And then you have someone talking about tea in Italy and the OP never mentioned Italy.

Again Massi I am sad that you decide to make an open debate personal. I'll leave it at that. Your input is invaluable in many subjects.

To Twist, yes you will get a good cup of tea but with a tea bag and hotish cup of water in which you can dunk it (generally it will be fine), if you need tea and tea pot rather than bags you are out of luck in the vast majority of cafes you walk into.

Bring your own tea.

There's Kusmi tea - but I don't think you can drink tea there. So buy loose tea there to take to restaurants.

Kusmi Tea has a cafe on the Champs-Elysées.

A cup of hot water and a tea bag on the side is what you get in Italy, too. I've totally stopped ordering tea out, because you can't get a decent cup of tea out of tepid (by the time it reaches you) water. I order what Italians know how to make: coffee.>>

bvl, I agree with you there with the honourable exception of a tea shop I once came across in Venice which did an excellent cuppa.

One of the problems for Brits or for those with a taste for British style tea is that the tea bags they use [and they always are tea bags] have different tea in them to those available in the UK. Frankly they make, for me, a rather insipid brew, but I appreciate that they are catering for local tastes.

Twist - whether you will find the Afternoon tea experience available in Paris rather depends on what you are looking for. If it is Earl Grey or similar with nice cakes and pastries then you will probably be very happy. If OTOH you want a good strong cuppa with which you might be served in Bilbo's home county of Yorkshire, you're probably going to be disappointed.

My fav tea spot in Paris is the beautiful Gobelins salon cafe in the Plaza Athenee hotel on Ave Montaigne. Excellent afternoon tea, elegantly served. I always get darjeeling Margaret's Hope, but there are several choices. Not a teabag in sight. Next is Cafe de l'Esplanade, the Costes cafe by Les Invalides. Mariage Freres teas. Not a full afternoon tea service but you can certainly order a pastry if you wish.

FWIW, we regularly drink Mariage Freres' white tea at home and find nothing insipid about it.

My DH's favorite Mariage Frères tea is French Breakast; I prefer Wedding Imperial. We had a good French version of afternoon tea at Le Pain Quotidien, the one on the Place du Marché St-Honoré. Fine breakfasts there as well.

WT/Underhill - I don't know Mariage Frères teas at all. if they provide loose tea then IME it is more likely to be stronger than the type usually found in tea bags outside the UK.

It's hard to imagine that anyone with interest in Paris wouldn't know Mariage Frères' gourmet teas. They were founded in 1854. It's like not knowing Berthillon ice cream, or Pierre Hermé chocolates, or Eric Kayser baguettes, or Ladurée macarons.

I don't recall ever seeing a tea bag at Mariage Frères. It's loose tea sold by weight.

Mariage Frères teas do, indeed, come in teabags. In muslin bags as many upscale teas, but bags nonetheless.

https://www.mariagefreres.com/UK/1-t...n_tea_bag.html

"Mariage Frères teas do, indeed, come in teabags."

Why wouldn't they? Just because I don't use tea bags doesn't mean there aren't millions of tea lovers who do.

Heavy sigh.

It's hard to imagine that anyone with interest in Paris wouldn't know Mariage Frères' gourmet teas. They were founded in 1854. It's like not knowing Berthillon ice cream, or Pierre Hermé chocolates, or Eric Kayser baguettes, or Ladurée macarons>>.

lol, just lol.

It's hard to imagine that anyone would think that it is necessary to know about the tea that is available there in order to be interested in Paris.

>> It's hard to imagine that anyone with interest in Paris wouldn't know Mariage Frères' gourmet teas. They were founded in 1854. It's like not knowing Berthillon ice cream, or Pierre Hermé chocolates, or Eric Kayser baguettes, or Ladurée macarons.

Nonsense. Unless people think that Paris is nothing more than a bunch of brand names. Do you write tourism book, bvh? If you do, I'd like to buy some, just for its entertainment value.

I thought it was pretty lol myself, annhig. Most of those things are of no interest to me in the "brand name" way, so though I've lived and visited many times over 50 years it apparently doesn't equal "interest". Fascinating in it's perversity.

Who is this person? Is it a new screen name for an old ______?

Annhig, I'm a person who considers Darjeeling tea to be lightweight, and Earl Grey contaminated with bergamot.

<i> Who is this person? Is it a new screen name for an old ______?

</i>

Or maybe a sock puppet.

I am not much of a tea drinker, but I would like to know what horrible thing happens when tea has to filter through a bag, since apparently it must, considering some of the replies here.

Since I live in a neighborhood with both Indian and Chinese shops, it is no problem at all to buy loose tea or to have it served in the local ethnic restaurants. Nevertheless, even they sell a lot of their tea in bags, muslin pouches or whatever and since I sort of consider them to be the experts, it looks to me more like an orange juice debate -- with pulp or without pulp.

Since on the rare occasions that I drink tea, I do prefer it to be strong, if I am using teabags, I just put in two of them.