In autumn, the maples of Tokyo turn red, and the city’s temples and gardens light up with this rhapsody of colours. Mariage Frères drew from it Tokyo Rhapsody, a white tea composition with the sweet flavour of Japanese fruit and maple syrup, whose rosy infusion, the house says, resonates with sparkling and festive notes. We offer it in cotton muslin tea sachets.

The base is a Pai Mu Tan white tea, buds and young leaves simply withered. The declared ingredients combine white tea, red beetroot and flavouring, with possible traces of nuts; the beetroot colours the cup pink without adding taste. The caffeine is low. The box contains 30 round cotton muslin sachets, for a net weight of 75 g.

The liquor is clear and velvety, tinted pink. The fruit arrives first, sweet and slightly tangy, then the maple syrup brings a syrupy indulgence, woody and caramelised with no added sugar, and the white tea leaves a light finish of hay and clear honey. It is a fragrant, indulgent white tea, unusual, that almost passes for dessert.

Drink it in the afternoon, plain, with pancakes, crêpes, a pecan cake or butter biscuits, and it also suits brunch. Brewed and then chilled, it makes a soft, rosy iced tea.

Allow 1 muslin sachet per 200 ml of water at 85 °C and seven minutes of steeping: white tea needs time and tempered water. La Boutique du Thé, official stockist of Mariage Frères since 1999, offers you Tokyo Rhapsody in its shops in Bordeaux and Nice. Keep the box closed, dry and away from light.