October 2021 – Discovering Tea

Tea sommeliers through and through

29 October 2021

Palais des Thés makes a number of commitments to its customers including having a good knowledge of each growing region, knowing where and how tea is made, by whom and in what conditions. If one wants to give the best advice, to introduce people to tea in the best possible way, it is essential to understand how to choose tea, how to taste it and how to convey one’s sensory impressions. What motivates my colleagues is to be able to share their passion and help others appreciate tea. They are experts, enthusiasts and guides. They are tea sommeliers through and through.

Thinking of friends

22 October 2021

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.

Memorable encounters

15 October 2021

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.

New regions

8 October 2021

I’m often asked if there are teas, regions or plantations yet to be discovered. But a tea sourcer is not the same as an explorer. You don’t suddenly stumble upon tea factories in the middle of the jungle that no one knew existed, or a part of the world where no one had any idea that delicious teas could be made. We know where tea grows. There are some tea-producing countries and regions that are unknown to the general public, but not necessarily to a tea sourcer. Tea is grown in New Zealand, Cameroon and Chile, for example. It also grows in Hawaii, the Azores, and even in France, in Brittany and the Pyrenees. The real work of the tea sourcer is not so much about discovering unknown places; rather, it involves keeping track of plantations that are still in the learning phase, preferably plantations that show strong potential (which means an ideal soil and climate), and supporting them, so that one day we can bring you delicious teas from these new regions.

That’s life

1 October 2021

The job of a tea sourcer requires patience. Tea grows at its own speed; you can’t rush it. Manual harvesting requires precision, as does each stage in the processing of the tea. And lastly there is transport, which essentially takes place by boat, truck and sometimes horseback for the first stage in the tea leaves’ journey.

We must also take into account random events – an accident, a strike, political tension and, of course, Covid.

A year and a half ago we bought a delicious green tea and an equally delicious oxidised raw tea from small producers in Shan state in northern Myanmar. No-one knows where they are. They might be on one of those flimsy boats you see on the country’s waterways, unless they haven’t left the farm yet. That’s life.