A Souvenir in the Colors of Ivy and Stone
It was in Dublin, a city of ash-colored stone and red brick, that young Arthur settled at the end of the 19th century to study botany at the prestigious Trinity College. There, in the heart of the galleries lined with colonnades, between the austere domes and the sash windows, his gaze wandered through the gilded stained glass, lingered on the ornate railings and the granite cornices eroded by the Atlantic rains.
But beyond the academy, it was in the vibrant arteries of the city, between the stone bridges spanning the Liffey and the cobbled lanes of Temple Bar, that he discovered the Irish soul, its taste for poetry, hospitality, and long conversations around a fire.
The Long Hall – The Soul of a Pub
Every evening, Arthur would meet his friends at the Long Hall, an iconic pub located a stone's throw from Trinity College. Beneath the high stucco ceilings and crystal chandeliers, between the tarnished mirrors and the time-worn woodwork, he would settle onto a red leather banquette, savoring a glass of Irish whiskey while the sound of a fiddle drifted softly from the back room. It was a place of hushed laughter, where people spoke in hushed tones as if in a library, and where the vapors of malt seemed to dance above the glasses.
A Tea, Like a Distilled Memory
Irish Stroll evokes a whole atmosphere: dark wood paneling, leather worn smooth by time, the hushed warmth of a peat fire in the shadows of an old pub. With each infusion, it's a vibrant tribute to Arthur Betjeman's Dublin youth, to the birth of a passion, to the awakening of a destiny guided by tea.
