TeaGschwendner Kuwait.

TeaGschwendner began in 1978, when Albert and Gwendalina Gschwendner opened a small tea shop in Trier, Germany; the company now counts more than 130 shops and trains its own tea sommeliers. In Kuwait the brand is run by Wethaq Al Wataniya, with a head office in Panasonic Tower on Fahad Al Salem Street in Qibla, and three shops: Al Hamra Tower in Sharq, Phase 2 of The Avenues in Al Rai, and Marina Mall on Salem Al-Mubarak Street in Salmiya. All three open every day from ten in the morning to ten at night.

The catalogue follows the German numbering, and every loose tea is sold by the 100 g with 250 g, 500 g and 1 kg sizes priced lower per gram. The everyday shelf is cheap for Kuwait: English Breakfast No.750 and Ceylon Nuwara Eliya at KD 2.800, Gunpowder at the same price, Lapsang Souchong at KD 3.600. Above it sit the estate and origin lots, a Darjeeling Avantgarde second flush, a Nepal Rarity, a Yunnan Golden Downy Pekoe, a Jeju green from South Korea, Formosa Pouchong and Milky Oolong, Silver Needle and Fancy White Peony, and a Mannong pu-erh.

Matcha is the second business. Organic Japanese matcha comes in 30 g and 50 g tins, Kei at the top and Ko as the everyday grade, each sold with or without a bamboo whisk, and the counter pours matcha lattes, iced shaken matcha and a dozen iced teas for KD 2.000 to 2.500. The MasterBag line puts the classics into pyramid bags at KD 4.000 a box, there are wooden gift boxes and tea tins, and a corporate programme supplies cafés and restaurants with teas and training in preparation.