Amsterdam : Afternoon Tea at Greenwoods

15th July 2011. Written by Xin Li.
Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
I was on my way back to the B&B from the train station in Singel when I encountered this pleasant looking café located next to the canal. Noticed that they serve an afternoon tea set, I decided to check it out.

The café has some nicely arranged tables outside facing the canal for people-watching and a cozy in-door seating area that we took. The tea room dates was found in 1988 by Australian Gabrielle and Janet Isabel Pratt. It strives to use organic products wherever possible and bakes or makes their own bread or jams.

A variety of teas were being offered including the classics such as Earl Grey, Darjeeling and English melange, followed by more oriental ones such as Lapsang souchoug, Gun powder (a kind of Chinese green tea), Yu xue ya (White Tea), Xiu qiu (Jasmine) and there are even specials from time to time. They uses premium loose leaf teas from van Geels & Co. as well as Grand cru loose leaf teas from De Eenhorn.

We ordered the Deluxe High Tea Set (14.95 EUR) to share with a pot of Earl Grey. The tea room did not fuss over as to we had to order two sets which is good.

On the top tier, there were 4 petite sandwiches. There are cucumber, egg mayonnaise and a smoked salmon open face sandwich which is really nice. The smoked salmon open face sandwiches has cream cheese with chives and a lemon wedge on it which adds a refreshing citrus tone of the smoky salmon. Home-baked soda bread was used for the smoked salmon open face sandwiches.

The huge, rather pale-looking organic scone was served with strawberry jam and rich Devonshire clotted cream. Crumbly on the outside and moist in the inside with the right level of sweetness and pairs almost harmoniously with the Earl Grey tea.

Finally, we had the Organic Carrot Cake which was ambrosial. The moist, rich flavourful slice of sweet happiness marked the end of our afternoon tea. It also pairs nicely with the fragrant and mellow pot of Earl Grey that we had.

All this while, the service was excellent, items of the afternoon tea was introduced nicely to us as we ordered and the relaxing canal side ambience is awesome. Furthermore, they also have a tempting breakfast menu (which we did not have the chance to sample due to time constraints) and even provide picnics for customers on request!

Greenwoods English Tea Room and Shop

Address:
Singel 103
1012 VG Amsterdam

Telephone:
0031(0)20-6237071

Summer opening hours:
(1 April till 1 October): Mon - Thu 09:30 - 18:00 Fri - Sun 09:30 - 19:00

Winter opening hours:
(1 October till 1 April): Mon - Thu 09:30 - 17:00 Fri - Sun 09:30 - 18:00

* The kitchen closes half an hour before closing time.