Glorious Fragrant Tea and Laduree of Paris

Hello everyone.

I'm a tea person.....
''tea''.....what does that say? Not much in America, but in other countries you would get a dignified nod , perhaps even a slight bow, acknowledging your culture and some other je ne sais quoi, a combination of deep respect, grace and admiration.
And anyone who thinks of tea bags or *gulp* Lipton, has not a clue what I'm speaking of...... there is another world aside from that sorry cup.

 The language of the Green Kingdoms is so vast there has been no end to its scope of discovering its gifts and there is an infinity to its combinations of greenery combined with flowers, berries, fruits, and other delectables.....combinations which know no bounds.

And so, in my desire to become many things, but firstly a true representative of the Green Kingdoms, as my blog title indicates, including the Fairy Cafe for which I'm becoming ''famous'' for in my tiny neck of suburbia here....... I want to be a walking garden, myself fragrant with the herbs and greens which I both drink through teas and green juices, and eat of the vegetable kingdoms. I grow as much as I possibly can, and though Florida summers and heat don't allow much I will not quit for there is, to my mind, a solution for everything and anything. I shall persist.

But I try to consume the greens of the world in any way I can for the greens of this world is an almost identical match to our blood in content, is what sustains and beautifies us. The healthiest blood is very close to greens and is why it has been given to us for foods and medicines.....again, via the veggies for foods and herbs for medicines and flavouring, spicing, pleasure, spiritual cleansing, perfumery, and every other thing.
I've had several friends tell me I'm their best smelling friend LOL.

Back to Tea.....a person can spend a lifetime engaging in the teas of the world with no end to pleasure, education, diversity, exquisiteness, beauty, fragrance, perfume, effects that are sedative, invigorating, exalting, calming, healing, rejuvenating, regenerating, or pleasing in every and any way......all found in the Teas of our World.
As I type this I'm drinking one made of organic black tea, lavender buds, with essential oils of bergamot and lavender.....and some honey. It is amazing as it speaks to my spirit, changing, effecting, morphing me alchemically back into balance. It ''speaks'' of its own origins, offers its medicine. I drink of its indigenous stories, of where it comes from and I inhale its spirit. The combination of these plants and oils create their unique kind of party, if you will, in my mouth and for my spirit.

I've learned that the right kind of tea can entrain my frazzled self back into one of equanimity and repose, without any work at all......just drinking the right brew.
How do I find the right one?
Well, we all have a built in guiding system, a most intelligent, wise, all knowing and always right, honing system, or device if you will, that is foolproof and divinely attuned..........its your Nose. Your nose knows.
It is so simple to find what is perfect for you in that particular moment, and all you have to do is sniff, and your approval or not, your excitement or disdain, your response of becoming enlivened or not, is telling you what is right for you in that moment. This is how I know which teas are right for me on that day, or in that hour or even moment.
I buy a selection of organic teas and combinations and I have my own herbs, flowers, and berries, honeys, and flower waters I add to them as well.....which affords me infinite combinations of teas, and when I feel like having tea, or my Spirit is telling me it needs some kind of healing, repair, re-balancing or love from the Green Kingdoms of the Mother, I will pull out my teas, walk and pinch in my herb garden, sniff them, and the one that causes me a deep intake of breath followed by a siggghhhhhh, is the one. I mix and match according to my nose.
This works for everyone.
It is that simple.

I have had people who proudly and convincingly and loudly even arrogantly LOL tell me, they are not ''tea people''.....they are coffee people. I just smile.
''Well indulge me for a minute will you? Smell these and tell me what you think''....I say. I wish I had a camera for all the times, I've done this, for it NEVER FAILS that their faces change with each sniff of each different tea. Some are definite "no's", some are curiosities accompanied by frowns, the inevitable 'wait, let me smell that one again', and then you have the one that smooths out the face and brow and yanks at their very breath.......and they ultimately choose the one that caused their intake of breath, and when they drink this, found that they not only love it, but they discover they like tea after all. Then I have to write down what it was, where to get it, etc......every time.

I have one friend who refuses to make her own, she thinks I have some special powers LOL, and comes only to spend time, hours with me, drinking pots of brews after our sniffing tests. And she has come to find herself literally feeling the "medicine" of the tea as it courses through her body, into her blood, and she feels its effects of healing on her and she is amazed every time. And its not the heat either, because she drinks coffee too and it is also hot, and it never has this effect on her. These moments are silent ones, for though we are talking she wants to tune into this traveling medicine in her body as the sensation is indescribable, and she is different because of it. I have seen her in mid sentence take her first sip, and fall silent, captivated by the tea's living magic, its medicine already at work. There was once her favorite tea, nothing compared to this scent, nothing could come close...it was orange blossom tea....and it was the essential oil which I'd make a perfume for her out of, and this would literally calm her when she was in bad states. This orange blossom's medicine is to CALM the nerves. It is noted for this and it works. My friend inhaled it, drank it and wore it. It worked for her and she called it her medicine. Now however, that she is over the trauma of that particular time, when she sniffs the orange blossom and other teas, she chooses another. Her favorite of all time LOL now!...is fresh Mint with Lavender. She says with traitorous guilt LOL that she likes it better than the *gulp!* orange blossom......the reason is, of course, she no longer needs that medicine the orange blossom afforded her, she is now calm and in a good state, her life better from the medicines of Nature, also from moving away and a new job and home. Her favorite now, is mint and lavender, and mint is known for clarity and acuity.
Its so  beautiful to watch how these herbal medicines work on people, and how it quietly does it job. Pure love is Mother Nature.
She likes to tell me and others that I literally scraped her up off the floor of grieving with my teas......I tell her, it was the tea, not me.

