I’m a tea lover – mostly japanese green tea, chinese oolongs and black teas, but i experiment outside my niche as well. I’ve been looking for a great tea-centric scent for a while – preferably one with the delicate orchid notes of a tie guan jin, the velvet chocolate and dried fruit of a wuyi oolong, or the umami greenness of a good shinsha.
These are the disappointing results i got so far. Note that what follows is no judgment of the overall quality of these scents (some are really lovely). It only conveys what i think of their tea notes. I’m curious about your opinions!
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Creed – Silver mountain water: a little bit of hastily steeped gunpowder green tea with a lot of bergamot and petitgrain, very fresh and light, people used a silver spoon and metal mesh while making the tea.
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Byredo – Mixed emotions: shortly seeped black tea with a lot of blackcurrant aroma, berry jam, sipped under an eucalyptus tree that catches fire after a while, which makes you sweat.
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Artisan parfumeur – Histoire d’orangers – a very light but refined chinese white tea, ever so slightly floral, drenched in neroli and orange blossom water, tonka beans and musc
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Artisan parfumeur – Venenum: indian black tea with so much curcuma, cardamom, fenugreek and honey that it becomes sticky and undrinkable
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Guerlain- Iris Torréfié: Coffee with vanilla carrot cake and if you really insist you can get a tiny bit of earl grey tea instead of coffee
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Goutal – l’Ile au thés: mandarin, tea and osmanthus plantation in bloom, very fresh and airy, this tea has not steeped yet because it is still on the tree (and will leave you in less than 30 minutes)
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Hermes – l’ombre des merveilles: throw your just-used incense stick in some delicious black tea
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Jo Malone – Earl Grey and Cucumber: cold earl grey tea
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Jo Malone – Osmanthus blossom: an infusion made from the white part of a lemon peel you actually have to throw away when zesting a lemon – bitter and sharp as hell
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Le labo – The noir: sharp bay leaf, resinous cedar, nutmeg, vetiver and sour tobacco, I don’t notice any tea here
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L’orchestre parfum – The Darbouka: there might be some smoked black tea here, but it’s served in a rubber tire in the scorching summer heat
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Maison margiela replica – Matcha meditation: Matcha tea with white chocolate and a bit of orange blossom water. Too bad i’m not a matcha lover.
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Molecule 01 + black tea: Lapsang souchong/russian smoked tea, dried tea leaves, in a wood cabin, dry but a little sour and musty, points for realism
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Nishane – Wulong Cha: First, fresh drinks in the sun: very very fresh lemonade (the lemons are pressed on site and are the very best lemons ever) and a little bit of lipton ice tea. Then, after a while, everyone gets inside, where you get a tea made from 1/2 fresh tobacco leaves, 1/4 dried fruit and 1/4 smoked tea. Nice and interesting, but not much oolong detected.
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Parfum d’Empire – osmanthus interdite: As you get ready to sip from a delicious apricot-sweet-juicy osmanthus green tea, the tea dissappears and gets replaced by sweet and creamy indolic jasmine and roses. You’re wearing suede boots. Somehow this beverage is warm and cooling at the same time.
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Parfums de Nicolaï – Fig tea: Sharp citrus/osmanthus, shrill and bitter notes, the lemons are rancid, attempts to hide this by pouring tea on top fail.
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Zara Waterlily tea dress: they forgot the tea so they made a mint and bergamot infusion instead, and served it in plastic cups
