5Streets Leiden

Tea from the oldest shop in Leiden

Last Saturday I went shopping in one of my new favourite shops in the street: het Klaverblad, a teashop.

It is absolutely tiny and filled from top to bottom with big baskets and buckets of tea and coffee. It turns out not to be just a nice shop, but possibly even the oldest in Leiden.
According to this site (in Dutch) the shop was first established in 1769. As you can see in the picture above, it has a VOC sign outside on the front. This was the sign that it was officially patented by the United East-Indies Company (is that the proper translation?) to sell their tea.
In the '20s of the 20th century the shop was extended to include a coffeeroaster, but this was closed again in the late 1980s.

I stocked up on some nice teas to fill up my Japanese teatins, but I also need good, fresh coffee for my espressopot - I think that will mean another visit on the weekend! Nice.

posted by machiruda @ 11:02 PM