The harvest takes place in the cottony, persistent mists of the high plateaus, hence the name: Thé Sous les Nuages. This black tea from Yunnan comes from a garden watered by the pure waters of the mountains, surrounded by tropical forests, where centenarian tea bushes are processed in the planter's family home. Mariage Frères grades it GFOP, whole leaf rich in golden tips.

The golden buds and their young coal-black leaves release, when dry, a scent of acerola cherry and pure-origin cocoa. A natural tea, it contains no additions, and the house's file ranks it among its Jardins Premiers.

Once infused, the leaves, draped in a frosted brown veil, deliver a chypre melody enhanced by safflower flowers and a smooth note of beeswax. The liquor, a luminous red amber, combines malty and chocolatey wafts with curls of incense; it vibrates, the house says, with a thousand nuances, between the fruitiness of bilberry and the flowery freshness of rose buds and vanilla flowers. Under these images, a great Yunnan: round, malty, soft, with its golden buds and its cocoa.

The house considers it pleasant throughout the day. It is drunk plain: at breakfast for those who like a black tea without milk, at lunch with poultry or a slightly spiced dish, in the afternoon with a chocolate pastry or dried fruit. The leaves accept a second infusion.

Allow 3.5 g per 200 ml of water at 95 °C and three minutes' steeping, as the house recommends. Thé Sous les Nuages is weighed and packed to order in our shops in Bordeaux and Nice, from the 5 g sample to the kilo, and keeps in an airtight tin, away from light.