Forget boxes of chamomile, or even English teapots. A new specialty tea company in Berlin's affluent district Charlottenburg offers a different route to high-end ginger, lavender and Moroccan mint teas. Paper & Tea, which opened its doors on Dec. 1, is a far cry from your typical over-the-counter — almost pharmaceutical — approach to tea shops.
"We do something that is easy to self-direct, self-discover tea," says Jens de Gruyter, the Canadian founder and owner of Paper & Tea (P&T for short). "I think this is how tea will be presented in the future. It's unencumbered."
P&T is primarily a concept shop, but it feels a lot like a museum. Roam around the wooden islands with long, thin drawers to find roughly 70 teas from seven countries. Samples are laid out in round glass trays with information cards outlining their region, brewing instructions, background and taste.
"We're really into educating people about fine teas with a pure tea foundation," de Gruyter says. "It's really about the tea."
There are white, yellow, green, oolong, black and herbal teas, along with scented and blends teas, many of which are organic. The Shangri-La from Ilam, Nepal, is strong scented and floral in taste, while Green Rooibos from South Africa is mild and grassy. The Pu'er white tea from Yunnan, China, remains a rare find. Popular elsewhere, it's not as highly circulated in the European market, according to de Gruyter.
There is no cafe, but there are "Gongfu" tasting stations. A nod to Chinese tradition, the sit-down tea samplings help customers "concentrate on the flavor and aroma of the tea in small sips," says de Gruyter, who drinks up to 40 cups per day when hosting the tasting stations.
The godson of a tea trader, de Gruyter grew up in a household where tea was highly valued. "It has been in my head for years, two years of traveling and six months of execution," he says of the shop. "It's to dispel the notion of specialty teas, which are actually not really expensive. This isn't Starbucks on the go."
Paper & Tea, Bleibtreustrasse 4, 10623, Berlin; paperandtea.com.
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