Most gins are built to be versatile. This one was designed with a single drink in mind, and Mikrogorzelnia says so openly: the recipe exists to make a better French 75. That constraint explains every choice on the list, starting with black tea from Nuwara Eliya, the high-grown Sri Lankan region often called the champagne of teas.

Tea and bergamot together are Earl Grey, and the reference is deliberate rather than incidental. The bergamot leads, sharp and perfumed in a way no other citrus manages, its bitterness sitting right at the edge of the aroma. The tea follows underneath with a dry tannic grip that gives the palate structure and stops the citrus running away with the glass. Cornflower petals contribute the softest floral layer, more colour than flavour, and coriander seed bridges the tea and the juniper with a warm citrus-tinged spice. Juniper itself stays firmly in place, and it needs to: with this much tea and bergamot in play, a weaker pine core would let the whole thing drift into an infusion. The tannins are what make the French 75 idea work, since they hold up against sparkling wine where a softer gin would vanish.

Follow the maker's intent and it rewards you: lemon juice, a little sugar, sparkling wine, and the tea does the rest. Mixed long instead, it wants a plain tonic and nothing sweetened, because bergamot and sugar together tip quickly into perfume. A lemon twist is the right garnish, expressed and dropped in. Neat and chilled, the tannin is more obvious than in any mixed drink, which is worth trying once. Building a gin around one cocktail narrows its use and sharpens its identity in the same gesture, and the trade is a fair one here. It ends citric, floral and dry.