The evening calls for simple cups. Paix Intérieure is one of them: four plants, and nothing else. Lemon balm leads, sourced from Bulgaria, France or Morocco; mulberry leaves from Bulgaria and Albania; nettle, from Ukraine, Slovakia, Bulgaria or France; and finally chamomile. All come from organic cultivation, and none is flavoured.

Lemon balm is a member of the mint family, a cousin of mint, whose crushed leaf smells of lemon. It sets the tone. The mulberry leaf, picked from the bramble, brings a soft, slightly tannic greenness; the nettle, a frank herbaceous quality; the chamomile, a hint of honey, barely there, with its small flower heads.

Before infusion, all in greens and blonds, the loose leaf smells of a freshly mown meadow. The liquor is pale gold and clear. On the palate, the velvety lemon of the lemon balm settles in, the mulberry softens it, the nettle gives it structure, and the chamomile closes the sequence on a discreet honeyed note. Nothing overpowers: the four plants answer one another without any covering the others.

Caffeine-free, it is an end-of-day herbal infusion, to be drunk plain, or sweetened if you wish with a spoonful of acacia honey. It goes well with a dry biscuit, a warm compote, a few almonds. It can also be made in a jug and left to cool for summer.

For a one-litre teapot, allow 13 to 18 g of herbs; for a single 200 ml cup, 2.6 to 3.6 g. The water, poured at 100 °C, works for six to ten minutes. The loose leaf is bagged to order, in sachets designed to preserve its taste; at home, an airtight container and a dry place are sufficient.