An English garden, slightly extravagant, where mint grows at the foot of the lavender: that is the image Mariage Frères gives of London in Love, a tribute to British eccentricity. Its composition is unusual: a blue tea, that is to say an oolong, with notes of flavourful mint and lavender.

The semi-oxidised base gives a golden yellow liquor, round and free of bitterness, on which the fresh and floral notes settle lightly. The mint brings the breath, the lavender the colour, and the blue tea rounds it all off. The ingredients are blue tea, flavouring, rose petals and blue flowers; the blend may contain traces of nuts.

On the palate, freshness arrives first, clean, then the flowers settle in and extend the finish. The whole is delicate and fragrant, quite unlike a Moroccan mint tea: here, everything is in half-tones. Our listing places it among teas with low caffeine content, and it suits the afternoon as well as the evening.

It is drunk plain and hot, and in summer makes a remarkably refreshing iced tea, prepared by infusing the muslin sachets in hot water and then chilling the liquor. It accompanies a shortbread, a fruit salad, a lemon dessert, or a light teatime snack.

This tea is offered in a box of 30 round cotton muslin sachets, net weight 75 g, in a box in English green as flamboyant as its contents. Allow 1 muslin sachet per 200 ml of water at 95 °C and five minutes of steeping. La Boutique du Thé, official Mariage Frères stockist since 1999, offers it in its Bordeaux and Nice shops.