Four small heaps of loose black tea on a dark wooden board, one fine and dark, one flecked with blue petals, one with whole spices, one long and twisted, beside a cup of deep amber tea

Mariage Frères Black Teas, Read Tin by Tin

September 28, 2026

Mariage Frères is a Paris tea house that dates itself to 1 June 1854. Its black teas run from a malty breakfast blend to a Chinese leaf smoked over pine to a chai named for a French trading post in Bengal. Alongside them the house keeps a family it calls red tea: South African rooibos, scented much as the house scents its black teas. This guide reads eight of the black teas and five tins made without the tea plant from Mariage Frères' own descriptions, giving for each the base leaf, what the house adds and whether it suits milk. For choosing across the house's wider range, see the guide to what makes Mariage Frères tea worth it and how to choose.

The house

By the house's own history, the brothers Henri and Édouard Mariage founded Mariage Frères in Paris. The house calls itself a leading French importer of tea that traded with China and Ceylon. It says its Paris shop still uses old tea crates from China, along with scales, scoops and antique counters. Its site files rooibos as a family of its own, separate from its teas, and describes its red teas as theine-free. The article on how tea travelled west explains how the leaf reached Europe.

Three breakfast teas

The black tea buying guide explains what the words "breakfast tea" do and do not promise, and what the leaf grades printed on black-tea labels mean.

English Breakfast (shop English Breakfast) lists nothing beyond the tea itself. The house describes a blend of black teas "with the most noble of origins" that makes a dense cup with an intense, malty character. It adds that a dash of milk suits the strong, balanced body. The English Breakfast tea guide covers it in full.

American Breakfast (shop American Breakfast) is a rich, malty blend with what the house calls a hint of caramelized chocolate. Its description also gives serving advice: good with a drop of cold milk and, in the house's words, "perfect with breakfast in Manhattan."

Paris Breakfast (shop Paris Breakfast) has the longest list of notes of the three. The house describes a blend of black teas with a smooth, round body and notes of malted chocolate, vanilla, warm brioche and candied tangerine. It also says a hint of China green tea comes through at the end, so by the house's own description Paris Breakfast is not all black tea. Try it without milk first. The Paris Breakfast tea guide goes further.

Assam with chocolate: Wedding Impérial

Wedding Impérial (shop Wedding Impérial) is described as the malty power of golden Assam leaves paired with notes of chocolate and caramel. On its India page, Mariage Frères describes Assam as a variety of the tea plant with large, broad leaves that brews a brilliant, deep red liquor with a pronounced aroma. Wedding Impérial is a tea to try with milk. The Wedding Impérial tea guide reads it cup by cup.

Bergamot and perfume

Earl Grey French Blue (shop Earl Grey French Blue) is black tea with bergamot and blue flowers. The house describes the bergamot as fruity, zesty and lightly peppery, with a sweet-scented hint of cornflower, and calls the cup full-bodied and long.

Marco Polo (shop Marco Polo) is the tea the house calls "the most legendary of flavoured teas." Its description credits fragrances evoking Chinese and Tibetan flowers with a velvety taste. The Marco Polo tea guide covers it at length.

Smoke and spice

Lapsang Chinbara (shop Lapsang Chinbara) is the one smoked tea in the group, and its description goes furthest into how it is made. The house calls it an authentic Lapsang Souchong from China, smoked over a wood fire. By its account, the leaves are grilled on a hot iron plate, then laid on bamboo racks over a fire of green pine logs. The house describes a golden cup with slightly smoky and pleasantly woody aromas. The Lapsang Chinbara tea guide explains what the name says about origin.

Chaï Chandernagor (shop Chaï Chandernagor) takes its name from Chandernagor, the former French trading post on a branch of the Ganges in Bengal. The house lists its spices as cloves, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and pepper, over black tea. It is another tea to try with milk.

Eight black teas, side by side

Tea	Base leaf, as the house describes it	What the house adds	With milk? (our suggestion; "per the house" where stated)	Read more
English Breakfast	Black teas "with the most noble of origins"	Nothing listed; described as malty	Yes, a dash of milk, per the house	English Breakfast tea guide
American Breakfast	Malty black tea blend	A hint of caramelized chocolate	Yes, a drop of cold milk, per the house	Black tea buying guide
Paris Breakfast	Black teas, plus a little China green tea	Notes of malted chocolate, vanilla, brioche, candied tangerine	Try it without first	Paris Breakfast tea guide
Wedding Impérial	Golden Assam	Chocolate and caramel notes	Yes	Wedding Impérial tea guide
Earl Grey French Blue	Black tea	Bergamot, blue flowers, a hint of cornflower	Optional	Black tea buying guide
Marco Polo	Black tea	Chinese and Tibetan flower notes	No	Marco Polo tea guide
Lapsang Chinbara	Lapsang Souchong from China	Nothing listed; smoked over green pine	No	Lapsang Chinbara tea guide
Chaï Chandernagor	Black tea	Cloves, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, pepper	Yes	This page

Where these descriptions name a place, it is Assam for Wedding Impérial and China for Lapsang Chinbara and for the green tea in Paris Breakfast. The breakfast blends are described by the cup: body, malt and the notes a drinker will find. On the scented teas the perfume is the point, so the descriptions dwell on bergamot and flowers. The guide to how tea is made explains the oxidation that turns the tea leaf black.

Caffeine in the black teas

Every true tea, black or green, comes from a single species, Camellia sinensis. All eight teas above are made from it, Paris Breakfast's touch of green tea included, so all of them carry caffeine. The Mayo Clinic puts an average 8-ounce cup of brewed black tea at 47 milligrams, against 96 for the same cup of brewed coffee. It also notes that the caffeine in any given cup varies, and that brewing time is one of the reasons. For an evening cup, the house's red teas below are the alternative.

