Song Fang Maison de Thé
February 02, 2017 • Places • Style
Living in China for 8 years necessarily means absorbing its millennial culture in our everyday life. Drinking hot water, for example, now comes naturally, and my Italian friends still laugh about it. Everywhere you go in China (corporate offices, doctor, gym, nail salon etc), you will be offered warm water. And if at the beginning sounded strange, now I can’t live without it. And when I say warm it means really hot water, you need to be careful not to burn your tongue 😉
Drinking tea might be a different story, as it’s tradition is well known everywhere, even if it its culture in China differs from that in European countries like Britain and other Asian countries like Japan in preparation, taste, and occasion when it is consumed. Few weeks ago, we were just back from sunny and warm New Zealand (to read more about our New Zealand trip click here), and Shanghai looked especially cold, that one of the only reasons to move from home was to enjoy a warm cup of tea in a beautifully and charmingly restored tea houses. I had casually read about Song Fang Maison de Thé when I was searching for kids friendly activities to do in Shanghai, and I was impressed by the story of its creator Florence, who like me, worked long time in the luxury industry, and by the its style (you know I am a style freak, not only about fashion, but about everything that is beautiful).
Song Fang Maison de Thé is a charming teahouse, in a Shanghai former French concession lane house from 1930. It’s a pretty three-storey lane house overlooking a typical Shanghai lane and I loved every detail of it, from the vintage tin cans on the shelves, to the old-fashioned Chinese bird cages hanging from bamboo rods on the ceiling, to the elegant floral patterned cushions, to the blue ceramic tea sets.
Song Fang Maison de Thé specializes in the finest quality Chinese and French teas for sale and to savor on the premises. It was created in Shanghai in 2007 by Florence Samson, Parisian living in Shanghai for more than 10 years. Florence worked for Dior cosmetics in Russia and China before becoming General Manager of Veuve Clicquot in China. She left the LVMH group to start the Song Fang tea company as she wanted to share her passion for premium teas and the Chinese culture. Tea was invented in China and Chinese farmers have lovingly tended and harvested tea for nearly 5000 years. Song Fang is a tribute to those farmers.
If you live in Shanghai or you are planning to visit you can find Song Fang Maison de Thé at 227 Yongjia Lu, near Shanxi Nan Lu (永嘉路227号, 近陕西南路). There is an other shop near The Bund in 19 Fuzhou Lu.
If you want more info about Song Fang Maison de Thé click here
If you want to know more about Tea culture in China click here
Enjoy, Paola xxx
p.s. This post has been made in collaboration with RedRooster Photo / Olivia Outfit by Airfish
