. Whether through a simple, warm greeting, an environment in which guests feel comfortable lingering, or engagement with the people and issues of this area, we want to create and participate in a spirit of community.

Quality

We will not compromise our standards

Without quality, there is nothing. That is why we source our tea only from farms we know and trust, prepare house-made boba from brown sugar and use fresh fruit and puree. Every day, every decision we make is rooted in a commitment to the highest quality standards.