THE TEA – The ultimate tea fragrance

A few years ago, we were briefed to create the scent of humidity for a project that never ended up launching. In the process, Pia refined an accord that captured the sensation of moisture in the air, and filed it away for when the time came. 

Then when we discovered some incredibly beautiful tea raw materials - decolorised tea essential oil, and black tea CO2 - and boxtree absolute, which immediately brought the scent of tannins and tea bricks to mind, Pia realised she could combine these effects and create her ultimate tea fragrance. And so she set to work.

Tea is a fascinating odour profile to examine and create from. It can be dark and smoky, fresh and bright, green and jasmine like, crisp and fruity, to bitter and inky. Most tea fragrances tend to lean in the transparent and airy direction, without much density and typically not leaning into the tannin aspect. We wanted to bring the density and complexity of all kinds of teas to THE TEA. 

When we started working on the fragrance development she ordered some maesil-cha syrup to show me the plum facet she wanted to incorporate into the fragrance. She'd previously created a green plum effect and herbal tea fragrance for candles, and knew she could refine those accords to work in a perfume form.

She dosed a beautiful quality of bergamot from Calabria to add the zesty, peppery floralcy you find in Earl Grey. The maesil-cha became another top note, alongside the steam accord. The tea extracts combined with a jasmine infusion to pull on the indolic facet naturally present in green tea, but also add a blooming jasmine tea effect. In the drydown, she added maté absolute and developed a matcha note to add complexity, which is also where the boxtree absolute sits - for smoky resinous character and the bitter astringency of tannins. 

THE TEA is a truly fascinating perfume to me, because it explores all the complexity of tea, feels much richer than most tea fragrances I've smelled before.