Kir Royal - White tea 100 g - Café du Jour loose tea

The cocktail, read as a tea

A Kir Royal is champagne with a measure of blackcurrant liqueur, and this blend works from the same two ideas. The blackcurrants and red berries supply the dark fruit; the white tea and green tea base, lifted by verbena leaf and lemongrass, supplies the light, dry side. The cup comes out pale and smooth, fruity rather than sweet, and it finishes clean with no aftertaste hanging about.

Getting it right in the pot

White and green leaf both scorch in boiling water, so take the kettle off the boil and let it settle to around 80°C. Use roughly 2 g per cup, about a teaspoon, in a strainer, an infuser or a teapot, and give it two to three minutes — long enough for the blackcurrant to come through, short enough to keep the green leaf clean. At that dose a 100 g pack runs to roughly fifty cups, and the leaf will take a second, lighter infusion.

Hot, iced, and worth looking at

Served hot it is light enough for the afternoon. Brewed strong and poured over ice it keeps the blackcurrant note and makes an obvious non-alcoholic stand-in at a table where everyone else has a glass. The red rose petals and sunflower blossoms are clearly visible in the dry leaf, which is part of why it works as a tea gift: brew it in a glass pot and you can see them.

Ingredients and specifications

• Ingredients: white tea, green tea, verbena leaf, lemongrass, flavouring, blackcurrants, red rose petals, sunflower blossoms, red berries
• Format: loose-leaf tea
• Net weight: 100 g
• Flavour: champagne-like, fresh and fruity, no lingering aftertaste
• Contains caffeine, less than black tea or coffee, but it is not caffeine-free
• Brewing: about 2 g per cup, water at roughly 80°C, 2-3 minutes
• Blended and packed in Germany