Naturally caffeine-free, hot or cold, for young and old: Madame Butterfly Fruit Tea is a fruit infusion composed by Mariage Frères to evoke its tea Madame Butterfly, with its sweet scent of rose and cherry blossom. It belongs to a new house collection, the Fruit Teas, which are steeped like tea.

The ingredients are hibiscus, rosehip, apple, orange, rose, raspberry and a flavouring; the blend may contain traces of tree nuts, and contains no tea. The house's file ranks it among its Jardins Premiers. Pieces of fruit are visible in the blend, and the jar, a blown glass ball holding 150 g, showcases them.

The liquor is a deep red, that of hibiscus. It is tender, fruity, delicately tart: apple and orange provide sweetness, hibiscus and rosehip the acidity, raspberry the fruit, and rose, in the finish, recalls the tea whose name it bears. With no added sugar, it nonetheless has an almost indulgent roundness.

It is an evening infusion, to drink plain or with a little honey, after dinner, for the whole family. Iced, it makes a colourful, refreshing summer drink, to serve with fresh fruit; a jug can be prepared in the morning for the day.

Allow 5 g per 200 ml of water at 100 °C and eight minutes' steeping, a long time that the fruit needs to express itself. Keep the jar closed, away from light. La Boutique du Thé, official Mariage Frères stockist since 1999, offers it in its shops in Bordeaux and Nice.