Murmures & Délices, L'Autre Thé is a tea house overlooking the Square Gardette on Rue Lacharrière. On a particularly nippy day a few weeks ago my friend and I wandered in with hopes of finding something to warm us from within. We were welcomed by a charming woman who sparkled with enthusiasm as she encouraged us to explore their enormous tea selection with our noses. We delved into the beautiful rainbow colored boxes and explored the aromas of mango, coconut, ginger, cinnamon, orange, almonds, cloves, vanilla, apple, etc. The "pina colada" tea was so convincing I got a hankering for some goslings! We smelled as our hostess excitedly told us a little about the place.
She explained that the owner and tea connosieur Arnaud Dhénin, after extensive travels throughout India, Asia, and Africa, decided to open a tea business in Paris in order to educate his compatriots about his favorite libation. His teas feature organic ingredients from around the world, blended according to his well trained palate.
Today you can order bags or colorful canisters of tea online or stop by the boutique/salon in the 11th and have a sniff before you make a selection. Since my friend prefers black teas and I prefer green, we opted for an assortment of Christmas blends to cover our bases. For a black tea we picked Noël à Paris, a blend of three Chinese black teas with vanilla, almonds, apple, cinnamon, cloves, and rose petals. For a green we picked Noël à Moscou which was a more delicate, soothing version of the Noël à Paris. read more