The Jitada family brings Chatramue to Orange County

There is a delicate art to prepare Thai tea in Chatramue, the Thailand -based tea store that has existed since 1945. Starts with Thai tea leaves of a farm in Chiang Rai. The leaves are placed in a long white filter on a shining silver jug, then another jug ​​of hot water is poured on the leaves. Tea is transferred forward and backward from one pitcher to another, a process that air and cools the liquid. It is a long and laborious tea method that lasts several minutes and requires patience and resistance.

“It's called Chak Cha,” says Sirine Singsanong Bunkua, standing behind the counter in the new Chatramue in Westminster. “Pour, pour, pour, pour,” he says, transferring the dark liquid from one jug to another.

Sirine and her husband, Nick Bunkua, will open the first chatramue in Orange County on Saturday, in a small shopping center east of Magnolia Street in Avenue Stock Exchange.

The store will specialize in Thai tea, an orange drink made with fragrant red tea and a mixture of condensed milk and ice evaporated milk. Chatramue's version is forward, with the rich front and center red tea, softened only slightly by milk. You can adjust sweetness to a level that you prefer, but 70% feel balanced and not too sweet.

“Chatramue was actually the creator of Thai tea,” says Nick. He grew drinking Thai tea from the various Chatramue locations scattered throughout Thailand.

“It's the type of milk tea that you can have several times a day,” he says. “Every time I get on and get out of the train there, I buy it.”

Chatramue was initiated by the Han family, who emigrated from China and settled in the Bangkok area in the 1920s. They opened a tea store, selling hot teas imported from China. After the original store was bombarded during World War II, the family moved and adjusted their offerings to accommodate the warm climate. The Chatramue brand began in 1945 and began preparing red tea and serving it with milk and ice sugar. The drink is now served in Thai restaurants and coffee shops worldwide.

Sirine and Nick will try to stay as faithful as possible to the original Chatramue, using the Chak Chak method to do the teas for the store. In addition to the classic Thai Roses tea obtains its floral nose from the infused rose petals with tea leaves and seasonal peach tea has a taste of dry fruit.

It was important that Sirine, a self -proclaimed “amateur silly”, offered a variety of silly. There are green pandan and boba of brown sugar, or you can opt for Konjac Pearl or Konjac Brown Sugar Jelly.

The store will also sell a variety of chatramue tea leaves to make home and a lot of merchandise.

The owner of Jitlada, Sarintip “Jazz”, is at the door of Chatramue Oc, his daughter Sirine sings the new Thai tea store of Bukua in Westminster.

(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)

While there is an location of Chatramue franchise in both the center of Los Angeles and in Rosemead, the bunkuas have the rights of the Chatramue franchise in Orange County, something that Sirine says it has been a dream of his for decades.

When she and Nick began to leave more than a decade ago, their relationship revolved around tea and dumb. Every weekend, the couple was driving for Orange County in search of new Boba stores. Sirine became Tokyo Disneyland and Walt Disney Imagineering project manager. The two continued talking about opening a silly tea store, but they never thought it would become a reality, despite the fact that both families were in the restaurant business.

Sirine's mother is Sarintip “Jazz” Singsanong, the chef-propietary of the Jitlada Southern Thai restaurant in the Thai city. Sirine spent a good part of her childhood at the restaurant, watching her mother and her uncle, the late Tui Sungkamee, inventing the complex and burning curry of the restaurant, salads and salt. His cousin Jarratporn “Sugar”, Sungkamee's daughter, directs the restaurant with Singsanong.

The family is often seen as unofficial ambassadors in Thai culture and food in southern California.

“Bringing a Thai brand to Orange County with something modern like Boba, but having it is something that takes him back to our Thai roots, it is really important for us,” says Sirine. “We consider ourselves from Thai Americans and this is our way of helping to teach Thai culture to a new generation that loves Boba and cares about natural foods.”

From the left, the training manager Linda Sreewarom and the partners Nick Bunkua and Sirine Singsanong Bunkua raised glasses in Chatramue OC in Westminster.

(Jenn Harris / Los Angeles Times)

And as in Jitlada, Chatramue is a family issue.

Nick and his late mother, Wanida Sreewarom, operated the Thai Nakorn restaurant in Stanton. His cousin Linda Sreewarom now has the restaurant. She and Sugar spent a week training with Chatramue in Bangkok and served as training managers for the staff of the Westminster location.

While jazz does not have an official role in Chatramue, she says it will be a frequent element in the store.

“She is a crazy lady because she has two children and never has time, but she loves Boba and did not give up her dream,” Jazz says about his daughter. “We have the opportunity to spread more Thai culture to people and I am very proud that they are doing it.”

If everything goes well, the plan is to open more Chatramue stores in Orange County.

“I want to give everyone the opportunity to learn more about our culture,” says Sirine. “It is for each generation.”