The red teas: rooibos

Mariage Frères calls its rooibos "red tea," but the rust-colored needles come from a different plant from its black teas. Rooibos is Aspalathus linearis, a fynbos shrub. The SA Rooibos Council says the plant grows naturally in only one place in the world, the Cederberg region about 200 km north of Cape Town, where local communities have brewed it for centuries. During the summer harvest the plants are cut to about 30 cm from the ground.

By the council's account, the green stems and leaves are cut, bruised and left in heaps to oxidize, a step the industry calls fermentation, and enzymes naturally present in the plant turn them from green to a deep amber. The rooibos is then dried in the sun, sifted and graded. An unfermented green rooibos also exists, with a paler cup and a very mild taste the council likens to green tea. The council describes red rooibos as naturally caffeine-free, with a naturally sweet, slightly nutty, honey-like taste. It says rooibos goes well with milk, honey, spices or a slice of lemon.

The name is protected in the European Union. In May 2021, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2021/865 entered "Rooibos" and "Red Bush" in the EU register of protected designations of origin, after considering an opposition filed by the United Kingdom.

Rouge Bourbon (shop Rouge Bourbon) pairs South African rooibos with a single flavor, Bourbon vanilla. The house says the vanilla is measured to balance the rooibos without leaving bitterness or an aftertaste. The history of vanilla article covers the spice itself. Rouge Bourbon is the blend to try with milk and a spoon of honey.

Marco Polo Rouge (shop Marco Polo Rouge) moves the house's Marco Polo scent onto rooibos. The house describes it as scented with fruits and flowers from China and Tibet, with a refined and velvety taste. Nil Rouge (shop Nil Rouge) is the house's "Red Nile," which it presents as a continuation of its Thé sur le Nil. The house describes scents of citrus and Oriental spices, with marigold in the blend, and a taste it calls lively yet mild. Of the three, Nil Rouge is the one to try with a slice of lemon.

Two herbal tins come in cotton muslin sachets. Mentha Piperita (shop Mentha Piperita) is peppermint, and the house describes a cool, peppery, mellow cup. The house sells it under its Jardin Premier label, which it ties to two EU regulations: No 396/2005, which sets maximum pesticide residue levels in food, and 2018/848, the EU's organic production regulation. Dream Tea (shop Dream Tea) is the only blend here that mixes rooibos with herbs. The house describes eight aromatic plants, among them chamomile, verbena, lemongrass, balm mint, licorice and red rooibos. The herbal and rooibos tisane recipe guide has a first recipe for this kind of tin.

Five tins without the tea plant, side by side

Tin	Base	What the house adds	Format and net weight	Per cup	Cups per tin
Rouge Bourbon	Rooibos	Bourbon vanilla	Loose, 100 g canister	2.5 g per 200 ml	About 40
Marco Polo Rouge	Rooibos	Fruits and flowers of China and Tibet	Loose, 100 g canister	2.5 g per 200 ml	About 40
Nil Rouge	Rooibos	Citrus, Oriental spices, marigold	Loose, 100 g canister	2.5 g per 200 ml	About 40
Mentha Piperita	Peppermint leaves	Nothing	30 muslin sachets, 45 g	1.5 g sachet	30
Dream Tea	Eight plants including rooibos	Chamomile, verbena, licorice and others	30 muslin sachets, 60 g	2 g sachet	30

Cups per tin are net weight divided by the dose. The loose canisters give about a third more cups than a sachet box and let the dose be adjusted, while the sachets are quicker to use.

Brewing in Denver

The UK Tea & Infusions Association gives 90 to 98°C, about 194 to 208°F, as the water temperature for black tea, with one rounded teaspoon of loose tea per cup. New Mexico State University's Cooperative Extension puts the boiling point of water at about 202°F, roughly 94°C, at 5,000 feet, and Denver sits a little higher. Water at or just off the boil in Cherry Creek, about 94°C, still falls inside that range, so the eight black teas need no change for altitude.

The rooibos canisters are the exception. Their brewing guidance is 2.5 g per 200 ml of water at 95°C, or 203°F, for five minutes, which is just above what a Denver kettle can reach. Pour the moment the kettle boils rather than after it rests. The cooking at altitude guide covers the rest of the kitchen.

Keeping the tins

The Tea & Infusions Association advises storing tea in a cool, dry place and not next to strongly flavoured or perfumed foods. The same advice suits loose rooibos. In practice that means the lid back on after every scoop, and a cupboard away from the stove, the window, the coffee and the spice rack. For how long an opened tin keeps, see the loose-leaf tea storage guide. Shelf life, caffeine and health get a fuller treatment in the black tea storage and health guide.

Choosing a pot

For a morning pot with milk, start with English Breakfast or American Breakfast. Without milk, try Paris Breakfast, Marco Polo or Lapsang Chinbara. For an evening cup without caffeine, Rouge Bourbon takes milk and honey, Marco Polo Rouge carries the Marco Polo scent, and Nil Rouge suits lemon and a lighter cup. For the last cup of the night, Mentha Piperita and Dream Tea are the two sachet tins made without the tea plant. Rooibos and honey are a natural pair, and the honey guide suggests which jar. For hosting, read the Mariage Frères hosting pantry guide. The Grand Coffret Henri (shop Grand Coffret Henri) gathers eighteen of the house's teas in one box, and the Grand Coffret Henri guide opens it.

The shop is at 263 Josephine Street in Cherry Creek, Denver, and products ship nationwide from theambrosianpantry.com.