Tehuset Java | Tea Shop Review

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Tehuset Java must be the biggest tea store I’ve seen to date. Usually tea stores tend to be small and packed with stuff, giving the impression of being little, cozy spaces. This one is indeed packed with stuff, but it’s by no means small. Java is located in the Northern part of Stockholm on Odengatan 29 and it’s a fairly new place. From the street it doesn’t look like much, but when you go in you can get blown away.

The store is divided into two rooms. The first room is smaller and holds teas from various brands – a very large selection of Kusmi teas, but also offerings from Fortnum & Mason, Dr. Stuart’s and Ahmad Tea. Here you will also find some english style tea ware. The second room, which is more like a hall, holds Java’s counter with house loose leaf teas, but also a selection of Kusmi loose leafs. There are about 170 house teas to choose from, including a basic Japanese, Chinese and Indian selection, flavored , herbal and ecological teas. Java also has their own house blend – Lundablandning. Moreover, there are countless tea products here, anything from contemporary tea ware, design tea ware, thermoses, cozies, electric kettles, cups, tea makers, pots, caddies – and the list could go on. There is an especially large amount of Bodum products. Anything needed for an afternoon tea can also be acquired here – various sweets, jams, cookies, biscuits and other grocery products.

The mood of the store is not exactly identifiable. To me, the larger room, looked rather sterile, where as the small room, which i liked much better, is slightly reminiscent of and English-style home in India. It feel more welcoming, but also exotic. My brief impression of the staff was good. This store is clearly richly stocked, and just that makes a big statement – I would call it a tea supermarket, although it’s certainly much more then that. Java is absolutely worth visiting, while in Stockholm.

 

Adress - Odengatan 29, Stockholm, Sweden

Buying tea online

Buying tea from online vendors

It is important to use trustworthy and reputable sources when buying anything on the internet – the same applies to tea. If you’re careful and you know your tea facts you can find many interesting and rare teas online, that you won’t be able to get anywhere else. Here are some of the more popular places among tea drinkers!

• O-cha – site might not look so hi-tech, but O-cha has some great teas to offer. They specialize in Japanese tea, anything from senchas to matchas. Here you can also buy kits, tea utensils and teaware, limited edition teas and organice offerings. Shipping is worldwide (from Japan), so anyone can enjoy their tea.
• Tea Spring – here you can purchase some of the best Chinese teas, especially greens. They offer black, oolong, white, yellow, green, herbal and pu-erh tea. The website has a clean look and there are pictures off all teas, so you can see what you’re buying. The orders are shipped from China to any place in the world.
• Adagio Teas –  Adagio is a very popular source for teas, it has a wide selection of teas from different regions – Japan, China, India, South Africa. On the list are also flavored teas, herbal, decaf and english classics and even more fun – you can create your own signature blends and name them! Your blend is then available for others to review and purchase. This site ships only to the United States but there is another site directed at European customers which you can find here.
• TeaCuppa – this store offers a mix of Chinese and Japanese teas – pretty much all the types and additionally you can buy tea gifts, gadgets and other accessories. Shipping is worldwide!
• Jing Tea – a UK based vendor that ships worldwide. Their website is very clean and easy to navigate, the teas here are well presented and overall it’s an enjoyable shopping experience. Here you can find great quality and rare teas from China, Japan and India. They also offer a selection of organic and fair trade teas.
• Jing Tea Shop – this is a place worth checking out for pu-erhs, greens and oolongs from China with fresh arrivals every harvest year. They ship from China to a lot of international destinations.
• Rishi – this company is not only an online vendor, as they also have stores and sell their products at various locations in the US. They have a truly rich offer including different varieties of Japanese green teas, Chinese tea, but even Chai, Yerba Mate and Iced teas. The majority of their offerings are organic and fair trade. Unfortunately shipping is only to the US and Canada.

Tea on Ebay

It is possible to buy tea on Ebay – two recommended stores are Yunnan Sourcing and Dragon Tea House. Yunnan Sourcing has black and oolong teas, but what they really specialize in are pu-erh cakes and good prices. They ship worldwide from China. Dragon Tea House on the other hand is a huge store offreing all kinds of Chinese teas and tea accessories. It’s worth taking a look at, because their listing is very rich and you certainly can’t say no to the prices.

Vogue Italia Shopping Tea Room Feature

Vogue Italia has asked us for tea advice for their extra february Shopping Issue. Many of the Tea Houses review or suggested by us have been featured! Among others Sing Tehus, Chaikhana, Tea Palace, and Mariage Freres. And here is the large version of the article.

 

How to choose and buy a Tetsubin

A Tetsubin (Cast Iron Tea Pot) can be quite a pricey investment and it is good to think about how you’ll be using it and what you want it for before buying one. There are many benefits of using a tetsubin, as it can distribute heat evenly and enrich water in iron, thus enhance the way your tea will taste. These are a few things to consider.

 

1. Are you going to make the tea only for yourself of for more people? If the tetsubin will be your personal tea pot, it can be small in size and doesn’t necessarily need to have a stainer, because you can put the leaves directly in the pot. If you are going to brew large amounts of tea in it, it’s better to choose a tetsubin with a stainer, because then you will avoid over-brewing the tea if leaves are left in the water for a longer time.
2. Tetsubins can come either with or without enamel coating on the inside. The uncoated pot will give off extra iron into the water and improves the taste of tea. If the water you are using is already rich in iron or minerals you should buy an enamel coated pot, as the extra iron might negatively affect the taste of tea. The coated pot is however the safest and most popular choice, the enamel will also prevent the pot from rusting.
3. Check the weight of the pot. Some pots may look like a tetsubin, but they are really made of clay or some other material. A real tetsubin made of cast iron is quite heavy. Also make sure that the pot is not to heavy for you and white trying it out it will weigh even more when there is water inside.
4. Look at the price. Real, quality tetsubins are usually not cheap. The prices often vary from 40 EUR (50 USD) and can even be as high as 150 EUR (200 USD).
5. Finally, choose a design that suits you. Tetsubins come in many different styles and colors, with different relief patterns. The decision is yours to make!

