Cha jin, rue Pasquier, is a great place in Paris for Japanese teas. A little messy, but beautiful stuff.
La Maison des trois thés, rue Gracieuse, is unbeatable when it comes to chinese ones - especially pu-ehr. Nice place, excellent service, and an impressive choice.
Mariage frères is a respectable house, but it is specialised in perfumed teas and can't hold the comparison with the aforementioned adresses when it comes to non-processed products.
Le Palais des thés really doesn't have anything worth mentioning to offer.
Both of the first two houses are quite expensive, but their prices are completely justified. Their teas are so good that they still taste great after three or four infusions. Not to say anything about pu-ehrs, which I generally keep using for three or four days.
Pu-ehrs are the only chinese teas I still drink; I gave up on anything else the first time I drank a real sencha - because, to put it simply, it was not about taste anymore, as for pu-ehr the first time I smelled it. I always found extremely boring and unnatural the way people like to show their appreciation of something by naming the fragrances and tastes they perceive in it. As for myself I don't care if the tea I drink tastes like dried apricot or brioche, because it doesn't tell anything about the reason why I love it, which relates to something far more personal and deeply rooted: to put it simply, the teas I love the most smell and taste like moments, not like food.
La Maison des trois thés, rue Gracieuse, is unbeatable when it comes to chinese ones - especially pu-ehr. Nice place, excellent service, and an impressive choice.
Mariage frères is a respectable house, but it is specialised in perfumed teas and can't hold the comparison with the aforementioned adresses when it comes to non-processed products.
Le Palais des thés really doesn't have anything worth mentioning to offer.
Both of the first two houses are quite expensive, but their prices are completely justified. Their teas are so good that they still taste great after three or four infusions. Not to say anything about pu-ehrs, which I generally keep using for three or four days.
Pu-ehrs are the only chinese teas I still drink; I gave up on anything else the first time I drank a real sencha - because, to put it simply, it was not about taste anymore, as for pu-ehr the first time I smelled it. I always found extremely boring and unnatural the way people like to show their appreciation of something by naming the fragrances and tastes they perceive in it. As for myself I don't care if the tea I drink tastes like dried apricot or brioche, because it doesn't tell anything about the reason why I love it, which relates to something far more personal and deeply rooted: to put it simply, the teas I love the most smell and taste like moments, not like food.
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