Paper & Tea

Paper & Tea was founded in Berlin in 2011 by Jens de Gruyter, a Canadian whose godfather was a tea trader and who grew up with an early affection for the drink before traveling widely through Asia and Africa and building out the concept that became P&T. The first store opened in Charlottenburg in 2012, built around an idea closer to an art gallery than a conventional tea shop: single-origin teas set out on open tables, meant to be smelled and examined before a customer commits to buying.

That approach has since expanded to multiple stores — including locations at KaDeWe and in Mitte in Berlin, plus Amsterdam, Düsseldorf and Hamburg's Hanseviertel — each built around a "Brew Bar" where visitors can taste before they buy. The range spans black, green, white, oolong, pu-erh, herbal and fruit teas alongside matcha and cold-brew options, organized as much by mood and moment — focus, calm, energy — as by conventional tea category, plus teaware from kettles to cups.

In a city built on coffee culture, P&T is widely credited with getting Berlin to take loose-leaf tea seriously again, treating it with the same curatorial seriousness usually reserved for specialty coffee or wine.