To the south of Korea, legend has it, a kingdom was founded by the gods, whose present inhabitants are said to be their descendants; Jeju is called the “island of the gods”. Mariage Frères finds there a tea garden favoured by a subtropical climate and clean air, which produces this steamed green tea, plain, with no added fragrance, offered under the house’s Jardin Premier label.

The leaves resemble pine needles of a deep, handsome green. Steaming, a method typical of Japanese and Korean green teas, fixes the colour and preserves the vegetal freshness. The full list of ingredients, which consists solely of green tea, is on the packaging and on this sheet.

The nose is opulent, with an airy trail of angelica and green apple. The cup is fresh, sweet and supple, and the house describes it as dominated by the fine notes of the “halla-bong” mandarin, Jeju’s emblematic citrus. A herbaceous sweetness, a delicate freshness, a clear, vegetal liquor, long on the palate, and the character the house calls transporting: an origin green tea that resembles neither the Chinese nor the Japanese.

It is drunk during the day, plain, at lunch alongside Korean cooking, grilled fish and rice, or on its own, in small sips. The leaves take a second infusion, a little shorter.

Allow 3.5 g of leaves per 200 ml of water at 85 °C and only two minutes’ infusion: a steamed green tea gives up its flavour quickly. L’Île des Dieux is weighed and packed to order in our shops in Bordeaux and Nice, from the 5 g sample to the kilo, in a bag designed to preserve its taste; store it cool, in an airtight container, away from light and air.