Houwerzijl Tea Museum

We love tea. We’re a family of  tea lovers – always experimenting and trying out different types and flavours. For me, visiting a tea shop is always a learning experience. For instance, it wasn’t till I visited a tea shop in Leiden that I knew blooming teas existed!

So when we planned a short trip to the North of the Netherlands and I saw there was a Tea museum in the region, I knew we just had to visit it.

The drive from Groningen through farmland and small villages was well worth it. We arrived just before lunch time, parked the cark in the carpark behind the museum and walked through the back garden with its arched walkways and stone-lined paths. 

The walls were full of juicy looking grapes….which we didn’t taste!

The Tea Museum, or ‘De Theefabriek’ is all about tea – its history, production and uses: medicinal to decorative.

Its origin and source from around the world is showcased all around the museum. You can also watch a video (in dutch!) about Tea.

There is a whole corner devoted to the Japanese Tea ceremony

It was nice for the kids to have a wonder around – see tea leaves in the flesh and understand a little bit about what they love to drink. It is quite small and compact but nice enough to spend an hour or two wandering around.

There were different types of tea on display

And a ‘fun’ section of cupboards with characters and buildings painted on. I think the kids had the most fun here! 

Each cupboard has an arrangement/set-up related to the character and tea so Barbie has her tea set, Alice in Wonderland  has a book open to the chapter on the Tea party and Fred Flintstone has his ground tea for soup.

We saw a special exhibition on Tea in life – everything from medicinal to art and sorcery in between.

The tea shop is stocked to the nines – all types of tea and utensils, from your regular teabags to handmade sewn leaves,  teapots, teacups, spoons, strainers and sacs. Cookies to go with Tea, Bath and Body tea packs and lots more. We  brought loads of tea back – more blooming tea and a heart tea strainer.  

We didn’t stay to have a drink but what I saw on plates looked enticing! Maybe next time.

The Tea Museum, Houwerzijl