Dobra Tea
Restaurant, Coffee/Tea/Juice
vegetarian
$$ - average
Middle Eastern/Persian
$$ - average
Middle Eastern/Persian
Fine tea shop with light foods
This tea shop specializes in exotic teas from around the world. It also offers Middle Eastern snacks such as hummus, cous cous and baba ganouj.
The seating area features some small chairs and tables, but also offers a few intimate, elevated platforms where your group can sit on throw-pillows.
- Large Group-Friendly
- Quiet
- Wireless (free)
Added by conde.kedar on Jun 16 (updated Aug 2)
Dobra is a quaint, cool joint in the heart of State Street. I love the location. Dobra fills the "quiet tea house" niche that had been unfilled in downtown Madison.
The decor is exotic and I liked the elevated platforms where you and your friends can sit, cross-legged, and sip fine teas from around the world. There aren't enough places like this in the US.
This place does have a few issues, though. First, the teas are a much pricier than I've seen in other loose-leaf teashops. The selection is large, but it tended to skew toward Chinese teas, and I think could have used a few more Japanese, Indian, Sri Lankan and East African offerings. A cup of tea (which affords 3-5 steeps) will cost roughly $5, which is quite expensive.
The service was a bit slow; the first time I went, I ordered a three-cup tasting ($5.28 with tax) and it took over 10 minutes to actually get the order. I wasn't terribly impressed with any of the three: the "yellow" tea smelled of corn and was a bit too weak (normally they give a variety of green tea, but they had run out); the black tea was over-brewed and bitter; and the puer-eh was interesting, but not my cup of tea, to use a bad pun.
Dobra does, however, have some interesting smoked Japanese green teas and a decent selection of Chinese oolongs as well.
The cups and teapots needed a deep scrub as they were stained from previous brews. This isn't a huge issue, but it detracted from the elegant ambience and level of sophistication that Dobra is aiming for.
I also had a baba ganouj snack ($7), which was delicious---well-seasoned roasted eggplant, soft and fresh whole-gran pita bread, all with olive oil. Once again, it's a pricey dish, but the quality was high.
If Dobra Tea offered some vegan desserts, a more diverse tea selection, and sped up their service a bit, this place would be a gem. As it stands, it falls a little short of its full potential, but is still a worthwhile stop if you're strolling down State Street and looking for something different than a normal coffee shop.