If you know sommelier and restaurateur Marie-Josée Beaudoin, life and business partner of pastry chef Patrice Demers, you know that she has unparalleled natural energy. So she doesn’t drink coffee. “It’s better for me and, above all, for others! », she tells us before adding that she couldn’t do without her tea.
Marie-Josée has always bought her precious leaves from Camellia Sinensis, which, remember, celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. The small tea room opened by Hugo Américi, joined along the way by François Marchand, Jasmin Desharnais and Kevin Gascoyne, has come a long way since 1998.
The Camellia quartet may well be renowned (worldwide) for their great rigor in their field, but they are also a group of bon vivants. And they have brought tea to the table many, many times, collaborating with chefs, sommeliers and mixologists, among others.
Patrice Demers participated in several events where he was led to integrate Camellia Sinensis tea into his recipes, especially sweet ones.
In their new house (only 14 places) named Sabayon, in Pointe-Saint-Charles, Patrice Demers and Marie-Josée Beaudoin live happily! The couple is finally doing what they always wanted to do: entertaining in complete elegance, but also in complete simplicity, by reservation only.
On Friday and Saturday afternoons, the couple takes the tea a little further. He serves tea. Or should we say “the teas”, because it’s a sweet little three-course debauchery, with assorted infusions.
On the menu currently, there is Nan Mei, a white tea made with wild tea plant buds, which accompanies a soft brioche served with pear and maple-flavored whipped cream resulting from an infusion of candy cap mushrooms.
In the second course, a Bai Hao Jingmai wulong supports the chai spices of an exceptional creation based on roasted squash, brown butter and apple. The chocolate finish is very well accompanied by a very earthy Pu Er Shou 2018.
For this special edition, the renowned pastry chef created a soft pecan cake for La Presse, topped with Wulong tea ganache (see recipe in the following text). It is a dark roasted wulong, whose woody notes and caramelized aromas are comforting like Boxing Day in your pajamas.
While times are difficult for DavidsTea and in the United States, Teavana closed all its stores after the takeover by Starbucks, our little Quebec gem is thriving and maintaining its reputation. The SME today has 50 employees, three physical stores and a virtual store, a salon, two tea schools, a tea factory in India (Tea Studio), two books, 2000 points of sale (if we count in addition delicatessens, restaurants and cafes that serve their products) and a new 14,000 square foot warehouse in a recently acquired 24,000 square foot building.
Marie-Josée Beaudoin started frequenting the boutique on rue Emery – a boutique with a tasting space very nicely renovated in 2022, by the way – for her personal infusion needs, around 2005. Over the years, a few favorites have emerged , like Mr. Chang’s famous Dong Ding, this classic Taiwanese wulong with a floral and buttery taste that the house has been importing since 2004. The sommelier also likes white teas for their low caffeine content.
When the time came to make the selection of infusions for the establishments where she worked, whether Vauvert in the Saint-Paul hotel, Laloux, les 400 coups or, obviously, Patrice Pâtissier, the sommelier naturally decided turned towards its early suppliers.
Her attachment to Camellia teas is such that she never travels without her bags, which she prepares herself before leaving. When she forgets them, she gets depressed! “Good tea, you really can’t find it everywhere. And I think that in Quebec, we don’t realize enough to what extent we have access to an exceptional selection. Most of the world’s teas pass through the London market, but not Camellia’s. The four guys trade directly with their hundred producers. They each have their own specialization and have developed lasting relationships. »
In their brand new headquarters, a 14,000 square foot space on Rue Frontenac, Hugo, François, Jasmin and Kevin tell us how these cultivated connections have served them well during the pandemic.
“Normally, we travel to our respective regions every year to choose our teas, but for three years, we were not able to travel,” recalls François. That’s when we realized that the relationships we had with the farmers were really valuable. Because they knew our tastes and our needs, they could send us teas that perfectly matched what we wanted. Then people continued to buy a lot online. »
For the 25th anniversary, Camellia also worked on her perfect pairings. The house had a Shui Xian Lao Cong grilled wulong chocolate bar produced by Chocolat Dicitte. It also teamed up for the second time with the Dunham Brewery to produce Lord Sinensis, a roasted wulong ale from China, Mi Lan Xiang Feng Xi. Ultimately, mixologist Claudia Doyon created a 100% local cocktail recipe using Purple Rose herbal tea, which can be reproduced at home with Maria de Menaud gin and verjuice.
As you can see, the world of tea is far from stuck. And according to sommelier Marie-Josée Beaudoin, there is room to have as much fun as with wine.
