The lavender fields that the Impressionists painted so often, the abundant nature and the gentle scents of Provence are at the heart of Provence Rhapsody. Mariage Frères has made it a pink white tea, flavoured with red fruits and speckled with Provence lavender, offered here in a box of thirty cotton muslin tea sachets.

White tea is the least processed of teas: leaves and buds simply withered and dried, which give a light, downy, low-tannin liquor. The house has tinted it pink with red beetroot, a natural ingredient that colours without flavouring, and has flavoured it with red fruits. Composition: white tea, red beetroot, Provence lavender, aroma; the blend may contain traces of nuts.

The cup is clear, velvety and rosy. The red fruits are sunny and frank, and the lavender, always discreet, stays in the background like a breath of dried grass; the white tea, for its part, brings its softness and freshness without ever disturbing the perfume. This is far from overpowering lavender: here it is an accent, not the subject.

It is an afternoon tea for fine weather, to be drunk plain, with a strawberry tart, calissons or a fresh cheese with honey; iced, with a few raspberries, it is even better. The cotton muslin, round and traditional, lets the water circulate around the leaves and gives a cleaner infusion than a paper tea bag.

Allow 1 muslin sachet per 200 ml of water at 85 °C and seven minutes of steeping: white tea needs cooler water and more time than black tea. The box contains 30 muslin sachets, or 75 g of net tea; keep it closed, away from light and odours.