After having stopped in a lovely chocolaterie and tearoom in Part 1, I wasn’t sure what the next chapter of Dutch tea adventures would bring. But, as luck would have it, the very next day we stumbled upon another tearoom. And this time it served—yep, you’ve guessed it—loose leaf tea!

Rejoice!

This was quite an unexpected occurrence, as we had been finding that good coffee was more prevalent than good tea in Amsterdam, and so we quickly abandoned our original destination and rerouted ourselves through the door of the teashop. Wijs & zonen (Wijs and Sons) are located just a few minutes walk from Amsterdam Centraal (Central Station), and so make for an easy stop for any visitors to the city. They describe themselves as “the meeting place for lovers of tea and coffee.”

What’s this? Not solely dedicated to tea?

But once we saw the list of teas they had on offer we decided to overlook this detail. With five varieties of Assam, seven of Ceylon, and eleven of Darjeeling, we were spoiled for choice. And that was just (some of) the black teas.

There were some interesting sounding blends on the menu, such as “Flowers of Amsterdam”, a “colourful black tea blend with a lot of Holland flowers”, or “Amsterdam Tea Pot, a green tea “with hazelnut leaf and hemp aroma…that makes you dream of Amsterdam.” But we decided to go with a tried and tested tea, and so settled on Formosa Oolong. This Taiwanese oolong tea has a slightly sweeter taste, which some people describe as peachy, or nutty. Personally, I don’t get either of those taste suggestions when I drink it, just a slightly sweeter taste. But tea tasting is so incredibly subjective that it’s hardly worth splitting straws. Suffice to say, if you haven’t tried this oolong tea before, I’d recommend it. It’s a little heavier than some oolongs, as it is on the more fermented side—perfect for warming up on a cold winter’s day in Amsterdam!

Wijs & zonen also sell bulk tea but we managed to resist the temptation to indulge. However, if you are visiting for a longer period of time and don’t want to travel with your own tea, it would be a great place to stop and pick some up!

See more of Elise Nuding’s articles here.

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