The Tea House Covent Garden | Tea Shop Review

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The Tea House located on a busy, crowded street in Covent Garden attracts a lot of attention of passerby’s with it’s huge, brightly illuminated window stuffed with all kinds of colorful things and gadgets. People stop to admire and stare because it’s hard to take it all in while just walking by. I have to say this is the most enticing shop window I have seen so far in a tea shop. The first thing I noticed after walking in is the overwhelming amount of products on the shelves, but also the crowd of people which makes it had to walk in there. The store has two levels, but there is little walking space, which adds to the cosy and warm vibe, but is also disadvantage.

The bottom level of The Tea House holds more then 100 kinds of teas, including teas form Japan, China, India and traditional English blends. Their brand teas are packed in simple paper bags with different color stickers (depending on tea type), but also in cellophane bags which was quite a disappointment for me to see. It’s nice to be able to see through the packet, sure, but since tea freshness and quality gets affected by the light I was not too fond of seeing that at a place specializing in tea. As for teas of other brands, they have some, but it’s rather a small selection. The prices here are defiantly a plus – good and adequate, anything from 1,5 GBP (1,5 EUR) upwards. Here is where I bought my first Houjicha. On the upper level you will find a big selection of books, pots, cups, English and Chinese style sets and china and all kinds of teaphernalia.

My experience of the service there was ‘cold’, the woman at the counter did her job, but wasn’t especially kind or smiling. The Tea House is a great place, with a few minor things that need improvement and a must see if you are visiting London (even if you’re not particularly obsessive about tea).

 

Address - 15a Neal Street, Covent Garden, London

Related products – The Tea House Houjicha

Five o’Clock | Tea Shop Review

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While in Warsaw I visited one of the twelve Five o’Clock tea boutiques located in Blue City shopping mall. It’s not the first time I’ve been there, but now I will finally write about it here. This shop offers a truly cosy, english atmosphere, yet exotic at the same time. It’s richly decorated, bot not too much for it to be overdone or kitschy. It resembles a wooden cottage prepared for Christmas time in dark green and red.

Five o’Clock has about 200 different types of tea and coffee from around the world on the menu, not to mention a lot of gift sets to choose from, jams, different kinds of sugars and teaware. The packaging has been polished to even the very smallest details – pretty tins wrapped in cellophane with stickers on, bows, shiny green/yellow tea bags with ornament and labels on. As a tea fanatic I can not stress enough how important a label sticker with tea name and ingredients is, even is the bag is just a regular brown paper bag. Gift sets of small samples of more exclusive teas also have a card where the teas are described. Some tea samples are available on the counter, so you can freely smell the teas. The staff was also nice and happy to help.  

I purchased various teas from there Classic Mate, Jade Ring, Jasmine Mu Dan, Jasmine Pan Long among others. One tea that I can really recommend (if not buying then at least smelling) is Yunnan Refreshment. It’s a green tea with citrus aroma and smells divine! It takes you to a completely different dimension. I’m really happy with this shop, it’s one of the best I’ve been to so far.

 

Address - Blue City, Al. Jerozolimskie 179, Warsaw http://www.fiveoclock.com.pl/

Related Products – Five o’Clock Yunnan Refreshment, Five o’Clock Classic Mate, Five o’Clock Jade Ring, Five o’Clock Jasmine Pan Long, Five o’Clock China Jasmine Mu Dan

Tips on finding new and rare teas

If you are a hardcore tea seeker and collector like me you will be on the lookout just about everywhere. A tea shop or a tea house is quite an obvious place to find good quality tea, but there are other places where you can find interesting teas.

Grocery stores and supermarkets often offer a dull selection, but sometimes you can find something special. Not all grocery stores are the same. I find that certain grocery chains have a wide selection of imported products from all over the world like for example Piotr i Pawel in Warsaw. There I found Tea Forte and Eden Grove, but they have much more to offer.

In Stockholm stores like Granit and Lagerhausthat offer interior decoration, cosmetics, bathroom and kitchen gadgets also happen to offer spices, some gourmet food and their own tea blends! Usually it’s not a wide selection (I think in Granit I saw 2 or 3 different teas) but it’s defiantly worth checking out.

Another place to look are asian markets and asian food stores. There you can find original, imported Chinese and Japanese teas (often jasmine tea, blooming tea, pu-eh, green ginger tea).

Delicacy food halls that have different stands with fresh fish, gourmet cheeses, pasta, sauces etc. almost always have a tea/coffee/chocolate stand. Usually they have a very rich selection, as those stands are almost like a tea store. 

Once I found tea in a store with tourist souvenirs, so i wouldn’t hesitate to look in places like that. I can imagine that in Japan tourist shops is the place to go if you want to buy tea (especially gift-packaged).

Not to mention that you can buy a lot of teas online, however that takes away from the satisfaction of finding them yourself. It’s a good way to aquire the teas you can’t find in your area. Well then, heppy tea-hunting.