Servers pour hot tea back and forth between two metal pitchers held wide apart, repeating the motion until the liquid turns frothy and smooth. It is cha chak, the hand-pulled tea style common in southern Thailand and Malaysia. Owner Montida Lertkiatsakul compares the process to steaming milk for a latte. It is not about the dairy, she explains, but about working air into the liquid to create texture.
That aeration carries a brew designed to taste fundamentally different from syrupy takeout versions.
“Usually the Thai iced tea tends to have a lot of milk taste,” Lertkiatsakul said.
Her recipe changes that balance.
Cha Chak blends several strong black teas to keep the flavor bold and significantly less sweet, finishing with a slight bitterness. The green tea skips matcha powder for a green tea base scented with jasmine. Coconut milk is available as a dairy alternative, along with caffeine-free options.
The shop sits on the plaza across from Glo’s Diner, taking over the space left empty where a chain juice bar closed in 2024. It is Lertkiatsakul’s second business on the Hill, coming a decade after she helped opened Manao Thai Street Eats at 14th and Pine. She partnered with Suphanita Roumsak on the new project.
“It’s a good location and a good community,” Lertkiatsakul said.
Desserts share the menu with the tea. Cha Chak serves Thai tea chiffon cake, green tea ice cream lattes, and scoops of mango, chai, and green tea ice cream. A mango sticky rice sundae is also on offer, made with a house mango sauce during the months outside the brief spring window when fresh Thai mangoes are in season.
For visitors, the draw is a rare look at traditional Southeast Asian tea mechanics paired with a menu built from scratch. Between the live theater of hand-pulled brewing, an intentionally bold, less-sugary tea profile, and house-made sweets like the mango sticky rice sundaes and tea chiffon cakes, Cha Chak gives the station plaza a distinct craft alternative.
Find Cha Chak at 118 Broadway E above the plaza along E Barbara Bailey Way. Learn more at chachakseattle.com.
Subscribe to CHS to help hire writers and photographers to cover the neighborhood. CHS is a pay what you can community news site with no required sign-in or paywall. To stay that way, we need you. Become a subscriber to help us cover the neighborhood for $5 a month — or choose your level of support