A Beautiful Boîte

I have to admit to a secret longing. It's been nine months now and I feel I have to come clean. At the beginning of the year I was visiting friends in the Czech Republic and whilst hanging out in their kitchen I spotted a gorgeous tea tin that had come from shop in Paris. It was a lovely flat oval shape and when you pulled back the sliding lid, there beneath it was another lid which you pulled off using a little handle. I didn't even try the tea inside but the tin lodged there in my psyche just waiting for a chance to assert itself.



Over the past few months Coffee Boy has mentioned popping to Paris a number of times: he used to live there and I spent about half my time there for eight months or so. We haven't been for years and although I'm always up for a trip pretty much anywhere, I have to admit the knowledge that I would be able to get one of these tins of tea made me just that little bit more enthusiastic. Anyway, what with one thing and another we haven't yet managed to take the Eurostar over for the weekend so I was pretty excited when my lovely foodie friend (the one who cooked us amazing dim sum) told me she was going and she'd be happy to pick a tin up for me.

This may all seem rather ridiculous when you look at the Fauchon website for yourself and see that they do mail order at a fairly reasonable price. I'm not sure I can explain it but ordering a tin of tea from Paris felt like a ridiculous extravagance whereas picking one up if I or a friend happened to be there seemed completely reasonable. I know it doesn't make much sense but it works for me!

Thankfully my friend had planned to visit the "luxury food store" anyway so bringing home one of their beautiful black and white bags wasn't too much trouble for her. And now, finally, I have my very own lovely Fauchon tin of tea. I chose the Green Tea with Mint as it was something I didn't have and, more importantly it's something that always reminds me of Paris as one of my favourite places to go is the mosque in the 5th Arrondisment where they serve Moroccan mint tea and cakes. I have tried, and failed, to make the tea at home before but I have to say this tea lets me get pretty close to the nectar they serve there. I have to admit it's an unexpected bonus - I was so fixated on having one of the tins I almost forgot about the tea inside! So my longing has been satisfied, but there's just one problem: my friend told me about another shop right near Fauchon which she described as pretty much a heaven for tea lovers. So despite my best efforts, it seems like we'll have to make that trip to Paris after all...