The high mountains of Ceylon and the temples of the Nuwara Eliya plantations, which rise, Mariage Frères says, towards the heavens: this is what Ceylan, Thé des Dieux evokes, a black tea from the island, scented with flowers and spices of Ceylon. It belongs to the Calligraphies du Thé collection, in which each country lends its script to a composition; on the tin, the word “thé” is calligraphed in Sinhalese.

The ingredients are tea, hibiscus, sunflower, safflower, cornflower, rose, vanilla and flavouring; the blend may contain traces of nuts. The house file classes it among its Jardins Premiers. The black leaf, scattered with red, orange and blue petals, is very colourful.

The cup is bright, delicate and fragrant. The Ceylan brings its amber, tonic and clean liquor; the flowers provide the bouquet; the vanilla rounds it out; the soft spices stay in the background, like a memory of the island’s markets. The hibiscus adds a tart edge that keeps the whole fresh. Sacred tea, says the house; we would rather say a tea of fine bearing.

It is best drunk in the afternoon, plain, with biscuits, a spiced cake, fresh fruit, or at teatime with the children. As an iced infusion it keeps its flowers and its acidity and becomes very refreshing.

It is presented in a lacquered, screen-printed metal tin containing 100 g, a fine object to give or to keep. Allow 2.5 g for 200 ml of water at 95 °C and three minutes’ infusion, without extending it. La Boutique du Thé, official stockist of Mariage Frères since 1999, offers it in its shops in Bordeaux and Nice.