What if Marie Antoinette’s tea still existed? Well, it does, and you can find her tea at Nina’s Tea House in Paris. My favorite Austrian Queen drank tea that had a fruitful flavor to it, which is not surprising given the heavenly sensory experience that her lifestyle was infamously known for. To this day, the tea is still cultivated with fresh fruits from le Potager du Roi of Versailles. Her legacy lives on through this lovely tea house in Paris and given her life’s tragic outcome, I think her legacy being experienced through delicious tea is a wonderful way to honor her memory.

Marie Antoinette was a multi-faceted individual, just a young girl, when she was sent from Austria to marry Louis and become the Queen of France. She was forced to navigate a political landscape that most world leaders would be perplexed by today, let alone did she seek out that life. In many ways, the economic realities that she faced were not much different than the ones we face today. It’s unfortunate that her legacy as a villainous character that said, “Let them eat cake!” (which is a myth) is how she would be characterized in the French Revolution. However, Sofia Coppola’s multi-dimensional approach in depicting her in her film about Marie Antoinette is historically accurate: the film is based off of historian Antonia Fraser’s biography of Marie Antoinette, Marie Antoinette: The Journey, which has been lauded by historians.

Few also know that her Petit Trianon and Hameau de la Reine were her solace, a small palace and a cottage nearby made for her on Versailles that was intended to be environments that were simple and pure, and likely the way she had wished the world could be and perhaps a type of homesickness that she had to Austria… Honoring Marie Antoinette’s legacy by drinking the same tea that she did is a wonderful way to learn more about her life with a simple pleasure while continuing a historic legacy of tea.