French Blend

Truly a unique and wonderful tea. With their innate sense of style and sophistication, the French elevate even the simple act of taking tea to an art form. From the delightful tea salons dotting every Parisian arrondissement to tea served at outdoor cafes nestled in the hills of Provence you will find French Blend the pinnacle of everything tea.

The Assam component gives the tea richness – like a brocade at Versailles whereas the Nilgiri and Ceylon gives the tea a saucy but sprightly flavor. From Kenya there is romance and mystery with superb golden color notes and from China there is the delicate perfume of Jasmine – so often used in Parisian perfumes. To cement the ‘French’ character, lavender from Provence was added along with some rose petals – a tea fit for the Latin Quarter along the Seine.

Tea became the fashionable beverage in French society toward the end of the reign of Louis XIV. Members of the upper class would gather to debate issues of the day and drink tea. Princess of Palatine remarked in 1706 that tea could make one chaste and therefore was better for Catholic priests than for Protestant ministers.

French art romanticized the tea hour in their paintings as artists such as Chardin and Boucher painted teapots into rich still-life works and portrayed society at festive teas set in exquisitely furnished rooms. They captured voluptuous women taking tea in the intimacy of their boudoirs or languishing at tea tables resplendent with silver and lace. One of the more ambitious teas paintings was Barthelemy’s 'Le The a l’Anglais' which he painted in 1776. The elaborate work depicts Mozart at the harpsichord performing for the gentry seated at tea tables in the Paris salon of the Prince de Conti.

What really makes French tea unique is the accompaniment of ‘one patisserie’. Careme (1783-1833), a celebrated patisserie chef declared a pastry to be one of the noblest forms of architecture. One of our favorite methods of taking French tea is with a buttery croissant, ‘pain au chocolat’ or ‘le muffin’ accompanied by a fruit confiture.

Hot tea brewing method: Bring freshly drawn cold water to a rolling boil. Place 1 teaspoon of tea for each cup into the teapot. Pour the boiling water into the teapot. Cover and let steep for 3-7 minutes according to taste (the longer the steeping time the stronger the tea). Add milk and sugar to taste.

Iced tea brewing method: (to make 1 liter/quart): Place 6 teaspoons of tea into a teapot or heat resistant pitcher. Pour 1 1/4 cups of freshly boiled water over the tea. Steep for 5 minutes. Quarter fill a serving pitcher with cold water. Pour the tea into your serving pitcher straining the leaves. Add ice and top-up the pitcher with cold water. Garnish and sweeten to taste. Please note that this tea may tend to go cloudy or ‘milky’ when poured over ice; a perfectly normal characteristic of some high quality black teas and nothing to worry about!