Gourmet tea

There was a paper in the weekend selection from The New York Times delivered with Le Monde that got my full attention as it was about gourmet tea. (The original paper was published on Sept. 17 but I missed it.) The paper covers the surprising popularity of expensive tea (mini-)chains, including three French companies, Le Palais des Thés (pun between Summer Palace and Tea Palace), Mariage Frères (no pun), and Dammann Frères (no pun either!). As a tea addict, I can understand the appeal of selecting special teas of a much higher quality than the major brands, even at a significantly higher price. I was nonetheless shocked by some prices reached by 2009 summer Darjeelings like the Sungma-Turzum clonal wonder at about 300 euros per kilo! About 10 times more than the decent Twinings Darjeeling I get from the local supermarket… Since I got those two wonderful bags as a B’day present, as well as another bag of Rooibos red tea, I can testify of their incredible taste(s) and that they are truly gourmet teas of the highest order!