Tea in France

Historically, tea is associated with England but tea was as popular in France from the 17th century as it was in England. In 1671, the first cafe in France opened in Marseille and 15 years later came the first Parisian café – these were for drinking coffee and the customers were mainly men. A few years after these first cafes came the "Salons de Thé”, these were as popular as the cafes but were places for wealthy, upper class women to gather.

Tea drinking became increasingly fashionable for the nobility and wealthy. However, France did not become a huge consumer of tea. The fact that the French colonies were mostly coffee producing countries no doubt influenced the market. As a result, tea was much more expensive than coffee - and so more people preferred to drink coffee

Over the last 20 years there has been a marked increase in tea-drinking – including flavoured and fruit teas. In 2005, the tea sector showed a healthy growth with the income from sales up by 7% and the volume sold up by 4% compared to 2004.

11,044 tonnes of tea was sold in France in 2005, generating 342 million euros.

On At My Site two of my members are tea-sellers. They sell via the internet and at local Provencal markets – they are : à l'heure des thés and Terre et Volup'thé

Tea or coffee ? Which do you prefer ........