TeaChat

No, unfortunately not tea... or just some scented teas that are sold under the marketing concept of "the french art of tea"

Just to say I'm a regular reader since months, member since a few weeks and that I thought it was time to introduce myself.

As others 'round here (Vacuithé, David R. and some more), french people do not spend their time drinking only coffee and wine in thoses little picturesques "cafés" in Paris.

No, no, no! We do drink tea and sometime good teas when we can grab some over here (feasible but not always easy) or elsewhere on this little planet, thanks to the web.

So, I've been drinking tea for almost 15 years. I got started with some Qimen from Mariage, which was definitely not the worse beginning with. I got hooked on wulongs quite quickly and I'm still deeply fond of yanchas, dan congs, and rather traditionnaly manufactured baozhongs. Some greens too along with sheng pu'ers (old and young).

As a lot of TCers, I've spent some energy (yeah, and some money too) on finding nice teaware but never got addicted (... OK, message from Mrs : " Don't trust him, he spends his time looking at the "Official/Different Yixing Show Off Topic!" as if it was Playboy (you can replace with any other magazine you wish, it works the same)").

Spending a month in China last year got me to open a new eye on "leaves & water" and I quite changed my way of having tea and sharing it around. Hope to get back there soon (and also in Taiwan and Japan).
Hangzhou, Yangshuo, Suzhou, Huang Shan, Beijing, all wonderful places and a lot of good tea moments shared with the chinese people.

Let's continue sharing thoughts on tea, seems like it's a good place down here! Happy to join

Fabien

Welcome!

A year or so ago I had a chance to visit Paris and though my advance scouting discouraged me from spending much time visiting local tea shops (the bakery and chocolate pilgrammages just had a much higher priority given my lack of interest in most mixed/flavored teas), I did have a splendid herbal tea at a local restaurant.

Much excellent tea was enjoyed, however, as my first stop out the door of the hotel was to buy an inexpensive electric kettle to prepare my own tea in my room.

Ahhhhhh Paris.........

Sure a nice place to visit from abroad!

And Paris is definitely not the worst place to find acceptable teas. Some teaplaces there are even quite interesting. After it depends on what you look for and what amount of money you want to spend. It becomes difficult when you have really precise needs.

To be complete on the french teahouse situation, there are, for my sake because I'm far from Paris, some other closer places to get good tea from : Grenoble, Chambéry and Geneva. I know Geneva is not french but I'm 20 minutes away, not such a big deal.

Welcome!
I visited Paris summer 2003. Unfortunately, that time I was not so much into tea, but local bakeries and small chocolate stores. Oooh… I probably remember Godiva Chocolate Store better than the Eiffel Tower.

Well, I'm glad you took off your beret and set down your baguette for long enough to type a hello!

Just kidding. I hope that's obvious. Welcome.

I probably don't really fit those french clichés but I do have a fair bread consumption... fresh crispy bread, a hint of salted butter (brittany origins) along with some nice long jing is a common breakfast at home. As long as it is a good long jing of course.
But beret... no, never had one!

Welcome to the forum, Fabien. I am looking forward to seeing you around the forum. Be sure to check out TeaDay and share with us your daily teas!

Thanks everybody for that warm welcome. Accompanying my reading with a sweet (but a bit flat to my taste) Tie luo han from a little tea-teaware-antique furniture shop in Geneva. See you in the dedicated topic(s) then.

Fabien wrote:

But beret... no, never had one!

Wow. I am dizzy with culture shock.

Long jing with bread and butter sounds excellent!

Welcome !

Hi David, how's going my "1 day later it was mine" shui ping hu teapot?
What are you finally feeding her with (yes, I think about this pot as feminine, don't really know why...)?

It is working (great) on gao shan cha.

I will talk about it soon enough on my blog, don't worry. Lionel has some other great pots if you feel like filling the void...

Welcome to TeaChat Fabien! Looking forward to seeing you around.

Thanks Mrs Chip. I'll sure be around discussing of our common and healthy addiction!

To David : Lionel HAD some other pots
Seems like old teapots are not suffering from the crisis. But no regrets, they were a bit too large for me, I'd rather pick a smaller one.