At first, this tiny little shop tucked away in a pedestrian street of Strasbourg doesn’t seem anything out of the ordinary. What a mistake to make. Step inside and you are greeted by the smile of owner Mo Cuiwei amongst a grandiose collection of teapots.
Looking in her late twenties, she is actually a mother of three and a Chinese tea master of some renown. Her teas, I would later discover, are served in Strasbourg’s answer to Ladurée, tea room Christian.
Invited to sit down and discover some Pu’er tea -whose price in most places has trippled since the recent floods in the region-, I did not yet know that my vision of tea would be changed forever.
Travelling in Asia earlier this year, I had become aware that tea was quite different, graded much like wine or other fine products.
Taking a sip of her teas banishes away all notion that tea is just hot water with a pile of leaves dumped in.
All other teas pale in comparison, particularly the so-called Chinese white teas served elsewhere.
The tight little buds blossom in the water and give out a jasmine fragrance which increases with each bath, instead of diminishing. The pale, almost transparent liquid is delicately sweet, requiring no additional sugar.
Teas can also be cut with other grades or types of tea, modifying this. For example, pu’er is often mixed with oxyidised “red” tea, which makes the taste earthy on the first bath but acrid later on.
Another surprise is the teapots, which are all different. Much like wands in the Harry Potter universe, a teapot chooses its owner. One might want a teapot for its cosmetic value but these ones will speak differently to different people.
My selection included a lion-topped one which came in my possession when Mrs Mo said “You’re lion, aren’t you?”
Ladden with three teapots, a new set of cups for chinese tea and a three-legged toad, I leave a couple of hours later with my head swimming in information and the fragant scent in my nostrils.
Definitely my cup of tea.
Esprit du thé
7 rue d’Austerlitz
67000 Strasbourg
Phone: +3388241292
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