Regarding tea, this trip to Nice hasn't been as dry and fruitless as the one to Athens, but it's not been nearly as good as I thought it would be. Paris spoiled me for tea salons, and I'd expected something similar here. It is still France after all.
There are plenty of establishments that advertise as Salon de the. The problem is that then you walk over and look at their menu, and realise that these places are tourist restaurants. I just cannot believe that the quality of their tea is worth the ridiculous prices they're charging.
There's a long and moderately interesting history of the English coming to the Côte d'Azur supposedly Queen Victoria being the most influential. With them they brought the tradition of tea drinking. I'm certainly not saying the French didn't or don't drink tea, but the British seem to have made it an integral part of their raison d'être.
So, just to be clear, I haven't given up on tea shops or tea salons here in this city. Am sure once the New Year's festivities have calmed down, I'll discover more. There is a place called the Scotch Teahouse right in the thick of it all, and I'm sure I'll write about a visit there.
The there's also Le Palais des Thés, which I saw on the first evening here. I found their teas in Athens, and was impressed with the attractive shop and the beautiful way they display their tea. Here's the entrance to the shop:
The shop looks inviting enough! But...do their teas pass the quality test?! =]
ReplyDeleteI own and enjoy quite a few Le Palais des Thés blends. So glad that you were able to find some tea. All the best with the Scotch Teahouse (please ask how they arrived in Southern France).
ReplyDeleteCôte d'Azur is expensive/full of tourists and in France, Salons de Thé can also be places where you have a bagged tea and a couple of pastries.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I have tasted so far, Palais des Thés is rather good.
They have a shop in Strasbourg and a colleague of mine buys there some Monk Tea (I don't remember the flavour sorry).
So far, most of the French tea companies I've added to RateTea.net have focused on creative and innovative blends. I have no idea what they taste like, as I haven't tried any. Perhaps that's what the French tea culture focuses on? Think about French cooking; it's subtle and involves combining a lot of things. But the same could be said of Chinese culture, and yet they focus on pure teas, so maybe there's no relationship.
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