From selling tea on the market to owning your own shop in the Zoetermeerse Dorpsstraat. Brigitta knows all about tea and sells it with passion. Where did this passion begin? And how, according to her, do you drink the perfect cup of tea?
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Dislike for coffee
Brigitta’s love for tea arose 30 years ago from an aversion to coffee. She worked at a travel agency where there was plenty of coffee to drink. Only the coffee didn’t go so well, the tea did. “I started with English breakfast, but I also thought: it can’t be that there aren’t more flavors, can it?” The search for tea had begun. Her first find? forest fruits.
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Add a cookie?
“In the past, our customers didn’t get a cup of tea at the travel agency, then it was just book and done,” says Brigitta. After a few years this changed and a cup of tea became the new normal. “I said to my boss, you have to make sure we have a nice tea box so that people have something to choose from,” she says with a laugh. And so it happened. Brigitta made sure that the tea box was well filled and all customers could enjoy a cup of tea made by herself, with a biscuit.
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From love to business
After her meeting with her current partner and Zoetermeerder Menno, Brigitta moved to Flevoland for love at the time. She exchanged her job at the travel agency for her own tea company. “I started selling tea on the market over ten years ago with only five flavors.”
Brigitta’s tea was well received. She says: “I noticed that people liked being able to buy all kinds of tea, so I decided to expand the range with tea eggs, filter bags and other accessories.”
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Race against the clock
In December 2019, a few large Christmas markets were planned. But Brigitta thought it would be much easier if she also had a permanent place. “At the beginning of December, my sister-in-law saw a property for rent in the Zoetermeerse Dorpsstraat.” Brigitta and Menno made an appointment with the landlord and within a short time the room was for her.
Her partner Menno received the key to the building, while Brigitta stood with her stall in Ahoy.” Together with some friends, he went to work hard. They had refurbished everything within a week and we were open a week before Christmas.” In her shop she sells more than 100 varieties of loose leaf tea. Their house in Flevoland was exchanged for a house in Pijnacker.
Ouch, ouch, ouch, I’m burning
Brigitta is a tea sommelier in the making and can tell you everything about tea. “Tea has to swim, I always say. The more space you give the tea leaves, the better they give off the taste.” She explains: “Don’t cram it into such a small egg, but make sure you have a clean glass and that the water is at the right temperature.” The latter is especially important. “I sometimes hear that people find green tea bitter. But then they have a boiling water tap at home, fill the glass and pop the tea in it. Those leaves then think: ouch, ouch, ouch, I’m burning!”
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Uncertain future
What does she like most about her job? Menno yells from the front of the store: “Working with her partner, of course!” Brigitta responds with a laugh: “You’d like to hear that, wouldn’t you. But dealing with people is what I enjoy most. Not online, just human contact.”
Brigitta is perfectly at her place in the Dorpsstraat, but whether she can stay is still exciting. The property is for sale and there is no new owner yet. She says: “It’s kind of like a crystal ball with a bit of blur.” Of course she hopes to stay so that she can turn Brifleuri into a successful tea shop with an extensive range of teas and related items.