Yunnan, a mountainous province in south-western China, produces on its high plateaus black teas recognisable by their golden buds. Yunnan Imperial is a high-quality harvest, one of the most prized in the province, and Mariage Frères gives it an unequivocal title: king of Chinese black teas.

Our catalogue classifies it as TGFOP grade, Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe: a whole leaf of fine quality, rich in golden tips, those downy buds that bring sweetness and velvetiness to the liquor. It is a plain black tea, with no added flavouring or perfume. Dry, the leaf is dark, speckled with gold.

The infusion is radiant, with deep, orange-toned shades. The liquor is rich and smooth, velvety from the buds, and its round, malty and slightly chocolatey flavour lingers for a long time; our file also notes a hint of pepper and touches of gingerbread. The house speaks of a dry taste and a developed flavour: clean, with no apparent sugar, and with length.

A breakfast tea above all, it also keeps you going all day. It is best drunk plain, with toast, eggs, a brioche or a buttered sourdough loaf; a cloud of milk remains possible. At lunch, it accompanies roast poultry or a lightly spiced dish.

Loose leaf is weighed and packed to order in our shops in Bordeaux and Nice, from a 5 g sample to one kilo; the same tea is available in a case of 30 round cotton muslin tea sachets, with a net weight of 75 g, and in the house’s metal tin. Allow 2.5 g of leaf or one muslin sachet per 200 ml of water at 95°C, and five minutes of infusion.