The history of Parisian tea rooms is intimately tied to the history of the Ladurée family. It all began in 1862, when Louis Ernest Ladurée, a miller from the southwest of France, founded a bakery in Paris at 16 rue Royale. The story of the Ladurée macaron began in the mid-20th century with Pierre Desfontaines, second cousin of Louis Ernest Ladurée, who had the delicious idea of creating a double macaron, two simple macaron shells joined in the middle by a luscious filling. And the rest, as they say, is history. Today, Ladurée is not only the "Fabricant de Douceurs depuis 1862" (Maker of Sweets since 1862), but also a global company bringing the French Art de Vivre to the world with over 100 retail and tea salon locations worldwide.