It’s generally true that drinking tea is the routine of Chinese. Speaking of France, people think of coffee or wine more often than tea. But actually, France has centuries of history of drinking tea. The French started drinking tea even earlier than the British who are known for their thriving culture of afternoon tea. However, while Chinese consider tea as the substitute of water, currently, Frenchmen treat drinking tea more as a special ceremony.

Due to historical reasons, for quite a long period, tea was an aristocratic kind of medicine, or even a luxury in France. In the 17th century, when the French began to know tea, they thought tea of an elixir, and tea was popular only in the royal court and certain social classes such as the aristocracy. The intelligentsia drank tea together, talked about the characteristics of the tea, and experienced tea culture. On the other hand, ladies drank tea together in the morning or afternoon as their form of parties.

But because drinking tea was connected with the royal court, wealth and entertainment, during the French Revolution, the tea ‘ceremony’ was abolished. The consumption of tea in France plunged sharply. But some tea companies and salons still contributed to the popularity of tea culture. Tea was no longer an aristocratic drink, and gradually appeared in ordinary people’s life.

In recent years, more and more Frenchmen show their interests about tea culture, and drinking tea has become more and more popular in their lives. In addition to characteristic coffeehouses, teahouses have started to appear in Paris. Recently, among aged French houses has opened a simple-style teahouse decorated with wood. This is a handmade-tea shop named Laize and established by two young people from Tainan, Stephane and Jody. They share the professional background of design, and designed this teahouse all by themselves. The shop offers tea drinks from Taiwan, and is particular about tea leaves and the way to make tea. That’s why this special teahouse has soon become a hot spot of both Frenchmen and Chinese.

It’s definitely not easy for people to open such a shop in a foreign country. We talked with Stephane and Jody about how they opened this store, and what differences they’ve observed between tea culture in France and in Taiwan.

In the streets of Paris smell the fragrance of Taiwan tea

Laize is located in a very quiet area, which is perfect for drinking tea, especially when you’ve done some shopping in Le Marais and want to have rest. The wooden decoration inside provides clients with settling and elegant atmosphere. “How beautiful!” heard here couple times a day.

The inspiration of Laize’s design comes from the traditional Chinese medicine shop in Tainan, because tea was considered a herb medicine in the past. Such a design reminds people of tea’s history, and presents the lifestyle of Tainan to Paris in a simple way. Customers feel as if they travelled to that beautiful island thousands of miles away, saw the streets, the traditional stores in Minquan Road in Tainan, and smelled the fragrance of making tea in the morning. This is also connected with French history of using tea as medicine.

Talking of drinking tea, Parisians prefer using tea bags at home. Even what special tea salons offer is spice tea, which is completely different from Asians’ favorite, the original leaf tea (tea made from tea leaves of a specific producer). Laize offers to Parisians a new choice of drinking tea. Do not miss Taiwan bubble tea in Laize. Besides, you can also choose green tea latte, mango green tea, lavender milk tea, roasted oolong and many other kinds of tea drinks.

All these kinds of tea originate from Taiwan. Tea leaves come from the southern side of Mountain Bagua in the middle of Taiwan, and are processed in Tainan. They not only are natural and fragrant, but also remind people of Taiwan culture. The soil, sunlight and springs of Taizhong, the intensive care and process by professional tea makers in Tainan. In a word, you can feel the glamorous culture and customs of Taiwan in a cup of tea.

Introducing Bubble Tea to France

Laize is actually a farewell expression to customers in Taiwan commercial culture. It literally means that welcome customers to visit again, indicating the hope to establish a relationship beyond that between a host and a customer, and that customers would become friends and visit the shop at any time. This expression fully demonstrates Taiwanese’s enthusiasm and hospitality. Laize the teahouse is named after this expression, because the hosts want to use this brand-new form of meeting friends while drinking tea to introduce it to Paris, the culture capital of Europe, Taiwanese’s hospitality and unique tea culture. Let everyone, in a relaxing and enjoyable way, drink a cup of high-quality tea from Taiwan, and find the possibility of conversation between traditional tea drinks and the modern life. Why do two young people open a shop in a foreign city? Stephane explains that, although diet in Paris is rich and varied, sometimes he would still miss Taiwan food, especially handmade tea drinks which he used to drink quite often. There is ‘Bubble Tea’ sold in Paris, but the taste is not what he expects.

Stephane thinks that, in an international city like Paris, a qualified Asia teahouse is a must, to allow the French, or even the world to find out its glamour. Stephane and Jody made full use of their time after class, prepared for over 9 months, including brand design, location selection, store design, construction, and product and menu design, and finally opened this shop.

Recognizing hometown folks through “little sugar” and “ice free”

Whilst Frenchmen experience the pleasant surprise of having Bubble Tea for the very first time, the nostalgia of many Taiwanese and Asians is gently relieved here. Stephane says, in ordinary days, most of customers would be Asians, because Asians have the habit of drinking tea after class or dinner.

Perhaps everyone who is living in a foreign country would buy a “local” Bubble Tea driven by nostalgia or curiosity. But what usually follows expectation is suspicion. What misunderstanding do foreigners hold about Bubble Tea? Cultural differences make the familiar Bubble Tea become a completely different product. Some people think handmade tea is milk tea, some believe there must be bubbles in Bubble Tea, and some think all Bubble Tea is sweet.

But in the eyes of Taiwanese, Bubble Tea is in fact a way to drink tea. It can be just tea without anything inside. It can be fruit tea. It can have bubbles or Azuki beans. It can be aromatic and sweet, or fresh and healthy. Taiwanese will definitely choose the amount of sugar and ice. When customers see options such as “little sugar” and “ice free” in Laize, they may go into ecstasies. Those familiar words are codes to recognize hometown folks. They open a door to home.

Changing the way French people drink tea

To drink or buy tea in a store is more like a special activity for the French. As a result, most French customers will visit on weekend afternoons. They call some friends and drink tea together. The frequency is not as high as that of Asia customers, but it’s enough to prove that, the way the French drink tea is gradually changing.

“The tea culture should be more practical, allowing the public to enjoy tea without any stress.” That’s Stephane’s understanding about tea culture. Because of this, although when selecting tea leaves and developing products, he must take differences between the taste and customs of Asians and those of Europeans into account, Stephane still hopes to preserve the original flavor of Taiwan. It’s their biggest selling point. Stephane would recommend tea of relatively strong aroma and unique flavor to general French customers when they’ve just started drinking tea. This kind of tea is more acceptable. But many young people in France are already able to accept the genuine Bubble Tea. Make appropriate use of local ingredients, and introduce local culture. Consequently, either hometown folks or foreigners would be pleasantly surprised by their cups of tea. But overall, Laize is still true to itself.

Customers need to be educated. Many French people still thinks of Bubble Tea as one of “Asians’ strange things”. But when more and more teahouses like Laize opening up in Paris, in different cities all over the world, people who hold different ideas will gradually share the similar imagination. The French have known more about Asian tea. Specific groups become extremely interested in tea from Asia, and contribute to the study and admiration of it. They’re small compared with groups studying coffee and wine. But the prospects for Asian tea are bright.