A good summer read is a fantasy and magical story of how teas and spices work on human beings called  The Mistress of Spices or see the severely edited movie version of it starring the beautiful Aishwarya Rai.




And so it is for anyone who is in need of any kind of care, healing, balancing, calm, medicine, reconnection, peace, and every other quality that is desirable within the human, can be found in the Green Kingdoms, in the form of Tea.

I've always wanted to open my Fairy Cafe or Fairy Tea Salon, here and show more people just how beautiful Teas are, and how to experience this, while honoring the Spirits of the Fairies who tend to all the Green Kingdom.
I see my Salon decorated with soft lighting, organic textures and beautiful colors. Mine happen to be light spring green, light pink, ecru's and whites with touches of silver and gold. This is my room and I love it. I'd have chandeliers and lots of crystal everywhere, beautiful dishes, glassware, and tablecloths on every table, glass displays and cases filled with delights made of organic delectables, gorgeous music, lots of plants and vases of flowers everywhere....a virtual garden of Eden, inside, where time ceases to exist and one is lost to the pleasures of the senses. The scents of flowers and teas brewing would be an ever changing perfume filling the air. I could go on, but I think you can imagine this, yes? :D

Are you thirsty yet? LOL

That said, I have come up with combinations of teas that have become so healing to others that I want to help to spread this healing even further. I decided to come up with a blend of my own and to introduce more people to the world of Tea Culture and hopefully catch them up to the rest of the world......especially France.
Speaking of France, I have just learned a week ago.....yes I can be slow to catch on to what is happening......that they have done my dream.......of course!!.....and they have done it well. I have learned of their Tea Salons and how beautifully they have done them, of course again!......and how one in particular has used my favorite colors of light green, pink and touches lavender, aqua with accents of gold or silver......(shaking my head)
Somehow because of this similarity and this bizarre common theme I have with the French in my clothes, music, teas, decor etc etc etc, I believe I must have something French in me and because of this I have just developed a desire to actually go there to learn about their culture. Maybe. I have traveled around the world, and was never interested in France, but I am now.

One of their tea salons, Laduree has done such a beautiful job of their Tea Salons that I am still in awe having discovered this, and I have to mention it because they are using my specific colors and done ''my Tea Salon".

Will you look at this window display of Laduree and their packaging? These are the colors in my room and I love them.

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You must go to their website and enjoy their little trip through their animated salon and I love how they have the sounds of a live salon going on as you peruse their site! so fun!

Another thing Laduree is famous for is their macaroons, something I see is very popular, which believe it or not, I have never had. I'm not a sweets/sugar person. I know that white flour and white sugar products of patisserie, pretty as they are, age you from the inside out. I'm more into rejuvenation from living ingredients.

But these macaroons are beautiful little colorful things!!

 



You can also go to this site to see many pictures this blogger has taken of Laduree.

I have been referred since last week by another blogger to other tea salons in France. Gorgeous all of them and I really miss not having these common European luxuries in Florida.

There is also this fascination of Marine Antoinette I've become curious about. It seems she has finally gained, hundreds of years later, her rightful popularity ?? I hope her spirit is enjoying this revival of all things Marie Antoinette as Laduree has honored her by making a tea named after her. And it was these boxes of pink which first captured me and my heart when I saw them and learned what they were. I wish I could find that picture, but alas, I cannot.


Laduree however, has captured my heart, and in this same kind of fashion, is how I envision my own Tea Salon capturing with goodness, the hearts of those here.
As far as I'm concerned there is room for many more Tea Salons!

So, since the inception of my Fairy Care and finally creating my blog, I've decided to develop a tea of my own, which I'm experimenting with currently.....and as we speak my counter is full with glasses, black teas, rose water, jasmine petals fresh from my bushes, rose buds, essential oils, dried fruits, etc etc etc.....and I will experiment until I come up with one that causes that deep breath and a sigh to come from my spirit. When I have this, I will package it in the way I package all things, with exquisite beauty and attention to detail, its all in the details says this Fairy, and I shall have my first tea.
I'm planning on three. If these are not appreciated, I'll just pack myself up and leave for Europe where I'd fit in better.
I'm working on the name, which will ultimately gain its inspiration from the ingredients, however, I'm liking my "original" idea of honoring one from the Fairy Kingdom itself......another Queen who has not had proper recognition either, (another similarity I just discovered now as I'm typing this LOL).....and she is none other than the Queen of the Fae......Titania.

So my theme will involve the herbs and flowers born of Nature and those Spirited Elements known as the Fae who care for them under the guidance of Titania their Queen.

Stay tuned!


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