Mariage Frères ( French, ''Mariage Brothers'') is a French

gourmet Gourmet (, ) is a cultural idea associated with the culinary arts of fine food and drink, or haute cuisine, which is characterized by refined, even elaborate preparations and presentations of aesthetically balanced meals of several contrasting, of ...

tea company, based in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. It was founded on 1 June 1854 by brothers Henri and Edouard Mariage.

History

The tea trade in France began to boom in the middle of the 17th century. At this time,

King Louis XIV Louis XIV (Louis Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was List of French monarchs, King of France from 14 May 1643 until his death in 1715. His reign of 72 years and 110 days is the Li ...

and the

French East India Company The French East India Company (french: Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales) was a colonial commercial enterprise, founded on 1 September 1664 to compete with the English (later British) and Dutch trading companies in the ...

encouraged the exploration of distant lands in the search of exotic goods. Around 1660, Nicolas and Pierre Mariage began voyaging on behalf of the royal court: Pierre was sent to

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

on a mission for the French East India Company, while Nicolas made several trips to

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

before being named part of an official deputation sent by Louis XIV to sign a trade agreement with the Shah of Persia.Alain Stella: French Tea. Mariage Frères. Photos Francis Hammond. Flammarion, 2003. Successive generations of the Mariage family remained in the tea trade and in 1843, by then reflecting their experience and knowledge of the tea trade, members of the Mariage family opened their first wholesale shop in Paris. On 1 June 1854 Henri and Edouard Mariage, founded the present-day Mariage Frères Tea Company. For over 130 years the company was managed by four generations of Mariage tea merchants who maintained a wholesale-only business from their Parisian warehouse. The business consisted of importing premium quality leaf teas from the Orient, which were then traded to first class hotels and tea shops in France. In 1983 the company transformed itself from a wholesale import firm into a retail company. Under the leadership of Kitti Cha Sangmanee and Richard Bueno, Mariage Frères started opening tea houses within central Paris. The first tea emporium and tea salon, located on rue du Bourg-Tibourg, opened in the same building where Henri Mariage had his offices over 150 years ago. The 19th-century colonial and exotic furniture, cash registers, counters and tea instruments come from the historic former tea office and deposit in Rue du Cloître-Saint-Merri. Today, the company operates over 30 Mariage Frères points-of-sale within France, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. There are five Mariage Frères tearooms in Paris. The brand is also distributed through a network of resellers in over 60 countries, served in grand hotels such as the Meurice in Paris,

Claridge's Claridge's is a 5-star hotel at the corner of Brook Street and Davies Street in Mayfair, London. It has long-standing connections with royalty that have led to it sometimes being referred to as an "annexe to Buckingham Palace". Claridge's Hote ...

in London, Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Bangkok and Singapore as well as being offered to first-class voyagers on Japan Airlines. In the early 2000s, an online shop (available in French, English, and Japanese) with worldwide distribution was launched. There is one unique production platform in Paris for Europe, as well as for the rest of the world, and another platform for distribution only in Japan.

References in popular culture

In Episode 11, Season 3 of American TV series

Gossip Girl ''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series, developed for television by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, ran on The CW network for six sea ...

, Blair's mother, Eleanor, returns from a trip to Paris. Blair suspects her mother has been keeping a big secret from her. When she suggests that her mother opens an envelope she had just received, Eleanor replies: "But tea first. I have the most amazing Lapsang Souchong from Mariage Frères".

References

External links

A history of Mariage Frères in cosmopolis.ch
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mariage Freres Tea companies of France French brands Tea brands Shops in Paris French companies established in 1854