Thursday, April 23, 2015

T = Tea and Tea Shops in Paris, French Faves - A to Z Challenge

A cup of Tea. . .join me for tea. . .how do you like your tea. . .tea for two. . .

TEA, even the word conjures the exotic, the fragrant, and the relaxing aromas of tea. How do I love thee? Well, let me see. . . there is Chinese tea, English Tea, French Tea, and Japanese Tea. We are discussing hot tea in this post, not iced tea,

Antique Bavarian Teacup, by DG Hudson

T = Tea and Tea Shops
A hot drink served in a porcelain or ceramic cup

The tea trade in France began to boom in the middle of the 17th Century. King Louis XIV, the Sun King, and the French East India Company searched distant lands for exotic goods, as did other countries. It was a time for exploration, a time to search for routes to the East. They wanted sources of tea, spices, silk and other goods.

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Following are a two well-known tea shops in Paris. The tea cups featured in this post are from my own collection.

Mariage Frères

30-32 rue du Bourg-Tibourg
75004 Paris
France, Marais, 4th Arr.

"Mariage Frères ** is a French gourmet tea company, based in Paris. It was founded on June 1, 1854 by brothers Henri and Edouard Mariage.

For over 130 years the company was managed by four generations of Mariage tea merchants who maintained a wholesale-only business from the Parisian warehouse. The first tea emporium and tea salon, located on rue du Bourg-Tibourg, opened in the same building where Henri Mariage had his offices over 150 years ago.

Today, the company operates over 30 Mariage Frères points-of-sale within France, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan. There are four Mariage Frères tearooms in Paris."

(This) **Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

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Real Old Willow and Chinese Motif Tea Cups, by DG Hudson

A Proper Cup of Tea. . .

My first cup of hot tea was from a Canadian friend, when I was new to Canada. She was born here. The next time, a couple of Scottish ladies I worked with told me exactly how to make the perfect cup of tea and what to have with it. I've had tea at the Empress in Victoria, BC, with crumpets and genteel white-haired British ladies dressed to the nines.

I soon discovered that nearly everyone has their own way of having tea. Some like it steeped a little, some like it steeped a lot. There are delicate teas, smoky teas, fragrant teas, green teas and black teas. There are blends, and there are different ways to drink it - with cream or milk, plain, with lemon, and evaporated milk or condensed milk. And now there are special varieties of tea at coffee/tea shops which don't even taste like tea (more like spice).

Porcelain Antique Teacup, by DG Hudson

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Angelina

Angelina, Tea Salon, WC

Founded in 1903 by Austrian confectioner, Antoine Rumpelmayer (1832-1914), Angelina has been a Parisian institution for more than a century. Located beneath the arcades of the busy rue de rivoli, across from the Tuileries gardens, this tearoom is most famous for its African Hot Chocolate, a thick, luscious concoction that has been compared to a melted chocolate bar.

Elegant service in a Belle Epoque decor, designed by architect Edouard-Jean Niermans, make Angelina a popular destination among tourists and locals. Sundays are especially busy and there's often a line-up at the door.

Note: Marcel Proust and Coco Chanel were regulars here.

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Do you like hot tea? Have you had tea in Paris or London? Can you get a hot tea where you live? Would you like a drink that tastes like a melted chocolate bar?

Please leave a comment to let me know you stopped by, and if you are part of the A to Z Challenge. I'll be sure to check your blog, and reciprocate. If you're not in the challenge, thanks for stopping by to visit! I try to reply to all comments.

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The A to Z Blog Challenge is brainchild of Lee, at Tossing It Out. Please visit the A to Z blog site to find out more information and the participant list. There are also Twitter and Facebook presences if you want to check those!