What does a rainbow taste like? The question is from Mariage Frères, and the house's answer lies in the citrus notes of Rainbow in Love, an oolong tea from the In Love collection, offered in a box of thirty cotton muslins made in France.

Oolong tea, or blue tea, is a semi-oxidised tea: its leaf, worked between green and black, gives a golden, velvety liquor, almost free of tannins, that carries fruit flavours gently. The house has added blue flowers, rose petals and citrus flavourings. Ingredients: tea, blue flowers, rose, flavouring; the blend may contain traces of nuts.

The cup is bright as sunshine after rain, to borrow the house's image, and a golden colour. The citrus is flamboyant, frank and zesty, and the rose slips in behind them with a floral softness that rounds everything off; the velvetiness of the oolong does the rest, and the sensation is one of great freshness without acidity. The box, colourful and radiant, says the same thing as the cup.

It is an afternoon tea, to drink plain and without milk, with a lemon tart, financiers or a fruit salad; iced, it is irresistibly simple, with a slice of orange and plenty of ice. Oolong muslins withstand a second infusion.

Allow 1 muslin per 200 ml of water at 95 °C and five minutes' steeping time. The box contains 30 muslins, or 75 g of net tea; close it after use and keep it away from light and odours, so that the citrus stays as lively as on the first day.