Emotions

Years of happiness and adventure

4 March 2022
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My colleagues gave me a wonderful surprise by helping me to celebrate my new decade, and I’d like to thank them from the bottom of my heart. Each of them wrote a note on the tea of their choice so that during my long journeys to the other side of the globe they will always be by my side.
The Palais des Thés story began 35 years ago. I’ve dedicated more than half my life to it and nothing touches me more than the smiles and joy of the people who are part of this beautiful adventure.

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A wish for balance

7 January 2022
A wish for balance

The passage from one year to another reminds me of crossing those monkey bridges you find in mountain regions. Made of rope or bamboo, or even steel, some can feel shaky to walk across and others more secure, but what they all have in common is the absence of piles and a swinging sensation that comes from the somewhat rickety deck. Balance can often feel precarious.

In these times disrupted by a virus that made has made a difficult period worse, I wish all of us safe passage into the new year and hope that we leave behind the dark clouds of 2021 and step into a healthy and happy 2022 filled with clear blue skies. I would also like to pass on another wish that is just as important: that we take care of our beautiful planet once and for all and think about the future generations in everything we do.

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For all our friends who produce tea

24 December 2021
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When I ask Bente, who makes the best teas in Tanzania, how Palais des Thés helps her and her community, her answer comes loud and clear: “It pays our employees!”

Then she adds: “It provides stability for the plantation and for our employees… And it makes us proud, of course!”

She continues: “Thank you for your support, and thank you for helping us to make a name for ourselves in the world of tea. When you come with your team, you show me and everyone here that you believe in us and that we can depend on you!”

I wish Bente and all our friends who produce tea, as well as our customers and employees, very happy holidays!

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Tea Day

17 December 2021
Tea Day

There is some sort of International or National Tea Day three, four or five times a year. Different organisations, some more official than others, have decided that such and such a day should be dedicated to tea – 15th December, for example. Fine. For me, every day is a tea day, starting in the morning with a lovely cuppa when I wake up. Then a bit later, a tea does me good, then later still I’ll have a cup of tea with colleagues and another with friends. I have one in the evening too – a chai, in this case – and enjoy inhaling its delicious scents. A day without tea would be pure misery!

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Thinking of friends

22 October 2021
Thinking of friends

The terrible weather in India and the Himalayan regions has caused many casualties and considerable damage, and has had severe consequences in several tea regions including the Darjeeling district and the eastern valleys of Nepal. Southern India was not spared. The devastation was caused by violent rains that led to landslides and tore up roads and bridges, on top of human activities ranging from deforestation to the construction of dams and unchecked urban expansion.

We should pay more attention to our planet and think of future generations with greater compassion at all times and in everything we do.

For those so inclined, I suggest taking some time today to make yourself a delicious cup of tea from Darjeeling or Nepal, to drink it while contemplating a beautiful landscape, for example, and to think of our friends.

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Memorable encounters

15 October 2021
Memorable encounters

When people ask me which trips have left the greatest impression on me, I naturally think of the breathtaking landscapes, the Himalayan foothills, the active volcanoes rising up behind the tea fields. I remember the beautiful Japanese tea gardens, the multi-hued trees of Sri Lanka standing in a sea of Camellia sinensis. I recall the long train journeys through all kinds of jungle, and all the times I’ve sat down on a mountain road just to contemplate the beauty of the world. But the experiences that have marked me the most are the human encounters. They are in essence all unique and so many memories come to mind. Among them, the tea pickers of the Golden Triangle from one or other of the region’s ethnic groups (shown here, two Dao women), who we would come across at random in a tea garden hidden deep in a remote forest, after hours of walking.

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In the Soviet era

23 September 2021
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In Georgia, the soviets left behind residential buildings that look as if they were built in the middle of nowhere. In the days when tea was an intensive industry, these buildings had a purpose. But today, with the rural exodus and many plantations disappearing under weeds, the same buildings evoke a bygone past.

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Peace!

25 June 2021
Peace!

One silver lining of Covid-19 is that it has brought some tranquillity to beautiful places that are often overrun by hordes of tourists. In Myanmar, Inle Lake is one of those wonderful destinations that it is important to protect. There’s no doubt that, for the planet, the pandemic has brought some peace.

I hope you all have a good summer and I look forward to seeing you back here on 10 September.

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The end of our journey

18 June 2021
The end of our journey

I long for life to return, in all its glory, in every aspect.

I long for our senses to be restored and for us to rediscover, when we walk, the sense of smell.

I long for the taste of things to come back to us; the taste of tea, of course, the tea offered to us when we are greeted at the end of our journey.

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Brothers and sisters

4 June 2021
Brothers and sisters

More than ten years ago, I met someone (very) famous and something he said to me changed my life. That person was Richard Gere, a man who loves Darjeeling and the Himalayas, and is a follower of Buddhism. The day I had the pleasure of meeting him, he asked me what Palais des Thés was doing “for our brothers and sisters in the Himalayas”. I was stunned when I heard that expression, “our brothers and sisters in the Himalayas”. It changed my life. Since that day, every time I see a picker, I think of his question, which caught me off guard. I think of his way of naming the people who live in those mountains, and since then, it is no longer pickers that I see, but brothers and sisters. And that changes everything.

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