Un
thé chez Mariage Frères
Right beside Studio
Marais , 20, rue du Bourg-Tibourg,
one street from
Studio Sicile , rue du Roi de Sicile,
3 mn walking from apartment PLACE des
VOSGES.
A 'Mariage' Made
in Heaven
Mariage Frères and the French
Art of Tea
by Karen Burns
Mariage
Frères : 30, rue du
Bourg-Tibourg. Tel :
01.42.72.28.11.
If
you love tea and you find yourself in Paris, sooner or later
(probably sooner) you'll make your way to the most fabulous French
tearoom of all:
Mariage Frères. There you'll be dazzled by the selection of more
than
500 teas, the colonial décor of potted palms and natural rattan,
the
handsome waiters all in white, and the extensive menu of quiches,
salads,
cakes and scones, many flavored with tea. Most of all you'll be charmed
by
the tearoom's atmosphere of antiquity, of settled elegance, of
this-is-the-way-it's-always-been.
And for good reason. Mariage
Frères is the oldest tea
importer in France. The company ("Mariage" is the family surname;
"Frères"
means "Brothers") started trading in tea in the 1660s when Nicolas
Mariage
traveled to Persia, the East Indies, and the Moghul Empire as part of a
trade
delegation. A descendant, Jean-François Mariage, was still
dealing
in tea 150 years later in the northern French town of Lille. In 1845,
Aimé
and Auguste, two of Jean-François' sons, founded Auguste Mariage
& Compagnie in Paris.
The company as we know it came into
being on June 1, 1854, when
brothers Henri and Edouard Mariage (Aimé's sons) founded Mariage
Frères. The firm has stayed in the same building - at 30, rue du
Bourg-Tibourg -
all this time. Today Mariage Frères has three tearooms in Paris
and
a recently opened boutique named, aptly, Thé Français.
More than any other person or group,
Mariage Frères has been
responsible for creating what can justly be called the "French art of
tea."
What is the French art of tea? Mariage
Frères will tell you
that, first and foremost, it is diversity. France has never been a big
tea-drinking country. Mariage Frères says that this is an
advantage because the French never developed fixed traditions regarding
tea, and so they're open to new flavors, new blends, and new varieties.
Maybe they're right. Today the French drink the widest variety of teas
in the world - from Darjeeling to Gyokuro to Lapsang Souchong. Perhaps
even more popular are the blends, which at Mariage Frères are
given intriguing names: Genghis Khan,
Balthazar, Yin Yang, Zodiac, "Thés des Poètes Solitaires"
(Tea
of Solitary Poets), and "Elixir d'Amour" (Elixir of Love) are just a
few.
In fact, since Henri Mariage
came out with a tea/chocolate blend
in 1860, the company has brought mélange (French for blending)
to
a high art. Mariage introduces on average ten new teas every year.
Well-known
creations include Thé Sur le Nil (sencha flavored with
citronella),
Thé l'Opéra (green tea flavored with fruits and spices),
Marco
Polo (black tea flavored with Chinese and Tibetan fruits and flowers),
Montagne
de Jade (Chinese green tea with small bits of candied fruit), and Noel
(black
tea flavored with Christmas-y spices, including orange and vanilla).
These
teas, and 500 others, are on sale by the gram at the tearoom.
The "French art of tea" also means
attention to How It's Done. Just as
in food and wine, with French tea the emphasis is on preparation and
presentation. Thus Mariage Frères takes credit for what Paris
tea insiders say
is the first principle of tea preparation: infusing the tea for the
proper
amount of time, at the proper temperature, and then removing the leaves
from the pot before serving. This is the heart of Mariage's "Five
Golden
Rules for Making Tea Successfully."
And they practice what they
preach. Your tea at Mariage
Frères is served to you in an insulated white porcelain teapot
and is perfectly
infused. Peek inside - not a leaf in sight. Never too strong, never too
weak!
Mariage Frères also takes
credit for tea-scented jellies. The
original recipe was developed in 1986 and is called "Gelée Extra
de Thé." Made with lemon juice, sugar and pure tea, the jellies
come in Earl Grey, Tarry Souchong, Noël, Marco Polo and other
flavors. The tea jellies
are strictly a French creation. "Even the English did not think of
this!"
the company brags.
In addition to the tea jellies, the
shop at the Mariage Frères
tearoom has many other temptations. You can get lost among the teacups,
teaspoons, tea containers, tea-scented candles, tea-flavored cookies,
tea candy, and tea books. And, of course, teapots. Mariage
Frères teapots are given grand names (among them: Tzar
Alexandre, Fortune, and "Fils du Ciel," which means Son of Heaven), and
they are exquisite.
One thing is sure, you won't go away
hungry, or empty-handed. You don't
have to be French to enjoy the French art of tea!
PARIS
MYSTERIOUS :
Trocadero
and Palais de Chaillot history
Arc-de-Triomphe
Les Champs-Elysées
La Place de la Concorde
L'Opéra Garnier
Père-Lachaise Cemetery
Pigalle
Notre-Dame
Musée d'Orsay
Musée du Louvre
Montmartre
La Madeleine
Buttes-Chaumont
Les Invalides
Ile St-Louis
Bastille
Tuileries Gardens
Saint-Sulpice
Musée
Marmottan
Passages and Galeries
Palais-Royal