News of: Saturday, July 30 2005,

New type of beer invented: Iki bier (green tea beer)

Arjen Hemelaar (from Haarlem, near Amsterdam) has invented a new type of beer, brewed from green tea. It is called Iki bier.

He got the idea when he lived in Japan for a long time. He has produced 200,000 bottles of the new beer, that are on sale in a few places in the Netherlands.

The beer is made of green tea and yuzu (a Japanese fruit), on the basis of a traditional Dutch recipe. The website claims it is a healthy kind of beer, meant to be drunk like wine, not in large quantities.

In Amsterdam, the beer is sold by Simon Levelt (shops at Ferdinand Bolstraat 154 (in neighbourhood 'de Pijp'), Prinsengracht 180, and at Stationsplein 15 (in the Central Station), and at restaurant brasserie Harkema, at Nes 67 (in the centre of Amsterdam).