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Tea in France

You probably think England as the country of tea and may guess they were the first European country for tea to be introduced, however, arrival of tea was earlier in France than England. The King Louis XIV, who was also called the "Sun king" started a habit of drinking coffee influenced by Turkey ambassador. Coffee became known as an exotic drink in France. In 1671, the first café in France was opened in Marseille. After 15 years from that, the café was opened in Paris. Meanwhile Magellan who was a premier during that time in France, habitually drinking tea for the health reason. In the 18th century, French trader went to the East to import teas. At the beginning, they imported more green tea for use of medicine. After the 19th century, tendency has changed. People preferred to drink black tea because of its rich fragrance and the indulgent taste. As a small episode on the history of tea in France, In 1660, Louis Nicholas Marriage was sent to the East such as Persia and India. Later, descendant of Nicholas Marriage started the world well known tea company "Marriage" . "Salon de te (tea house) became the place for women of wealthy family for the gathering while most coffee shops were filled with men. Drinking tea became fashionable for the nobility and wealthy. However, France never became a big tea drinking country. It is because French colony countries were mostly coffee producing countries. Consequently, the price of tea was much higher than coffee, and more people preferred to drink coffee. In the 1990th, the trendy of drinking flavored tea has arrived in France, and more people in France started to drink tea. Today, various kind of teas are sold in France. French people enjoy drinking tea in casual way and creating own innovative style which I think is the French way of Tea.

(Yoshie Matsumiya)