Many stories relate the origins of tea. In one popular Chinese legend, Shennong, the legendary Emperor of China and inventor of agriculture and Chinese medicine, was drinking a bowl of boiling water when a few leaves were blown from a nearby tree into his water. In another legend, Bodhidharma, the founder of Chan Buddhism, accidentally fell asleep after meditating in front of a wall for nine years. He woke up in such disgust at his weakness that he cut off his own eyelids. They fell to the ground and took root, growing into tea bushes… Real or imagined? These anecdotes illustrate the manifold virtues of tea: wisdom, focus, the search for truth, all of which are encouraged and transmitted by the Thé des Ecrivains.
WHEN THE FLAVOURS OF TEA EMBODY THE REALM OF LITERATURE
La rencontre d'un monde d'écriture et d'un monde de saveurs
In all likelihood, tea was born in China where it has been known since earliest antiquity. Although Zen Buddhism also largely contributed in its propagation, it is believed tea began travelling around the world during the era of the Tang dynasty, between 618 and 907, and its excellent properties were recognized at about the same time.
Green, black and white teas all come from the same plant; just like wine, the quality of tea depends on the kind of soil it is cultivated in, how it is cultivated and harvested and how the leaves and buds are treated. Tea’s multiple benefits on our health, particularly green tea, never cease to dazzle scientific research. After water, tea is the most widely-consumed beverage in the world; and, despite common belief, France is the country with the greatest consumption of tea in Europe.
Hospitality and exchange are the key components of the tea ceremony: the leaves infuse and create a bond between the protagonists. The more intimate act of tasting stirs the imagination; each sip recounts the story of a people or civilization and the variety of flavours is a tantalizing invitation to discovery and romance.
Sipping a black tea in a yurt on the mountains of the Hindu Kush, drinking a maté in Manaus on the shores of the Amazonia, sharing a cup of tea with the queen of England in Buckingham Palace, gulping down a lemon tea at the bistro of the train station before a departure, breathing in the rest of a chaï left in little pot made of terracotta and thrown on the ground in Calcutta, visiting a tea house in the Yunnan on a Spring morning, savouring a green tea in Kyoto in the shade of a cherry tree in blossom, intoxicating oneself in Marrakesh with a spice tea while leafing through the Arabian Nights or taking delight in a red hibiscus tea near the Kilimanjaro…
The sensorial constellation made up of all these images is what inspires the Thé des Ecrivains to create hedonistic products conceived to savour life, all the while keeping a firm grasp on modernity. The stationery collection is as adequate to daily needs as it is to extraordinary adventures (travel books, address books, notebooks to love…) and the range of teas offers the kind of respite associated with the sentiments of serenity and evasion provided by reading.
From the “Russian thé des écrivains” – in which the aroma of vodka mingles with the citrus fruit essence – to the “Chinese philosophers’ tea” - a blend of lotus, poppy and jasmine flowers -, as many different ways to grasp the German romanticism of Goethe or the Japanese detachment of Mishima… The tea is presented in beautiful round iron boxes on which are drawn the portraits of classical authors. Each of these ten top-of-the-range teas are refined and subtle concoctions meant to illustrate the literature of a particular country and time through the stimulation of the senses.
Green, black and white teas all come from the same plant; just like wine, the quality of tea depends on the kind of soil it is cultivated in, how it is cultivated and harvested and how the leaves and buds are treated. Tea’s multiple benefits on our health, particularly green tea, never cease to dazzle scientific research. After water, tea is the most widely-consumed beverage in the world; and, despite common belief, France is the country with the greatest consumption of tea in Europe.
Hospitality and exchange are the key components of the tea ceremony: the leaves infuse and create a bond between the protagonists. The more intimate act of tasting stirs the imagination; each sip recounts the story of a people or civilization and the variety of flavours is a tantalizing invitation to discovery and romance.
Sipping a black tea in a yurt on the mountains of the Hindu Kush, drinking a maté in Manaus on the shores of the Amazonia, sharing a cup of tea with the queen of England in Buckingham Palace, gulping down a lemon tea at the bistro of the train station before a departure, breathing in the rest of a chaï left in little pot made of terracotta and thrown on the ground in Calcutta, visiting a tea house in the Yunnan on a Spring morning, savouring a green tea in Kyoto in the shade of a cherry tree in blossom, intoxicating oneself in Marrakesh with a spice tea while leafing through the Arabian Nights or taking delight in a red hibiscus tea near the Kilimanjaro…
The sensorial constellation made up of all these images is what inspires the Thé des Ecrivains to create hedonistic products conceived to savour life, all the while keeping a firm grasp on modernity. The stationery collection is as adequate to daily needs as it is to extraordinary adventures (travel books, address books, notebooks to love…) and the range of teas offers the kind of respite associated with the sentiments of serenity and evasion provided by reading.
From the “Russian thé des écrivains” – in which the aroma of vodka mingles with the citrus fruit essence – to the “Chinese philosophers’ tea” - a blend of lotus, poppy and jasmine flowers -, as many different ways to grasp the German romanticism of Goethe or the Japanese detachment of Mishima… The tea is presented in beautiful round iron boxes on which are drawn the portraits of classical authors. Each of these ten top-of-the-range teas are refined and subtle concoctions meant to illustrate the literature of a particular country and time through the stimulation of the senses.
