Java Time

♫ ♪ ♫     Two for The and The for Two...….  

I always sing that in my head whenever I see the sign "The".  

"The" is the Danish word for Tea and is pronounced: Tea.  

Who knew speaking Danish could be so easy?  ha ha ha 

But what has The/Tea got to do with Java Time you ask?

Nothing!

With exception that they sell both The and Coffee at this little shop that I am about to tell you about.

The store is called Østerlands Thehus.  

The sign on the graffiti bikestand says:  Østerlands Kafferisteri.  In English,  'Øst' is East, 'Land' is Country, 'Kaffe' is Coffee, and "at riste" is a verb meaning "to roast" and 'risteri' is a place that roasts coffee beans.

To pronounce the words on the bikestand,

simply put 2 tennis balls in your mouth

and say:  "Caroline Wozniacki".

 Talk about location!! 

It's right across the street from the busiest public transportation station.

The following is my English version from the website page about the shop:

The Asiatic Tea House was founded in 1889 by a Danish naval soldier, who on the ship Valkyrien had participated in the English Queen Victoria's 50th anniversary in the year 1887.  The English Admiralty had offered a tea that made such a great impression on Søren Vilhelm Jacobsen's private life, that he took the recipe for the mixture home to Copenhagen.  Here he founded the Asiatic Tea House, where the special "Admiral Tea" is still one of the House's mixtures.  This tea has over the years been treasured not only by the citizens of Copenhagen, but by customers from all over the country.

3 generations of the Jacobsen family have owned and controlled the Asiatic Tea House until 1981, when the current owner, Evy Svendsen took over the company.  The House's reputation as the leading business for tea and coffee has been maintained and new areas in the retail and wholesale business for tea and coffee have been added.  With grandparents who had emigrated from Italy to Denmark around 1900, it was quite natural for Mrs. Svendsen to add to the old Tea House "Italian aroma" and gradually more and more Italian products became part of the House's assortment.  For example, the expresso machine for household use has actually been introduced by the Asiatic Tea House, which today is probably the business in Northern Europe with the largest selection of expresso machines.  Pasta machines and fresh pasta in Denmark are also the result of the "Italian touch" in the tea house. (although I didn't notice any of that when I was there)  After a visit to the Asiatic Tea House, food writer Anders Grøndlund wrote: "A fragrance of the East and a fresh breath from Italy." 

The 2nd generation of the Svendsen family, Torben Svendsen, has stepped in, which is especially seen in the coffee area.  There is a great expertise behind the House's large selection of exclusives coffees, in the sense that it was Torben Svendsen, who was the first in Denmark to introduce the concept of "specialty Coffee".  His acquaintance and collaboration with the world's leading coffee specialists in Specialty Coffee has led to the Asiatic Tea House today being Denmark's largest and most versatile business in terms of exclusive coffee.  A wide selection of the word's finest qualities is always in stock.  Asiatic Tea House also has a certificate to lead the original Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee.  The store's location on the corner of Nørrevoldgade and Vendersgade in Copenhagen is a known Copenhagen image and a visit to the Copenhagen City Museum shows the Tea House as it looked at the beginning of the 20th century  which is pretty much as it actually looks today.  Of course, there have been changes inside the store itself but everything has been done with gentle care so that the old distinguished merchant' view is maintained. 

Here now are a few pix from the shop that I snapped yesterday late afternoon.  Maybe I should have been there in the morning hours when the sun shines on the building - that was a joke.  Get it?  the sun shining in Denmark - get it?  

The silhouette in the logo of the shop is of Princess Marie.  She was the wife of Prince Valdemar who was the son of King Christian IX.  King Christian IX is known as the Father-In-Law of Europe.  That is another entirely long blog in itself.  But Princess Marie was married to Prince Valdemar who was the 3rd youngest son of King Christian IX.  It is her silhouette that is used on the shops products.  The letter above is fun to read and I did so with the help of Jens.  The letter is dated 1904. It gives the permission for the shop to use the silhouette of princess Marie.  The letter is from the secretariat office of the Prince Valdemar.  But we can't quite put it together because the prince died in 1938. All I can figure out is that the secretariat office was still doing official business because his wife Marie, was still alive in 1904.  She died in 1909 at the ripe old age of 44.

 Note to Mom and Bernie:  take a look on the shelf in the upper left-hand corner.

 You for Me and Me for You ♪ ♫ ♪