Tea, Paris style!

It's an honour to see the impact on tea over here. There are numerous salon de thés, excellent selection of blends, and according to me, the proportions are as they should: everytime I've ordered tea I get a full pot of it! Not just one sad little cup, but a pot that carries at least three cups! This kind of tea behaviour makes me want to sing!
There are many luxurious brands but one in particular is pure gold: Mariage Frères.
I was told by three people altogether that this is the place to go. I can't believe I didn't know about it, I thought I knew the streets of Marais! And more importantly, I thought I knew something about tea!
My dear friend, the one I met before leaving here, told me she orders her teas online through them, and my two lovely French colleagues told me to emmediately go to their salon!
So today I did, and it was just overwhelming!! I made some serious purchases! Once I'd made up my mind and went to the counter, the friendly man behind it said: ok, all these, yes, why not!! Across the road was even a bigger shop, plus a museum! A museum of tea! Merde! Beautiful!

Here's what I saw:

Café Villipuutarha!

Oh my dear friends, I'm about to introduce you to a true pearl in our sweet city of Helsinki! We finished early at work today so I thought to have a good cup of tea before continuing my Wednesday! This little café is beyond all dreams, such a beautiful, fairy tale garden with excellent selection of teas, coffees, sweet treats and lunch too! I'm thinking if I ever was to put together a café, this would be close to my imagination! It's also a shop with Odd Molly clothes and such but everything goes so well with the interior, it doesn't seem like a shop. Only when you start focusing your eyes you spot things that are for sale. I love it, love, love, love it! Soothing old jazz adds to the feeling of a perfect getaway in the middle of the week and the snowy, rainy weather!

It's located in the corner of Kaarlenkatu and Helsinginkatu in Kallio, pay a visit and you'll leave with a big smile on your face!

Tea, tea, tea!

Here's a collection of the past weekend's tea moments! Visits have been payed to several places, and I will put them in order from 1 to 3 incase you want to go check them out!

No.1 is a new acquaintance close to home: The Exhibitionist in Museokatu. It opened a while ago, and is truly welcome to the neighbourhood! Cute little place with the original floor I like so much! Loads of books and magazines, you can even borrow a book and return it later, very nice! I had a Turkish apple tea which was amazing, and my friend said the latte was excellent!

No.2 is in sweet Eerikinkatu, Théhuone. Their selection is truly good, the staff is helpful, I always ask for different options, and get to smell the big paperbags and boxes! Oh the smell! Intoxicating! It's also a shop, and it is very difficult not to buy anything when leaving!

No.3 is good old Tori in Fredrikinkatu. This is more of a restaurant really, but they've got good basic selection, and I especially appreciate the old fashioned enamel tea pots they have! Would like to get one myself as well! There's a nice atmosphere as always, the menu has stayed the same with their classics like the meatballs in Jaloviina-sauce, and the beetroot stakes! Now this place surely is a blast from the past! We used to sit here for hours and hours with the group of us old friends, especially on lazy Sundays after some heavy activity on Saturdays! Oh, fun times, beautiful memories!!

Breakfast on a Friday

Good Morning!
It's Friday and the heavy week at work is behind me! I'm so happy to wake up with no hurry, read the paper properly and have my breakfast with the many cups of tea! It's a proper January weather outside, sun is shining from a clear sky and there's some 15 minus degrees! I have a good feeling about the weekend, some hurry-free days ahead, nice!
My favourite breakfast at the moment is natural youghurt with a delicious new muesli I found from our local food shop, along with banana slices and blueberries from the freezer, which I picked from our summer place last summer. So delicious! I loaded the teapot with some excellent green tea, and am sipping away with the paper in front of me.
Let's have a good day today, I'm so happy to be back here as well since I missed you all this week! See you soon!

Saturday & Sunshine!

Today the sun came out once again! I had to go to take care of some things in the center so it was lovely to walk outside in the crispy and clear weather! I slept like a log last night, almost nine hours which is a lot for me! That was a perfect start for the day!

While I was out I managed to steal myself a wonderful moment in The Ounce! I have told you about that, it's one of the prettiest tea rooms I have ever seen! This time I made a request to have a really rich black tea, something that goes with cold weather, maybe vanilla in it, and the lady gave me several options I could smell first and then make up my mind! It's such a unique place, I love it! I ended up having tea called Creme Brulee and it was heavenly! I sat down, had my tea, dreamed for a moment, took a few photos and came home. I must say sometimes you don't need any tricks to make yourself happy!

Fashion photography & good tea

Today I decided to get outside. I'm still feeling a bit numb but a little better and thought being sick is enough now! Something small to start with, so I headed to a photo exhibition which has been on my to-do-list since it opend in December. It's called Northern Women in Chanel and consists of fashion photographs of Nordic supermodels taken by a Swedish-Hungarian couple. The pictures are really beautiful and it's all Chanel. Oh, Chanel..c'est magnifique! Go there if you got interested, it's open until 27th of January. Our own girls Suvi Koponen and Kirsi Pyrhönen are also represented! Laboratory, Erottaja 9.

Afterwards I needed a cup of good tea, so I went to Café Fleuriste on Uudenmaankatu. Now this is something I call a Café! I love the shades, the beautiful chandelier and table wear, the white Labrador who welcomes every guest, and the flower shop in the back room! So pretty! I'm feeling the energy starting to flow again, this was a good start!

Heaven on Earth

Today has definitely not been one of my best days. I've felt tired, stressed out and a little hopeless too. After I got home from work I still had to drown myself to work for a little while but afterwards I did everything in my power to get myself outside. The darkness has interesting side effects: it feels as if it would already be really late, so you think, what's the point, I'll just go to bed soon anyway! That's a huge lie, for there's almost half a day left! So I pulled myself together and just got out, and afterwards felt so glad, proud even, for doing that! I had some errands to run, but soon found myself in my personal heaven: The Ounce! That's an amazing tea shop in Fredrikinkatu, Kamppi, opposite Deutsche Schule. Oooooh! I don't know where to begin! The interior, the cups, pots, and jars, the dresses the women behind the counter are wearing, everything! And the smell! It's intoxicating! In a good way! Excellent selection of teas: black, green, white, herbal, fruit, you name it! And the small paperbags, the old fashion ink pens they use to write down the name of the tea, it's just perfection! I spent there a good while, asked politely if I could take photos, smelled different teas, made some shopping, and eventually left with a smile on my face!

                                                     
Now I'd say it's a decent time to start thinking of sleepy thoughts! Husband came home from work, Downton Abbey is recorded, everything's calm and good. Tomorrow's got to be a good day! Good night to you all!

Home at last!

Oh man this was a long day! Left in the morning and now finally home! I was starving when I came, and thought there's actually nothing to eat, have to go buy groceries, but guess what?! My darling husband had ordered me dinner from one of our favourite places here close by, Mamma Rosa! Oh if I could just squeeze him right now! So kind of him! He's at work at the moment so that'll have to wait but that was such a lovely thing to do, I'm a lucky girl!
It was a bit stressful day but now I feel good and can spend this moment with you guys! I've been waiting for this! It's been so nice to write small things here, together with pictures, I like it so much!

For the rest of the evening I'm going to do a whole lot of nothing, just enjoy a good magazine, watch a little telly and have this truly amazing green tea from Moko Market! Have a good evening you too!