Where to buy tea in Finland?..

[inkku]

i much like oolong.

[Solipso]

I myself am a tea nut. I've never had a cup of coffee in me puff. Unfortunately I can't advise you on green or white or scented teas. However if you go to the coffee chain Robert's they have a fine selection of teas. Not only can you buy a nice cuppa but if you look on the shelves behind the counter you'll see that they have individual teas in these big tupperware/glass holders. You can buy from 100g upwards ( I think) so you can also experiment. Assam,darjeeling, Earl Gray are all there. As I said i'm into black tea but if you check it out they may have some exotic varieties. I love Assam (milk and two sugars).

BTW, don't forget the chocolate digestives for dipping

[sammy]

*bump*

Just to report that I went shopping at thehuone the other day for some Chinese green teas - a nice shop at Eerikinkatu, recommended! They have a large selection of all sorts of Wulong & black teas as well...



Has anyone visited the other tea shop near Kamppi (on Freda) - http://www.ounce.fi/?

Sammy

[Rosamunda]

Nope, but I had a cup of tea with a neighbour this week and she had just bought a selection from there. The one we had was REALLY good (I can't remember the name but it was a black tea and very slightly fruity). I might go in there myself tomorrow on my way to work. Apparently the lady who works there is very helpful and seems to know her stuff. And I think it is worth a visit just to see the inside of the shop: it is beautifully arranged but a completely different style to the thehuone

[kay30]

I've been to Ounce. Very good selection and the woman who runs it is very nice, knowledgeable, and speaks good English, Finnish and Russian. She used to have a special where you could try 5 different kinds for a special price. She will let you smell all the different kinds of teas if you just ask and she is very patient in answering questions.

[sammy]

Penelope & kay30, thanks for the tips. I must visit Ounce, too, one of these days. Just now I'm stocked to the brim with tea

Tokyokan also has some really nice Japanese teas - the Tokujyo sencha variety is especially tasty - it comes in a light blue/green foil bag. Yummy.

[johnjoshuavillamor]

Actually, I believe. Where is a growing tea drinking culture, at least in Helsinki? I wonder why you have not found any good tea shops? (In addition to those ones on the website), there is one tea shop specializing in Japanese tea in Eerikinkatu, close to the corner with Annankatu. Robert Paulig sells loose tea at stockman and other places, there is a tea selling delicacy shop near Toolontori. To start with. Design forum cafe sells tea. I think all the shopping centres have tea shops.

_________________
Green Tea Diet Pills

[sammy]

*bump*

Just to let you know that Thehuone (Eerikinkatu 12) has relocated - although only a few metres from its old premises - it's now possible to drink tea there as well, but the main attraction is the very good selection of loose leaf & Japanese macha teas. They also sell (mainly Japanese) tea utensils.

Worth a visit! And just now there are some incredibly tasty first flush Darjeelings available.

http://www.thehuone.com/

[sinikala]

My wife buys from Tea Palace in Covent Garden. One of her colleagues tried some, liked it and ordered a load from them online http://www.teapalace.co.uk/ in case anyone is interested.

EOM

[sammy]

...online http://www.teapalace.co.uk/ in case anyone is interested.

Yep - on-line is probably a very good alternative for many, since alas such teas are not available in supermarkets... and AFAIK the shop I mentioned only operates in H. Dunno, maybe some other Finnish towns than Helsinki also have quality tea shops nowadays. The original "where to buy tea in Finland" is actually rather a silly question.. what you mean by "tea" defines the answer to a very large extent. But whatever the case, IMO supermarkets rarely sell the "good stuff".

[blaugrau]

I heard recently that there's also an (in Austria well-known) Austrian tea specialty shop in Helsinki, called Demmer: www.demmer.fi

Any experiences?

[sammy]

I heard recently that there's also an (in Austria well-known) Austrian tea specialty shop in Helsinki, called Demmer: http://www.demmer.fi

Any experiences?

Oh, haven't spotted that one earlier. Thanks for the tip!

I'll check it out one of these days! Apparently they've only been there for a few months.

[buldozr]

I don't dare plug in the samovar

Ach, technology... A proper samovar is powered by charcoal.

We buy our preferred teas at the Parhiala shop in the Hakaniemi red brick shopping mall. They have a selection from Forsman and a lot more. Good coffee, too.

[chinchan_thexfiles]

I, myself, preferably drink Chinese tea and a little bit of Japanese tea like matcha and sencha. (especially Chinese Oolong tea)
By the way, buying online might be a good idea too if you are not living in Helsinki.

I have found this shop from this blog that seems to sell many oolongs
blog : http://teeblogi.wordpress.com/category/ ... adepisara/
website : http://www.jadepisara.fi/

They website is in Finnish but you can mail the seller in English. (I think it's nice that Finns seem to know how to communicate in English well.)
I have order Tie Guan Yin sample and it's quite good.
(Nice that you don't have to order a big amount to find out that the tea is not good. When tea is not good, I tend to leave it without drinking or throwing it away. It's a bit waste of money, I know.)

I have visited Thehuone and The Ounce too. Their shops are quite close to each other, a few blocks away. Thehuone seems to have a lot more selection but the service from Ounce was nicer. If anyone has some other tea shops to recommend, that would be nice. I will go to Helsinki next weekend so it would be nice to visit some other tea shops

[sammy]

I, myself, preferably drink Chinese tea and a little bit of Japanese tea like matcha and sencha. (especially Chinese Oolong tea)
By the way, buying online might be a good idea too if you are not living in Helsinki.

I have found this shop from this blog that seems to sell many oolongs
blog : http://teeblogi.wordpress.com/category/ ... adepisara/
website : http://www.jadepisara.fi/

Thanks for the tip, I might order something from them, their Wulong teas seem interesting...

Apparently, they also make Wulong (Oolong) type teas in Thailand - spotted some in Thehuone but haven't tasted any (yet).

I'm not sure if there are any other "tea shops" in Helsinki than those already mentioned in this thread...? I haven't been to all the 'ethnic' / Chinese stores so I'm unaware which one has the best tea selection... but speaking of Oolong, some of those shops have Lipton's "Iron Buddha" teabags which give a surprisingly tasty brew. I rarely recommend teabags myself but these are pretty good! The package looks like this...