A field daisy, ready to flirt, and silver lettering on a purple and orange bottle: Bel Ami in rooibos is Mariage Frères’ tribute to friendship, love and beauty, and to the memory of Maupassant’s Paris at the end of the 19th century. It is the caffeine-free version of the collection, in a 80 g bottle.

Red rooibos, a plant from South Africa, gives a soft, russet infusion, naturally caffeine-free and low in tannins, which carries floral notes with a natural roundness. The house has added safflower petals and flavourings. Ingredients: red rooibos, safflower flower, flavouring; the blend may contain traces of tree nuts.

The liquor is silky, a amber red. The floral soul of the collection, rose and safflower, settles on it with freshness over the smoothness of the rooibos, the vanilla envelops the whole, and the finish, in the house’s words, turns to pomegranate syrup: a fruity, tangy note that brightens the sweetness. No sugar is added, yet the cup tastes almost like a pastry.

It is drunk in the afternoon or in the evening, after dinner, plain or with a cloud of milk that brings out the vanilla; it goes with a rose macaron, a vanilla custard or a red fruit tart, and pleases those who avoid caffeine without giving up indulgence. Iced, it keeps its flowers and its vanilla.

Allow 2.5 g per 200 ml of water at 95 °C and five minutes of infusion; rooibos does not turn bitter if left longer. Bel Ami in rooibos comes in a tall double-lidded bottle containing 80 g of scented rooibos; keep it closed, away from light and odours.