For those approaching the green teas of Japan, Mariage Frères advises starting with this one. Grown, the house says, in the finest tea gardens of the country, Fuji-Yama offers the enthusiast an excellent introduction to the subtleties of Japanese greens, and bears the name of the sacred mountain that dominates the island of Honshu.

It is a plain green tea. Its tender leaves, of a brilliant emerald green, reveal fine fruity scents in which the perfume of a freshly picked nashi appears, that round, crisp Japanese pear: an impression in the cup, not an added ingredient. The house’s own file ranks it among its Jardins Premiers.

The cup, with its pleasant jade reflections, delivers creamy notes recalling white melon, softened with a hint of spring honey. The vegetal freshness is there, clean, but without the marine sharpness sometimes found in Japanese greens of character; the taste is bright, bracing, and the finish remains gentle.

The house says it is perfect during a meal and at any time of the day. It accompanies raw fish, sushi, rice, vegetables and cucumber salad, and is drunk plain, never with milk. Steeped and then chilled, it makes a very pure iced tea in summer; the leaves can take a second infusion, slightly shorter.

Water well below boiling preserves its sweetness; the infusion parameters specific to each format are listed on its sheet. Fuji-Yama is available loose leaf, weighed and packed to order in our shops in Bordeaux and Nice, from 5 g samples up to the kilo, in a box of 30 round cotton muslin tea sachets (75 g net), and in a sealed black metal tin of 100 g presented in its gift box. Keep it closed, cool and away from light.