I was pleasantly surprised to see that putting a cloud of milk in your tea and indeed Afternoon Tea have their origins not in England, but in France. Or so Madame de Sévigné (1626 to 1696) records it and as reported on whatscookingamerica.net . (I suppose Claret is English, so fair’s fair.)
I have got back into tea lately, almost from the day I bought a nice expresso coffee maker, ironically, a Magimix, a French machine from Burgundy, one that makes a smooth strong expresso without any need for unrecyclable capsules (how could the Swiss do that to us?! How could you buy them?). The link here is to the British website for convenience, otherwise try Magimix.fr. But that’s coffee. And this is about tea.
Like many a paddy I have drunk tea since a kid, the thick wake-me-up kind. Lyons green label, Liptons, the occasional English breakfast tea. I remember in Laredo, the old 1960s cowboy western series, one of the stars was offered tea, spat it out and said it tasted like swampwater. That image influenced me too. Paris and being a student got me more into coffee I suppose. Up till then the coffee we drank at home was mainly Necafé instant. But thereafter I rarely drank tea from about 18 to last year when I was 43.
The first step back into the tea world was probably thanks to Antigone, an American lady in France whose country house we bought. She served us tea. Gaëlle my wife was transformed first: she had always hated tea, but envied the ceremony of the tea set, pouring the tea pot sitting deep in the Louis XVI médaillon armchair. Antigone’s soft fruity tea (from China!) suddenly meant that she could partake in that ceremony at long last. China seemed so much more mellow and mystical than Indian or Ceylon tea. I still love my Indian tea in the morning, and I have not abandoned the coffee either. Lately I bought a pack of Lavazza Matino, the red pack: it has robusta in it, and frankly it is delicious either filtered or through the expresso machine.
It brings back memories of Paris in the 1980s when a French friend bought it. At the time I only liked Carte Noir, a reliable but inexciting French brand (nice pack though). She said she bought Matino just to try it, for a change. Change. The thought had not occurred to me: yes, change, adventure, find out new ones. That’s how it is, with tea and coffee, and wine and beer…
If you are interested in tea in France, the main brands are Mariage Frères (well-known), Dammann (apparently the largest tea trader by volume in the world, but that needs to be verified) and there are one or two good supermarket varieties, such as Albert Menès, whose Earl Grey ( another Chinese tea, which was news to me) is really quite excellent. You can get it in “G20″ mini-supermarkets. We usually get Dammann from our local tea shop in the 1st arrondissement (district) of Paris; their English strong breakfast is good. This week I came acrss a small shop called Theodor, or rather, Thé O Dor (golden tea). Informed and very pleasant service, so much so that I bought a Japanese tea pot. The lady presented me with a sample of some spicey green tea with ginger. Not bad. Voilà.
