Tea snobbery for fun and recreation

Those who know me know that I enjoy any and all opportunities to be uppity about something. Usually it's some crusade I'm launching -- against ponchos, for instance, on anybody last year who is over 12. But occasionally, I do enjoy holding forth on something I am definitely FOR. Sadly, I missed the opportunity to be a wine snob, since I quit drinking at 23 — when most of us have merely crossed from cheap light beer into slightly more expensive imported beer, and wine is something grown folks drink over snotty food. However, 3 years ago this December, I found my beverage to be a connaisseur of. (Should that be "connaisseuse" since I'm a lady? It definitely shouldn't end in a preposition, that I'm sure about.) Anyhoo. This is the best tea in the world, discovered on a romantic side street in the Marais in Paris (the Rue de Bourg-Tibourg). The Mariages Freres have been in business for over 200 years. The shop is pleasingly crowded with big tins of tea and effete men in matching linen suits bustling about pontificating on the different blends. We went there 3 times during our honeymoon week -- the last for a brunch where they paired teas with each course, just like a fine wine. I fell, hard. This is seriously good tea. Tea with depth and substance. Tea with opinions. The Marco Polo, for example, smells like strawberry pastry and went wonderfully well with my mille-feulles. The Earl Grey (of which there are at least 3 blends) smells like perfume. The 1854 is as stout as coffee. Orientale makes all the "orange spice" tea packets you've ever found in a doctor's office waiting room taste even more like ass — this tea tastes like breathing in an orange grove at dusk. The next year, I happily discovered that there's a company in Dallas who imports Mariages Freres Teas (you can also sometimes find them at Williams-Sonoma, overpriced). You can mail order from The Cultured Cup instead and support a lovely local business (even if it is in Dallas). Just yesterday, I ordered online to restock and the darling UPS man delivered my package today. So, there you go. Toss out the Twinings, because it's dry and dusty anyway. Get a decent tea strainer, or if you must, you can order the cutest little hand-tied tea bags of Mariages Freres. But you owe it to yourself to taste really, really good tea. You might even give up your Starbucks for tea time. I know I did. Lecture over. Class dismissed.