In India, the chaiwallah is the street tea seller, an emblematic figure of everyday life, who serves his spiced chai in small cups at any hour. Mariage Frères dedicates this reinvented chai to him, which brings the flavours of India into the cup on an unexpected base: a blue tea, whose golden-yellow liquor is, according to the house, irresistibly “spicy” and already iconic.

The declared ingredients are blue tea, cinnamon, pepper, cardamom, ginger, clove, pink pepper and blue flowers; the blend may contain traces of tree nuts. The house’s imperial spices are present in pieces, visible in the dry leaf.

Oolong tea, also called blue tea, is a semi-oxidised leaf with a velvety roundness and a naturally floral aroma, softer in tannins than a black tea. This is what makes Chaïwallah unique: the cardamom and cinnamon open onto a silky texture, the ginger and peppers bring the warmth, the clove signs the finish, and the oolong softens the spices without smothering them. The cup stays warm and piquant, yet round, almost creamy.

Plain, it is lively and aromatic, the blue tea remaining perceptible beneath the spices; with hot milk, in the manner of a chai, it becomes creamy and golden, lighter than the classic Indian chai. It accompanies an Indian lunch, a spice loaf or cardamom biscuits in the afternoon. Iced, it keeps its spices and gains freshness.

It is sold loose, weighed to order in our Bordeaux and Nice shops, from the 5 g sample to the kilo, and in a 100 g icon tin, metal, black, airtight and with a lid, delivered in its gift box. Allow 3 g per 200 ml of water at 95 °C and five minutes: the oolong leaf needs this time to open.