Inside Egypt’s First Artisanal Teahouse: Tchaï

At first glance, Tchaï appears to be a boutique teahouse in downtown Cairo, a serene nook of salted chocolates and tea-infused calm. But to call it that is to miss the point entirely. Tchaï is not a café. It’s a portal.

Nestled in the court of Tamara Haus, a landmark-in-the-making, Tchaï is the latest experiment from Karim and Hourig Mekhtigian, a duo whose creative universe spans product design, gastronomy, art toys, and spatial storytelling. Tamara Haus itself - a joint effort by Alchemy Experience, Al Ismaelia for Real Estate Investment, and a constellation of contemporary Egyptian designers - functions as both time capsule and time machine. A living dialogue between Cairo’s multi-layered past and its imagined future.

And at the centre of it all? A cup of tea.

“When Tchaï was still an idea,” Hourig recalls, “you [Karim] looked at me and said, I want a chocolate that goes like this.” The result? Tchaï’s now-iconic offering: dark chocolate laced with butterscotch, salt, and olive oil, spiked with seasonal infusions like rose or cinnamon. It sounds experimental, but lands like memory - familiar, comforting, inexplicably precise.

This, in essence, is Tchaï’s design philosophy: a cohabitation of Cairo’s cultural residues, interpreted through taste. The menu is fluid, seasonal, emotionally curated. “It’s comfort food - familiar flavours, put differently,” Hourig says. Think Armenian pastries alongside Egyptian herbal infusions. The eclecticism isn’t forced, it’s architectural. “Design and food are like puzzles,” Karim explains. “We build with ingredients the same way we build with lines.”

That scaffolding is visible across Alchemy Experience, the design studio Karim co-founded with Emy Hussein and Mohamed Fares. Their vision isn’t just to build objects or spaces, but to orchestrate encounters. Tchaï embodies this: a slow, sensory antidote to Cairo’s chaotic pulse. It invites visitors not just to consume, but to linger - to feel.

And this is where Tchaï breaks from its counterparts. “We don’t want to be too sophisticated,” Hourig says. “It’s about warmth.” Still, the sophistication is there - tucked behind the fig-scented candles from Analogue, in the art toys from Kyme, in the presence of D’HippO, a sculptural reimagining of Tawaret, the ancient protector goddess, now standing upright in the teahouse court like a myth retold for the modern city.

More than just a culinary concept, Tchaï is part of a wider project. Tamara Haus, set for full completion in 2026, is already a crucible of Cairo’s creative present. With upcoming hotel rooms, rooftop restaurants, and immersive design collaborations, the space expands what hospitality can mean. It is not about service; it is about sensation.