Athens: Tea Time in Thissio

Kaymaria DaskarolisMarch 2, 2007

Tea Time!
photograph courtesy of Kaymaria Daskarolis

There are a gazillion and eight places to get decent coffee in Athens. Finding decent tea around here, however, is a different story. Needless to say, we were just about doing cartwheels when we found a tip-top spot for delicious and therapeutic tea in Athens.

??????? (in English, “Peonia”) is a tea and herb shop in Athens’s Thissio district, not even five minutes’ walk from the Thissio urban railway station (one stop away from the Monastiraki metro station, where you can connect to the urban railway line without needing to buy a new ticket).

We told the gentleman running the shop (who speaks perfect English, by the way) that we had runny noses, scratchy throats, and headaches, and he went to work brewing us the perfect tea to restore our health and clear our minds. A blend of white tea with ginger and cinnamon did the trick, and after a few hours of lounging on Peonia’s comfy sofa sipping the restorative tea, we were ready to get back on the city’s bustling streets.

Peonia is located at Amfiktionos 12 and Poulopoulou 8, Thissio, Athens, tel: +30-210-341-0260, email: peoniaherbsATath.forthnet.gr.

About the author

In order to keep a promise she and her brother had made to their grandmother (and to simultaneously fulfill one of her own dreams) Kaymaria left her beloved hometown of Oakland, California and headed to Athens in time for the 2004 Olympics. Today, she continues to work and play in the Greek capital, where you may find her writing atop Lykavittos, road-tripping with overseas guests, enjoying Athens cafés with friends, dancing to Greek hip-hop music, or reading Greek subtitles in an outdoor cinema. The daughter of two life-long educators and enthusiastic travelers, Kaymaria has explored North America, Mexico, and Europe. It was not until she spent a year as an exchange student at The University of York in England, however, that she discovered that she does not actually speak English.

Posted in: Athens, Food, Greece