Here are some of my favourite teas.
- Mariages Freres – Marco Polo
- Barrys Gold Blend
- Nordvist Tiigerin Paivaumi
- Nordqvist Kaiserin Morsian
- Le Palais des Thés – No 25
- Le Palais des Thés – Thé des Amants
- La Compagnie Anglaise des Thés – Túron
- La Compagnie Anglaise des Thés – Fuego
- Mariage Freres – Wedding Imperial
- Nordqvist – Karibean Aurinko
I may have spelt the Finnish ones slightly wrong – sorry.
Winter is approaching and warm drinks are more and more important. For most of my life I lived off Barrys Gold Blend and I will always have a box of it to hand somewhere. But Marco Polo is just the most amazing tea going. It’s a pity that no one sensible sells Mariage Freres tea in Dublin (that I know about) because the delivery charges from France are fairly hefty. Likewise for the Nordqvist tea from Finland. And Kudos to le Palais des Thés who have a shop on Wicklow Street where if you’re really very lucky, they will also have the most amazing ginger bread for sale.
Just fantastic.
The thing is, when you grow up in Ireland, tea is almost a binary experience. Are you Barrys or Lyons? Tea is so much broader than this now and yes,. we have a few decent specialist tea shops around the country now. And there is a bigger selection of tea in the supermarkets (nod to Twining’s Lady Grey by the way – it’s almost on the list).
This is a good thing. There are more varieties of tea available in Ireland now than beer. This is something we may want to consider when wondering about the country’s alcohol problem.