Tea is the new coffee. With its centuries of known healing properties and enjoyment, it’s about time that we North Americans figured it out.

Tea, which is over 5,000 years old, was possibly born in the Yunnan province of China. Legends mention Shen Nung, an early emperor and scientist, who ruled that all drinking water be boiled as a hygienic precaution. One day while traveling, his servants boiled water for him, and just then dried leaves from a nearby bush fell into the boiling water. The emperor drank the brown liquid and enjoyed it.

In 800, Lu Yu wrote “Ch’a Ching”, the first definitive book on tea. He diligently recorded the various methods of tea cultivation and preparation. Zen Buddhist missionaries later introduced his meticulous methods to imperial Japan. One missionary in particular, Yesei, had observed its use in religious ceremonies in China and appreciated its value, and there are records of his findings.

Tea was so highly thought of in Japan that the serving of it was elevated to an art form, resulting in  the Japanese Tea Ceremony. While visiting Japan I was privy thrice to this exacting two hour ceremony while sitting on bended knees – once by a Buddhist Monk in a temple, once by a Canadian Tea Master and once in a private home while dressed in a kimono.

Besides me, perhaps one of the first Europeans to encounter tea and write about it was the Portuguese Jesuit Father Jasper de Cruz (in 1560), and around that time a Dutchman named Jan Huygen van Linshoten visited Java. He wrote about his voyage to the East Indies in 1598 and mentioned “cha”, as it was called in Mandarin.

Around 1650 the Dutch under Peter Stuyvesant brought the first tea to America in the settlement Nieuw Amsterdam, later re-named New York by the English. So now that it is here you can enjoy it at one of the places below:

At Camellia Sinensis, crisp stainless steel boxes line the entire wall filled with white, yellow, black, oolong and green artisanal teas. Each of the four owners is a specialist in one kind, and they travel the world themselves to keep prices down (and quality up) by importing directly from China, Japan, India, Taiwan, etc.

To brew tea, there are  hand-crafted teapots from China, Japan, Quebec, Germany  Vietnam, Taiwan and Russia. They import “tea cakes” called Pu Er, from the jungles of China and Vietnam.These are aged and like wine can be aged for 100 years. Here they only carry cakes from as far back as the 1970’s.

You can go to tea school, which covers all aspects of tea – introduction to tastes and countries or you can imbibe in their tea salon. They have an extensive web site where you can learn and order the teas online wherever you are in the world.

Location:  351 rue Emery
corner: St. Denis
Phone: 514-286-4002
Other location: Marche Jean-Talon, 7010 Casgrain (514-271-4002)
Hours: Mon-Wed 11-6, Thurs & Fri 11-9, Sat 11-6, Sun 12-6
www.camellia-sinensis.com

Un Amour des Thes is run by a family who will gladly teach you about the 200 varieties of tea in the shop, individually or in a group or at tea tastings. They scour the world (India, China, Japan, Kenya, Tanzania) to stock the black, green and white teas and come up with some interesting ones: how about “chocolate” tea, a Ceylonese black one with dark cocoa highlights, the red rooibos (full of antioxidants) or formed teas which “bloom”.

Locations: 1224 Bernard ouest  Outremont  514-279-2999)
Hours: Tues-Fri 11-6, Sat 9-5, Sun 11-5
Other locations (longer hours): 5612 Monkland Ave. (514-482-2999); 781 Mont-Royal e. (514-369-2999); Laval, 2888 Du Cosmodome (450-687-4999).
www.amourdesthes.com

David’s Tea is re-introducing tea to a whole younger audience. The teas here are creative mixes served iced, in martinis and blended with fruit petals, flowers, dehydrated fruits and lots of sweet flavors (vanilla, orange peel, dulche de leche, apple, caramel, mango, lemon zest, almonds, and even chocolate). They offer seasonal menus and special teas: blooming ones, herbal ayurvedic, mate, pu’erh, rooibos, the emperor’s white teas and  limited edition ones.

