Louis XIV is said to have been, so the story goes, one of the first French personalities to taste tea. Mariage Frères dedicates Roi-Soleil to him, a blend the house describes as most serene, in which the power of the golden Yunnan teas meets the floral note of a subtly smoked black tea, enhanced with touches of green tea.

Yunnan, a province in south-western China, produces black teas with golden, round and warm buds, among the most prized by enthusiasts. Smoked tea, for its part, takes its aroma from drying over a pinewood fire. Here the smoke remains discreet: it nuances rather than imposes. The full list of ingredients is on the packaging and on this sheet, and the blend carries the Jardin Premier label in our catalogue.

The liquor is amber and powerful, with the woody and resinous aromas one expects from a smoked tea, but carried by the roundness of the Yunnan, which gives them softness. The floral note of the smoked tea and the touch of green tea bring an unexpected freshness, which lightens the finish. It is a smoked tea for those who like smoke without wanting it to erase the tea.

The house intends it for the day. It is drunk plain or with a cloud of milk, and pairs with a savoury breakfast, smoked salmon, sheep’s cheese, or at the table with roast poultry and mushrooms. It also lends itself to cold infusion, where the smoke becomes almost silky.

Allow 2.5 g per 200 ml of water at 95 °C and five minutes’ infusion. Roi-Soleil is weighed and packed to order in our shops in Bordeaux and Nice, from the 5 g sample to the kilo, in a bag designed to preserve its aroma. Store it away from non-smoked teas.