A. C. Perch - my cup of tea
in short…
historic tea merchant with a tea room on Kronprinsengade
this small shop still preserves some of its original furnishings from 1835
from organic Assam to White Temple tea - a must for tea lovers
I have an English great-grandmother – Grandma Gitta, a delicate, refined lady with neatly curled red locks.
Her passion for beautiful things has left us with several twelve-piece, ornate tea services.
And her traditional British fondness for a proper five o’clock tea has been passed on to us in every way.
Putting the kettle on, finding a pretty cup, some biscuits – sweet or savoury, a little milk or rock sugar – tea always brings that moment of calm to life.
For us, A. C. Perch is one of Europe’s finest tea houses (even if my British great-grandmother wouldn’t be keen to leave the field to the Danes).
So anyone who loves tea as much as we do should definitely visit this little shop in Copenhagen’s Indre By.
The first Danish East India Company was founded as early as 1616, and at its peak it imported significantly more tea than the British trading company.
Funnily enough, the history books tell us that most of it was smuggled from Denmark to Britain back then.
Presumably, the United Kingdom has therefore always been well ahead in terms of tea consumption.
However, Copenhagen’s Christianshavn was an important trading post in the 18th century, and many ships from the Far East docked here.
So, in April 1835, Niels Brock Perch decided to open his tea shop at Kronprinsengade 5, which still stands in the same location today, complete with some of its original fittings.
He incorporated the initials of his son, Axel Christian, into the name.
So anyone who visits the little A. C. Perch shop today to have tea leaves weighed out on wonderfully old-fashioned scales and packed into colourful tins is also immersing themselves in a piece of Danish history.
On the first floor, with an entrance at number 7, there is also a traditional tea room.
Anyone wishing to try the afternoon tea here should be sure to book a table in advance.
Since its foundation, A. C. Perch has been a family-run business, with up to three generations present in the shop together at some times.
Today, they work closely with the plantations and are also members of the Ethical Tea Partnership.
They offer fabulous organic Assam tea, which gets me going in the morning, several different varieties of Earl Grey – the classic choice for afternoon tea and, not to be missed - the delicious White Temple Tea, made from Chinese white teas, candied pineapple, mango, papaya, apricots, berries, sour cherries and orange peel, which is perfectly suited to a summer iced tea.
