The nature-friendly design of the Padme tea shop in District 10 creates a sense of tranquility

A tea shop offers room to explore inner spaces.

Padme is taken from the Buddhist mantra, Om Mani Padme Hum, which means “Salutations to the Jewel of consciousness (the Mind) which has reached the Heart’s lotus.”

This is the inner journey that the tea shop, located in an alley off the crowded Cach Mang Thang Tam Street in Ho Chi Minh City’s District 10, seeks to facilitate.

From the outside, the Padme Tea Shop is just a small house. Its interior, though, makes it strikingly different from other beverage serving establishments.

The shop is decorated with curtains, calligraphic works and lotuses, bathed in a soft, yellow light that creates a calm atmosphere, the quality of which is enhanced by the meditative music performed by Chinese musicians.

Padme has three floors, each of a different style, perhaps recognizing the diversity among seekers of inner peace. The first floor gives off a distinctly Japanese feel, where guests can enjoy a leisurely cup or more of hot tea, and work or entertain themselves with their laptops by using the free wifi service.

The second floor is designed as a meditative space, which is like a mirror where everyone has to stop to look at their egos and think about themselves and other people with forgiving attitudes. This is where the shop owner holds meditation courses.

The third floor is Padme’s most striking feature, imparting an ethereal feeling to customers as they sit on a glass floor and look at tiny fish swimming leisurely underneath.

Padme’s target customers are office workers, students and people interested in meditation, yoga and qigong, all of which can be practiced in private sections.

The beverages here are mostly made from the lotus flower. The tea carries a mild fragrance of the lotus and is aesthetically served with the flowers and petals. One serving of tea for a group of customers costs VND20,000 (US$1.2) a person.

The tea shop, located at 285/188 Cach Mang Thang Tam Street, is open from 3 p.m.-10:30 p.m. on weekdays and all day long on weekends.

Reported by Diem Thu