Nestled away in cozy little courtyard near Paul-Lincke-Ufer, you’ll find Berlin’s best tea selection. This hidden gem, housed in a charismatic old brick-stone building, situated between a vinyl shop on one side, and a metal workplace on the other, is where Manu Kumar has his tea-laboratory and shop called ManuTeeFaktur, providing tea-lovers with exquisite blends of handcrafted teas.

I stumbled upon my first jar of Kahwah Kashmiri Chai (a mix of rose leaves, chai spices and green tea) by accident, while getting lunch one day in Kreuzberg at a small Ayurvedic cafe. It quickly became my favorite morning tea. Naturally, not too long after, I ran out. As luck would have it, the lunch place had run out of that tea-deliciousness as well, with no prospects for stocking up again. Similar to a junkie needing their fix, I desperately turned to the all-knowing interwebs to find another shop that carried this specific tea. Fortune was on my side, because Manu Kumar’s teashop, workplace and laboratory was only a hop, skip, and a jump away from my apartment. I quickly became a regular visitor, trying out different blends and simply enjoying the atmosphere of his workshop, where he mixes all his teas by hand. It wasn’t long before we sat down for an interview as well.

Picture by Jim Coad

An international life adorned by exotic plants

ManuTeeFakur – teashop, laboratory and, since a few weeks, also a small teahouse called the SecretTeahouse, is where you’ll find Manu on any given day. There he resides, enthusiastically explaining the health benefits of oolong tea, or why Rooibos is chuck-full of antioxidants, his dog matching his ardor by eagerly greeting any customer that walks in. Here you’ll hear the chatter of many different languages spoken by the steady flow of customers. Patrons come from all over the world, with many old friends dropping by. Manu is happy to chat with any curious visitor that may have just stumbled upon the shop.

In a way, the buzzing atmosphere is reflective of the way Manu grew up and how he has lead most of his life so far.
Manu: “Culturally, I grew up in India, attended a boarding school near the Black Forest in the Swiss Mountains, studied in Sydney, France and Italy, and ended up living in Tokyo for a while as well before settling in Berlin. As a kid, my home-life was also characterised by an international and lively atmosphere, with visitors from all over the world dropping in at all times, wanting to see my parents.
With my father being a doctor, an internist who was also educated in Ayurvedic medicine, and a grandmother and mother who have the greenest fingers imaginable, our house was filled to the brim with plants and exotic flowers. I learned to respect the power of nature and ancient recipes from a young age on. It’s no surprise then, that I ended up creating my own tea blends, based on old recipes from my childhood, and the recipes I picked up during my many travels.”

Picture by Jim Coad

Picture by Marco Baass

From crisis to lemongrass, to doing better

Blending teas wasn’t exactly the plan though. Manu started out as an architect-turned-artist, with one of his most well known pieces, an iron bridge called Fata Morgana, co-created with architect Tom Heneghan. The piece was visited by thousands of people after it was constructed at Berlins Museuminsel. After years of travelling, freelancing, creating art and working as an architect, Manu found himself a little bit lost.

“I went through what most would call a mid-life crisis, and my way of getting out of that was by focusing more on living healthy, by doing yoga and eating well. In a way, I was also looking for a new direction in my life. During my travels, I’ve tasted some of the best foods and teas in the world, and in that same period of trying to refocus and redefining things, I ended up at a small Vietnamese place where they served the worst lemongrass tea I have ever tasted – horribly sweet and artificial. I thought; ‘I can do better than that’, and I guess I did.”

The worst lemongrass tea ever sparked a period of growing and harvesting his own plants, and trying, tasting, and brewing his own blend until he was satisfied.

I didn’t learn how to brew tea, I drink tea,

Manu tries to explain. “It wasn’t about having certain skills to create the best teas, it was all about drinking and enjoying tea myself, and wanting to find the best way to do that.”

It didn’t take long before his friends and colleagues in a shared co-working space in Kreuzberg got hooked on Manu’s teas, even asking for more when Manu was away traveling.
“Brewing tea turned from being a hobby to my work within 2.5 years. At first I sourced my ingredients from small bio-gardens in Berlin, but I quickly had to go bigger. Nowadays I have to import some of my ingredients as well, making sure everything is still organic and all the farmers are paid a fair wage, only using sustainable farmers. In the end, I roast, blend and brew everything myself, right here in my tea laboratory.”

For Manu, a good tea blend isn’t just about the taste of the brew, or the health benefits of the specific plants and herbs used: “A good product to me includes the quality of life of the people who work on it. Each product I create and sell has a karma, and every product has its fair price – it’s up to the consumers to decide who pays for it.”

Image by Nicole Walter

A general workday in Manu’s life now not only involves roasting, blending and selling his teas; he is also involved in working out in the fields, harvesting the plants he’ll be using.
“My father and I had a good laugh about it just the other day,” Manu said. “As a young man, he had to work on the fields in India to support his family, and he absolutely hated it, vowing to create a better life for his family, which he did by becoming a doctor. Now he has a son who has travelled all over the world, even has two university degrees, and I am back on those fields, making the circle go round.”

The passion and hard work Manu pours into his teas are not for nothing; I have yet to go one day without one of my favorite blends, the Kahwah Kashmiri Chai, which turns out to be based on a family recipe of the Kumar family.
Manu’s latest passion project is growing and brewing Kombucha, “one of the healthiest drinks available nowadays,” he adds. Starting this fall, Manu will be hosting several Kombucha workshops at the tea laboratory, for anyone interested in brewing the fizzy health elixir themselves.

With tea come the sweets, and since a few weeks, one can also hang out, sip tea, and enjoy some vegan, gluten free pastries created by Monica Levy from Sydney, also known as TheLoveBiteGirl, at the SecretTeaHouse. It’s where you’ll find me as well, running by after the gym for a quick pick-me-up, or a new blend to discover to haul me over the cold winter days coming.

ManuTeeFaktur can be found at:

Paul-Lincke-Ufer 44A
2.Hof / Aufgang A
10999 Berlin-Kreuzberg

For more information on Manu’s workplace, the tea laboratory, Kombucha workshops and the SecretTeaHouse, check out the ManuTeeFaktur site.