Orientalist, explorer, the first European woman to enter Lhasa, Alexandra David-Néel was also a great lover of tea. Mariage Frères has composed in her image this black tea of adventure, which the house describes as fruity and spiced, and which tells in three movements her quest for the distant East.

Black tea evokes China and the tea route. Around it, a broad base of spices portrays the figure on the road: black pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and clove, combined with a flavouring. A fresh floral note finally expresses the fullness of meditation at the end of the journey. The blend may contain traces of nuts. Dry, the dark leaves studded with spices smell of pepper and cardamom, with an unexpected floral softness in the background.

The liquor, a deep amber, is full-bodied without being burning. The pepper and ginger open, the cinnamon and cardamom round them out, the clove signs off the finish; the floral freshness then lightens the whole and spares it the heaviness of some chais. The black tea holds everything together with frank tannins, each spice keeping its place.

It is a tea for the day, to drink plain or with a cloud of milk that softens the pepper. It goes with a tagine, a mild curry, a mature cheese or, at teatime, a gingerbread and a few dried fruits. Those who like spiced teas but find chais too sweet will discover a drier and more aromatic version.

It comes in a 100 g iconic metal tin, black, airtight and with a re-sealable lid, delivered in its gift box, and in a box of 30 round traditional cotton muslin tea sachets, 75 g. Allow 2.5 g of leaves or one cotton muslin tea sachet for 200 ml of water at 95 °C, and five minutes of infusion. Store it apart from plain teas, which its spices would happily perfume.