Ahh… a trip to Los Angeles, the city of movie stars and exotic tastes. This was going to be fun. I had the weekend away from everyone and planned to hit the beach. But alas – the Internet tracks you down always. Elina had just heard that there was some great tea places in LA, and I needed to go check them out. Ok – so of I was in the rented SUV, Nissan Rogue (amazing that it was called a regular car) – on with the GPS system, and off I go. It was a place called Le Palais Gourmet and I was asked to get a tea called The des Esprits Rouge. Ok – not that great with with French, but off I went. Ended up the place was in Beverly Hills, a couple of blocks from Rodeo Drive. Hmm – this will be good. After some parking and scrounging for some quarters for the meter, I walked over to the shop. It was a nice clean shop, with specials on tea pots, and beautiful cans of tea lining up the walls. They had some Martinique Green brewing which was providing great aroma in the air. After some introductions (yes – I am from Finland, yes – I am Australian, yes – we do write for a tea blogs so please let me take some photos), I sampled some of the tea. Interestingly, the tea that Elina wanted was not available, as the shop had stopped licensing the name Le Palais Gourmet and the teas accordingly. Hmmm — this was a bit strange as the labels were all over the place, but nevertheless, they sold tea, and were in a celebrity location — so something must be good. Now, back to the tea, I grabbed a Lemoncello tea, and also the one that was brewing. Job done, two bags in hand, it was now time to go to my other infatuation – Ed Hardy at the Beverly Center – but alas – that is another blog!
posted by Mark