Ways to Taste Flowers
A Fleurs d'hiver lolly looks more like a specimen than a drink. Whole flowers sit suspended in set honey-caramel, each one placed by hand, arranged the way a botanist might mount a pressing. Lower it into hot water and it gives way slowly - the honey clouding, the petals loosening and beginning to lift - until what is left in the cup is an infusion in which you can still identify everything that went into it.
It is not a drink to be carried around the house. It asks you to sit down somewhere - a chair by a window, a sheepskin rug underfoot, wool throw over legs - and stay put for the four or five minutes it takes to unfold.
Charlotte founded Fleurs d'hiver after training as a designer, and it shows in the object before it shows in the taste. We spent a morning with her to talk about bees, herbariums, and why a cup of tea is worth watching.
On beginnings
You came to this from design rather than from food.
My background is in design. I've always been interested in creating poetic objects that people live with and build rituals around. Over time I became interested in herbalism, in wellbeing, and in the role that small rituals can play in everyday life.
While I was studying I met a herbalist working with honey, bees and plants, and that holistic approach inspired me. The idea for Fleurs d'hiver came from wanting to bring those worlds together — to create a herbal tea experience that was as beautiful as it was delicious, and that spoke to the senses.
And the object itself - where did the form come from?
I became fascinated by the fact that honey takes its origin in flowers. The bees carry their memories, and transform landscapes into taste. I wanted to continue that story somehow.
So I started experimenting with blending herbs and edible flowers directly into honey, testing recipes, textures and shapes until I arrived at these herbarium-like lollies. I wanted to showcase the plants, and to preserve them inside the object.
On flowers, and on honey
Why build the whole thing around herbal tea?
One of the reasons I'm so drawn to flowers and herbs is that they make me pay attention. You notice their shapes, their fragrance, their flavour. Through them you naturally develop a closer relationship with the natural world. It's a gift that surrounds us.
Herbal tea felt like a beautiful way to experience that. And honey felt like the perfect companion, because it already carries the story of flowers within it.
On sourcing
You're French, and now working with British ingredients. Do they behave differently?
People often ask whether the flowers are very different here. In reality many are the same, but they express themselves differently through the landscape and the climate. I love ingredients like British Hidcote lavender, or meadowsweet from Scotland.
I'm especially fascinated by local honeys. A honey is almost a snapshot of a landscape - it reflects what was flowering at a particular moment. I love that connection between plants, place and taste.
Where does the rest of it come from?
Gardens, herbariums, walks, travels, old botanical illustrations, books, flavours, colours. I'm always collecting little references. Once I start blending them a story begins to emerge: the colours, flavours and shapes start interacting with one another, and eventually that journey unfolds at the bottom of your cup.
On making them
Walk us through it.
It begins with tasting and observing the plants. Then I combine them like little botanical compositions - everything is crafted, and every one is unique.
It is all assembled by hand. Placing the flowers individually, pouring the honey-caramel, letting them set slowly. There is a very slow and intentional aspect to the process.
On the cup
What do you want someone to feel when they drink one?
I hope people experience a moment of curiosity. First they're drawn in by the object itself, then by the flowers, and finally by the flavour. There is something very calming about watching the lolly melt slowly and seeing the flowers infuse into the water. More than anything, I want it to feel like a small sensory pause in someone's day.
The tea naturally asks you to slow down. You can't rush it. You watch the honey melt, the flowers infuse, the colours change. It asks you to stay with the process.
Much of what we make at Hyde & Hare is about the things you touch without thinking. Does that overlap?
What resonates with me about Hyde & Hare is this appreciation for everyday rituals. We both believe that objects can influence how we experience our homes and our daily lives.
Preparing one of the teas is a very tactile experience. You're holding it, unwrapping it, watching it melt, noticing the flowers unfold, the smells. It encourages you to be present, and reconnects you to texture, temperature, fragrance, and the space around you.
On how they're actually used
Hot, presumably.
Most people drink them hot, but they work beautifully iced. Some people keep them for a quiet evening - a small treat for themselves - and others bring them out when hosting, or give them instead of a bouquet of flowers.
I love that people make them their own.
Fleurs d'hiver is founded by Charlotte, working between France and the UK. Episode Five of Slow Living Stories is available to watch now.