Tea shops · Amsterdam, Netherlands
Tea shops · Amsterdam, NetherlandsHet Kleinste Huis
A loose-leaf tea shop in a house with a 2.02-metre front on Oude Hoogstraat, beside the East India House, open since 2014.
Nine square metres, a door 65 centimetres wide and more than two hundred teas: the shelf space is measured in centimetres, the list is not.
The shop takes its name from the building: Het Kleinste Huis calls Oude Hoogstraat 22 the smallest house in Amsterdam, and its own history page traces the plot back to the 1730s. It stands right beside the gate of the Walloon Church and the East India House, built for the VOC in 1606. The house began as a single-storey workshop, and a print from 1787 is the first to show its three floors and bell gable. Since then it has held a cigar shop, a jeweller, an art shop and a flower shop.
The tea shop opened on 15 June 2014, after the house had spent twelve years as a home. Kirsten and Niels, a married couple, run it as a family business on a floor of nine square metres, and the list has grown to more than two hundred teas. The front is only 2.02 metres wide, and the shop itself warns that it is easy to walk past. Leaf is weighed to the amount you ask for, many regulars bring their own tins, and the shop says none of its teas carry artificial flavourings.
Most teas come in 50, 100 and 250 g or in a tin. The range covers Golden Monkey from Yunnan, a green Tie Kuan Yin, a Pai Mu Tan Superior, a tamaryokucha from Miyazaki, a Kagoshima matcha, a shu pu-erh sold by 100 g and a super grade rooibos. Around the tea sit teaware and accessories, plus chocolate, honey, nougat, fudge and liqueur. The shop runs tastings, including private masterclass and matcha sessions. Online orders can be collected at the counter, and the door is too narrow for most wheelchairs.
- prices
- 7
- tea types
- 7
- from
- € 6.95
- shops
- 1
Where it is
Centrum
Oude Hoogstraat 22, Amsterdam
Metro 51, 53 or 54 to Nieuwmarkt (exit Nieuwe Hoogstraat), then walk along Nieuwe Hoogstraat into Oude Hoogstraat towards the Dam; the shop is on the left.
What to buy here
Golden Monkey
Golden Monkey
from € 10 · 50 g
A Yunnan black the shop describes with caramel, nut and chocolate notes, sold from 50 g up to 250 g or in a tin, which makes it the easiest first bag to carry home.
See our page on this tea →Tieguanyin
Groene Oolong Tie Kuan Yin
from € 9.75 · 50 g
Tie Kuan Yin in its green style, sold as a green oolong and weighed out in the same 50 g steps as the rest of the leaf.
See our page on this tea →Pai Mu Tan
Pai Mu Tan Superior (Bai Mu Dan)
from € 10.95 · 50 g
A sustainably grown Pai Mu Tan in the superior grade, and the white tea to set against the greens and oolongs on the same shelf.
See our page on this tea →
The one worth the trip
Japanse Tamaryokucha Miyazaki
from € 16.75 · 50 g
Tamaryokucha is the curled Japanese green, steamed and then turned in a drum instead of rolled into needles like sencha, and this one comes from Miyazaki on Kyushu. The shop describes it as milder and less astringent than sencha, with umami and a light grassy finish, and weighs it out by 50 g in a house of nine square metres, next to a church gate from 1616.
See our page on this tea →All prices
Open a tea to see who else sells it.
| Tea | Type | Price | Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rooibos Super Grade | Rooibos | from € 6.95 | 50 g |
| Groene Oolong Tie Kuan Yin | Oolong tea | from € 9.75 | 50 g |
| Pu-Erh Shu | Pu-erh tea | € 9.95 | 100 g |
| Golden Monkey | Black tea | from € 10 | 50 g |
| Pai Mu Tan Superior (Bai Mu Dan) | White tea | from € 10.95 | 50 g |
| Japanse Matcha Kagoshima | Matcha | € 12.50 | 50 g |
| Japanse Tamaryokucha Miyazaki | Green tea | from € 16.75 | 50 g |
Teas you can find here
Do you work at this tea house?
Claim this page and we will hand you the keys: your own photo and logo, the shop described in your words, your tastings and events, and how many people read it each month. What we never hand over is the editorial part — the picks, the write-up and the prices stay ours.