Archive for the ‘France’ Category

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Nice’s La Route du Thé


2012
01.11

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Posted in France, Nice, tea shops | 2 Comments »

outside looking in

The other day, I mentioned that I was particularly thrilled about a tea shop I found in Nice. Decided that including La Route du Thé in a post with the others was not giving it the attention it deserved. I’ll actually go back and link to this post in the earlier one just to make sure no-one overlooks this place. That’s how convinced I am.


A tea shop is a tea shop, right? They’re all offer pretty much the same thing. Why make such a fuss about this one or that one? Well, once you’ve seen enough different establishments, there are some that just stand out. Sure the quality of the tea and tea ware they offer is paramount, but there’s something intangible that draws you to certain places. 


This place has that intangible thing for me. If I lived in Nice, this would definitely become one of my regular haunts.

plenty of selection

For one thing, the tea seller himself (Alain Bantwell) is clearly passionate about tea in general. But when he talked about his tea, his eyes lit up. You’d expect that always, wouldn’t you? And let’s face it: if you’ve dedicated yourself to having your own tea shop, you’re most likely quite convinced about tea. Once again, this guy had that and more. 




He spoke enough English and I spoke enough French that we were able to get our basic thoughts across to one another, but when he started showing off his tea…well, did I mention the ‘eyes lighting up’ thing? Pretty sure I did.


Then, he let his lovely assistant, who spoke English quite well (and insisted that I not include her name) tell me about the shop. She spoke highly of a Salon du Thé in the beautiful Cimiez neighbourhood of Nice called L’Altro Cose Cosi. I really must check that out next time I’m in town.


But back to the tea shop. That’s what you’re here for, right? 

tea ware and gift packages



I’d not heard of the brand of tea La Route du Thé, but it’s a relatively small company with five shops in Paris. You know I’m going to visit at least one of those when I’m next in the French capital. 


This is the only shop carrying their tea outside of Paris. Although he’d left me in very capable hands, Mr Bantwell came rushing out from the back of the shop because he clearly wanted to tell me something else that was important. 


It seems that all of the flavoured tea is made with all natural ingredients. He insisted that as a small company, they refused to use chemicals in any of their flavourings. Again, that this was important to him-that he made such a point of it, made me appreciate this shop all the more. He also knew I was based in Germany, where artificial flavourings are frowned upon. Most certainly.


I asked him about his selection of Darjeeling, and he showed me a Darjeeling Puttabong whose leaves were so fragrant that I almost fainted. When I enquired what reliable tea was that he’d ‘go to’ nearly everyday, he opened a canister of golden-tipped Yunnan ‘Celeste’ that almost made me want to swear off any other Yunnan. Almost, but not quite.

lovely teapot with a box of the house tea brand

Oh, before I forget about those flavoured teas: he showed off some Réglisse Thé (licorice tea) that almost made me forget I’m not very keen on flavoured tea. The Amandes Thé (almond tea) also smelled divine, as did the several sorts of Earl Grey that he had. Not my sort of thing, but the leaves and Bergamot oil were very fragrant.




If you’re in Nice, or anywhere nearby for that matter, I’d highly recommend taking a look at La Route du Thé (9 bis rue de Rivoli 06000 Nice Tel : 04 93 16 94 33). You’ll be glad you did. 

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a bit of Nice tea shopping


2012
01.07

Posted in France, tea shops, tea travel | 12 Comments »

So a year ago, I wrote A few Nice places for tea and that piece dealt with places to drink tea in Nice, France. Try as I might’ve this time around, I don’t have much to add in that regard. And the few new places I do have to recommend each deserve their own individual blogposts. 


But let’s say you do roll into Nice (or fly in, whichever the case may be) and you realise you didn’t pack enough loose-leaf tea at the beginning of your trip. Are you really going to be forced to go to Galeries Lafayette and buy a box of tea leaves from a major French tea brand? Well, you certainly can do that. Am not entirely sure how long the tea’s been sitting on the shelves, but it’ll certainly do in a pinch.

a wall of Mariage Frères

They have Mariage Frères, which is quite good. Then there’s Dammann Frères, which I don’t know well, but I see there boxes all over. Finally, there’s also Kusmi Tea. 

 

Kusmi Tea and Dammann Freres

Xavier’s done some research on Kusmi, and here’s his post on a radio interview that he transcribed and translated (An interview with Kusmi).Their tea (that I’ve seen) is flavoured and a tad pricey , so I’ve not taken the plunge and tried them.

Nevertheless, I’ve heard good things about this company, and I’m sure one day I’ll give it a go (Xavier assured me that they have unflavoured tea. I’ve not actually seen it).



The next place you might try is Bjeteman & Barton (11, rue Maréchal Joffre 06000 Nice +33 1 (0)4 93 92 70 22), which is apparently a high-end Parisian tea brand. Their shop in Nice is centrally-located and they have quite a good selection of both loose-leaf and bagged tea, as well as plenty of attractive tea gear. It’s not an Asian specialty shop, but for nice Wester-style teapots, cups and saucers, this is definitely an excellent destination. Again, this is an upscale establishment. I certainly didn’t say you’d be able to leave without lessening the weight of your wallet.

Here’s a photo of their front window:
Bjeteman & Barton
The place I was most impressed with last year and even more so now that I’ve gotten my hands on a copy of the book The Tea Drinker’s Handbook, which was written by Francois-Xavier Delmas the founder of Le Palais des Thés (3, rue de la Liberté 06000 Nice +33 4 93 81 56 16). Beautiful book (also written by Mathias Minet and Christine Barbaste) and beautiful shop. This place knows what they’re doing. I’d say this was the French answer to Teavana, but it’s likely the other way around. I suppose that the American chain could’ve modelled itself on this French one rather than vice versa. 

Here’s a photo of their storefront:

Le Palais des Thés

tea ware at Le Thé

Around the corner and several hundred metres away in rue Pastorelli is yet another tea shop. This one’s called Le Thé (39 Rue Pastorelli 06300 Nice +33 04 93 80 45 79), which is clearly more Eastern in appearance. They have an impressive selection of tea from around the world, but the tea ware (exquisite clay teacups and teapots) is clearly of the Asian variety.

Xavier noticed something before I did: many of the distinctive flavoured tea from Le Palais des Thés were identical here at Le Thé. To be clear, it’s most definitely not a franchise. Le Thé is selling tea under their own name, but the exact same names indicate the same source for their more auspicious blends.

To be candid, the few teas that we compared at both locations were a tad more economically priced at Le Thé, but it definitely wasn’t substantial. Not sure it’s worth going out of your way for the minuscule difference, but it is worth noting.

you can find the shop easily under the bright green sign

And now I have a bit of a cliffhanger for you gentle readers. The whole time I’ve been here, I’ve walked by one last  teashop, but always at the wrong hour. The shop is open often enough. It’s just that I was there too early or too late. Even today on my last day, I arrived right in the middle of their midday break. Here’s the thing, though. I was so impressed with La Route du The that I’ve resolved to write an individual blogpost for this shop. It was that extraordinary. 


So, even though I’ve given you a rather thorough review of some of the teashops in Nice, you’ll have to wait just a bit longer for my review of the one I enjoyed the most. You can barely contain your anticipation, can you? I know you all pretty well.