Locations: 1207 Mont-Royal est at de la Roche  (514-527-1117 ); 5625 Pare (514-739-0006); Fairveiw Pointe Claire (514-697-3331); Carrefour Laval (450-681-0776); 4859 Sherbrooke o.
Hours: Mon-Wed 10-10, Thurs-Sat 10-11(summer Mon-Wed 10-9:30, Thurs & Fri 10-10, Sat 10-8, Sun 10-7
www.davidstea.com

Q1: Montreal is a multi-ethnic city, and we have many places to buy authentic groceries from different parts of the world. Today you wanted to tell us a bit about East European food.
When you think of Russian or Baltic food, you think of hearty stick to your ribs dishes and that’s just about what we need at this time of year. Since these are local family businesses, much of the food is homemade so free from preservatives or additives. Their meat products are smoked naturally with wood, not injected with flavoring.

Q2: What countries are we talking about?
Russia, Roumania, Hungary, Slovenia

Q3: What kinds of foods might we find there?
Well borscht of course, chicken Kiev, different kinds cured meats: gypsy sausage or Moscow salami, goose pastrami. There’s healthy foods like kefir, yogurt drink and their smoked fishes are full of omega 3 (mackerel, herring and sturgeon). You’ll always find dumplings – my favorites are called pelmeny, little meat dumplings that I put in soup. Cabbage is good for you and they make homemade sauerkraut and stuffed cabbage. Don’t forget these stores also make wonderful desserts.

Q4: In what part of town would you find these stores?
West of the city in the Snowdon area: Sherbrooke St., Decarie Blvd., Victoria Ave.

At Bucarest Charcuterie and Patisserie you’ll find that Rumanian food and everything to make an authentic meal – meatball soup, stuffed grape leaves, naturally smoked sausages, chopped eggplant salads, stuffed cabbage, marinated mushrooms or carrots, goose, lamb or pork pastrami, fresh roe, homemade sauerkraut, pickled cabbage heads, etc. can be purchased here.

Russian foods to try would be sprats, sturgeon, whole herrings, smoked eel and mackerel, kefir and pilmeny (meat dumplings and others), chocolates and homemade cakes. Their canned groceries cover more of Eastern Europe, and include: sour tomatoes, white cherry or walnut preserves, chestnut puree, Hungarian paprika paste, pumpkin seed oil, black currants in syrup and yummy juices (pomegranate, red currant, blackberry).

Location: 4670 boul. Decarie at Cote St-Luc Rd. Phone: 514-481-4732

Patisserie et Charcuterie Bourret – The Roumanian, Hungarian, Slovenian, Swiss, German take-out foods in this 40-year-old business include zakuska, smoked eggplant, fish egg salad, goose pastrami, salamis, stuffed cabbage, pickled whole cabbage, fresh and smoked sausages, head cheese and Bulgarian sheep feta.

Bakery specialties to try are kifli (almond and apricot), poppy seed bagli, the 7-layer dobosh, cozonac, and torte wafers ($3.99). There is a wall of grocery products like gooseberry jam, chestnut puree, letcho, Hungarian noodles.

Location: 5771 Victoria, Snowdon  Phone: 514-733-8462   www.bourretinc.com

St. Petersburg Russian Delicatessen – If you’ve ever wanted to try gypsy sausage or dried Moscow salami, you’ve found your spot. Russian yummies include smoked trout and mackerel, salmon caviar, borscht and chicken Kiev of course, but also spicy carrots, pickled mushrooms, herring with beets and potato, pelmeny, 10 kinds of pierogies and varenikas in the freezer, lots of jarred and canned veggies, and after you’ve had your pickled tomatoes, grab a piece of halvah or a  few cookies from the 75 bins and wash it all down with strawberry soda, sour cherry tea – or kefir.

Location: 5584A Sherbrooke ouest  Phone: 514-369-1377