Mariage Frères
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Mariage Frères is one of the finest well- known French tea companies, based in Paris. It was officially founded on June 1, 1854.
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[edit] Origins
In 1660, the Compagnie des Indes and Louis XIV appointed Nicolas Mariage, a specialist in and traveler to the Persian countries, to convince the Shah of Persia into commerce with France and their products. At the same time, his brother Pierre Mariage, is sent as a special envoy to Madagascar for this same purpose.
More than a century later, one of Pierre's descendants, Jean-François Mariage is head of a colonial commercial company of tea, spices and food products based in Lille. In 1820, Jean-François's three sons, Aimé, Charles, Auguste and Louis, established a family firm. In 1845, Aimé and Auguste opened in Paris, another firm, now called Auguste Mariage et Compagnie, on rue du Bourg-Tibourg. On June 1, 1854, Aimé's sons, Henri and Édouard, started the first importer of French tea in the same building.
In the following years, Mariage Frères became well known as the most important purveyor of tea and its products for tea houses, hotels and for the Parisian high society during the Second Empire.[citation needed]
[edit] The men behind Mariage Frères
In 1983, Henri Mariage’s granddaughter, Marthe, took two young tea enthusiasts under her wing. Kitti Cha Sangmanee and Richard Bueno were determined to uncover all the secrets of grand teas. In a matter of years, working day and night, they created a whole new world by opening up the firm’s retail business. They pioneered the concept of a “house of French tea” that incorporated retail outlet, tea room, and museum—a typically French blend of commerce, taste, and intellect.
Today, “French tea” still implies non-stop creativity. Sangmanee, accompanied by Franck Desains, travels some 60,000 miles all across the globe every single year, tasting over 2,500 teas in a rigorous quest for the rarest of teas.
The two men constantly push deeper into terra incognita, seeking special conditions, rare species, or imaginative combinations of varieties from places like the Laotian jungle. This relentless quest has also meant fruitful contact with planters, yielding some wonderful new teas with evocative names such as Fleur de Darjeeling (Darjeeling Flower), Brumes d’Himalaya (Himalayan Mists), Opium Hill, and Thai Beauty. Connoisseurs recognize these teas as one-of-a-kind creations.
In fact, Sangmanee has produced several hundred blends of tea and tea-based products. He is veritable composer of teas, creating original harmonies like a musician, and every season he encourages the emergence of new varieties of tea in collaboration with the most reputable planters.
[edit] Mariage Frères: the spirit of French Tea
The ideas promoted by Mariage Frères are based on the pioneering concept of “French tea,” which does not refer to a specific tea but rather to an intellectual and cultural tradition. It is a blend of many influences adapted to the French palate and French taste. It is the original spirit of tea wedded to modern French savoir-faire.
French tea rests on five pillars:
1. A quest for the finest harvests 2. Highly skillful blending 3. The art of making tea 4. Tea and gastronomy 5. The art of giving
[edit] 1. The finest harvests
Mariage Frères’ tea tasters have scoured the world in search of rare harvests that are sure to delight tea lovers. In addition to discovering the finest teas, these trips provide an opportunity to share experiences with planters themselves, in the goal of improving the quality of output year by year, and sometimes even devising new teas. For example, Brumes d’Himalaya was the fruit of an exchange between the owner of an estate in Darjeeling and the tasters at Mariage Frères, the very company hailed by Newsweek magazine as the best in the world for the quality of its Darjeeling teas.
[edit] 2. Highly skillful blending
French tea stems from the grand tradition of blends. Two types of blended tea exist: classic blends and flavored teas. Original Mariage family traditions have been updated as French taste has evolved and as times have changed. Connoisseurs are never content with past accomplishments. Each period has its identifiable taste, its own pleasures, its own goals. A blend therefore becomes a marriage of fine harvests of different origins, sometimes yielding flavors that do not exist in nature. For example, Kitti Cha Sangmanee has devised an exclusive blend called “Oriental” in tribute to the historic hotel of that name in Bangkok.
[edit] 3. The art of making tea
Mariage Frères has managed to formulate and perfect a French method of making tea.
Tea is the reflection of every culture and civilization; its essence must always be respected, yet it must be adapted to local tastes and tastebuds. And everything must be taken into account when getting the best out of tea—climate, water, atmosphere, and the sensitivity of a given nation to flavors and accompanying dishes. In Mariage Frères tea rooms, staff carefully monitors the amount of tea used, the temperature of the water, and the exact steeping time, tea by tea. That way, customers are certain to enjoy the finest tasting experience, since each tea requires special know-how. Before the tea is served the leaves are always removed, so that the delicate flavor remains constant from the first cup to the last. Such innovative practices are radically different from the way tea is prepared outside of France.
[edit] 4. Tea and gastronomy
Mariage Frères opened its first tea room in 1986. The goal was to demonstrate that tea, like wine, could be a perfect accompaniment to a meal. Each dish calls for a certain type of tea, which means that Mariage Frères waiters are trained like wine stewards, learning how to decide which tea will enhance a given dish or dessert. In short, they learn the French art of tea.
But tea is not found solely in teapots. It can be imaginatively employed in cuisine as an ingredient, spice, or flavoring. All the dishes and desserts on the Mariage Frères menu are elaborated around tea. Refined culinary eclecticism is the rule: for example, French pastry marries well with green Japan tea (say, a chocolate-coated financier with Matcha tea). Mariage Frères not only invented the tea-flavored chocolates and jellies now widely found elsewhere, but it has gone on to create Earl-Grey madeleines and a Darjeeling pie, among others.
[edit] 5. The art of giving
Once transformed into a noble, refined item, tea becomes a perfect gift. It was Mariage Frères who first launched the idea of creating a special tea for special occasions—Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, birthdays, weddings, and, more generally, the passing seasons (Sakura blend in spring, Rouge d’automne in the fall). Thanks to artful packaging, tea has become an elegant product designed above all to give pleasure. “Tea time” now implies a special moment and a special setting for enjoying elegant, French-style savoir-faire. Yet everywhere, at every moment, French tea appeals to the emotions and to the joy of sharing.
[edit] Today
In the 1980s, the first Mariage Frères store in Paris opened on 3 bis rue du Cloître Saint-Merry, now closed. It is planned that the store will eventually be transferred to its historic headquarters on 30 rue du Bourg Tibourg.
One of Mariage Frères main particulars is that it has never advertised its products in any of the countries which imports their teas. Mariage Frères tea is now available for sale in various high-end stores throughout the US and in some online boutiques.
[edit] External links
- Mariage Freres: Official website. In French, English and Japanese. Online ordering available.
