In Japan, strawberry season falls in December, and it is this fruit that people treat themselves to for the festive season in a thousand indulgent forms; its red colour there recalls Father Christmas’s outfit. Mariage Frères drew on this charming shift for Christmas Strawberry, a black Christmas tea with strawberry, a blend between Japan and France.

The composition includes tea, strawberry, sugar, starch and a flavouring; the full list appears on the canister and on this page. Pieces of strawberry are visible in the black leaf, and a note of vanilla accompanies the fruit, according to the house’s description.

In the cup, the liquor is round and fruity, a reddish amber. The strawberry comes through frank and ripe, with a slight acidity that keeps it lively; the vanilla rounds it off, and the black tea supports the whole without any apparent tannin. It is an indulgent yet clean tea, bright rather than sweet.

It is drunk in the afternoon, during the festivities and well beyond, plain. It goes with a strawberry gateau, shortbread, a red berry Yule log. Iced, it becomes a very refreshing summer tea, and the fruit shines even more.

Mariage Frères presents it in a tall canister with a double lid, raspberry colour highlighted in gold, containing 80 g of flavoured black tea. Allow 2.5 g for 200 ml of water at 95 °C and 5 minutes’ infusion. The blend may contain traces of tree nuts. Christmas Strawberry is available at La Boutique du Thé, official Mariage Frères stockist since 1999 in Bordeaux and Nice; keep the canister closed, away from light and heat.