Tea in Brussels and Amsterdam

[Muadeeb]

We'll be spending a week in Brussels and Amsterdam soon and I'm researching fun places. There does not seem to be much tea culture in either city that I can find through Google. I see Nongcha in Brussels from searching this forum so I have added that, but I was wondering if anyone knows of any other decent tea shops in either city. I'm not looking for the English style tea shops with flavored blends, but some good Chinese/Taiwanese oolongs. If not, I guess I can just try some coffee shops....

[NPE]

If you find anything in Amsterdam, please let me know. During my trips there I have never found anything decent
Oh, maybe a good thing to know: Dutch coffee shops DO NOT specialize in coffee!!! They sell something of the more fragrant stuff meant for inhalation purposes
Stick to Starbucks if you really want some coffee

[Sasameyuki]

This list might be useful:
http://www.xpats.com/five-best-tea-shops

I have only been to Nongcha so I can't really comment on the other suggestions. If you discover a nice place please post it here on TeaChat!

[Muadeeb]

How did you like Nongcha? They don't have a website so I can't tell what they're all about.

I have heard about the coffee shops in Amsterdam and I don't think I'd go for the coffee since I've never drank it in my life. But if I can't find a good tea shop, I just might have to go anyway and drown my sorrows.

[Sasameyuki]

I go there roughly 4 times a year (I live in another city and I buy mostly from online shops). What I appreciate a lot is that they let me taste one tea every time I went there. I have bought from them some fantastic greens, oolong and yancha. Rather expensive though (sigh). They also have pu'erh but the one I once bought there is not my favourite. Usually they let you taste only one tea and clearly I should have tasted it before I bought it

The owner - I'm guessing the lady behind the counter is the owner- speaks French, Chinese and English. She's always very helpful and can tell you passionately about the terroir and taste of each tea.

Good luck with the tea hunt

[Maertin]

The tea store I'm definitely going to visit when in Amsterdam is Formocha, run by Amanda Yiu, who: "Because of her deep knowledge of tea, in the beginning of 2013 she was nominated ambassador of Chinese Pu Erh tea in Europe for the Xishuangbanna prefecture in Yunnan, China: the birthplace of tea."
http://www.euroteaexpo.com/spotlight.aspx

I had one Ali Shan brought from there by a friend and it was delicious.

http://formocha.nl
https://www.facebook.com/Formocha

[Muadeeb]

I was just logging on to say how I found this hidden gem in Amsterdam yesterday in Formocha, but I see someone beat me to it.

Amanda was very helpful, made 3 teas for me, and has a really nice space for drinking and talking. I felt quite welcome and the teas I bought were delicious and reasonably priced. A roasted tung ting, dark oolong with no name, (despite asking twice for a name), and an alishan. She has a cute fluffy dog too, who will play fetch with your wife as long as you need.

I went to Nongcha in Brussels earlier this week and bought a very good but expensive dancong. The lady behind the counter was not quite as friendly, and still charged me $6 euro for a tasting even though I bought $70 euro worth. Oh well, if the tea tastes as good once I have a chance to brew it at home, its still worth it!

Next stop for me is Aarhus, Denmark. If anyone has a recommendation there, I'd love to hear although I think I've already found the one gongfu shop there, Simply Tea.

[Sasameyuki]

I was very surprised to hear that you had to pay for the tasting in Nongcha; this has never happened to me. That Dancong does sound nice though. How many grams could you buy for those 70$ ?
Maybe I'll try it next time I go there.

[Muadeeb]

It was 100 grams. I wasn't surprised that I was charged, just that it wasn't comped after buying a decent amount of tea.

[Mterpstra]

I went to Tea's Delight just a few days ago. Nice small teashop. Small selection and mostly on the expensive side if you want the good stuff. I had a red tea from taiwnese wild tea trees called Yuchi wild. They don't let you smell anything because it's all pre-packaged by them. You can order all their teas though. They make it gong fu, but do charge a extra brew.
http://www.teasdelight.com/

Still need to go to Formocha hearing all these good stories. They were closed when I was in Amsterdam. Too bad.

[Yannick]

I dearly love Formocha. Amanda is a very friendly and knowledgeable person, and there's always a great relaxed atmosphere there.

It might be best to call ahead before you go out of your way to visit it to be sure the store's open. The website isn't really up to date and I wouldn't rely on that for information.