A red and white striped bottle, as tempting as a barley sugar: Noël Royal shows its colours before you even open it. Mariage Frères houses 80 g of festive black tea in a collector’s bottle with a double lid that keeps well from one year to the next. Like a fairy tale, the house says, this tea tells a story of noble tea leaves, fabulous fruits and spices, with a happy ending of bright notes of bergamot.

The blend combines black tea, cinnamon, almonds and flavouring. The almonds make it a product containing a tree nut, and the blend may contain traces of other tree nuts; the full list is on the packaging and on this sheet. The cinnamon and almond, visible in the dry leaf, give the blend the look of a festive table.

In the cup, the liquor is amber and fragrant. The cinnamon opens warm and sweet, then the fruits arrive, round and indulgent, and the almond softens the texture; finally the bergamot lights up the finish with a zesty freshness that keeps the blend from feeling heavy. Generous notes, according to the house, that evoke the most regal of Christmas tables.

A December tea for teatime and evenings, enjoyed plain or with a cloud of milk, where the spices take on the warmth of gingerbread. It goes with Christmas shortbread, a stollen, a Yule log, mandarins, or simply the wait under the tree. It makes a gift in its bottle, and can be drunk throughout Advent.

Use 2.5 g per 200 ml of water at 95 °C and steep for five minutes. Once the bottle is opened, close it carefully after each use and keep it away from light, heat and strong odours, so that the spices and bergamot stay clear until the last cup.