BackSpring Trends >> Tea Time
Iced or hot, oolong or green, tea-infused fragrance is everywhere for Spring 2017. Consumed all the world over, tea’s exotic origins coupled with its homey, comforting appeal make it both a familiar and beguiling fragrance. Prized for its aromatics, tea is a natural fit to fragrance for both bodies and homes.
Black, oolong, green and white
One of tea’s appeals for fragrance trendsetters is the range of notes tea offers, partly because the tea we drink is processed in a number of different ways, yielding four distinctly different categories of tea. Black tea leaves are harvested and fully oxidized, producing bold flavors and aromas. Oolong teas are partially oxidized, which makes them less robust than black teas, but full of intriguing notes. Green teas are only slightly oxidized, which makes them much more subtle. White teas are produced only from the youngest leaves of a tea plant, never oxidized, and they’re wonderfully delicate and nuanced.
Fragrances abound that feature each of the types of tea. Bvlgari’s Au Thé Noir pairs deep black tea notes with lovely damask rose. Atelier Cologne’s Oolang Infini wraps tea scents with neroli and tobacco flower for a delightful unisex fragrance. The Soap and Paper Factory offers a Green Tea candle that mingles bright tea notes with fresh citrus. Westin Hotels feature their own white tea line of home fragrance that blends delicate white tea with woodsy cedar and light vanilla.
Wellness appeal
When we explore reasons for tea’s appearance on the 2017 fragrance scene, we can’t ignore the connection between tea and a contemplative, healthy lifestyle. Green and white teas in particular, with their minimal processing and small amounts of caffeine, appear in scores of healthy products – everything from Greek yogurt to smoothies. Choosing fragrances with tea notes can be part of a commitment to living more deliberately.
Acorelle’s certified organic fragrances are perfect examples, and their Tea Green is made of all natural botanical oils. It pairs the tea aromas with fresh lemon and cedar, and the fragrance, which is vegan, also enhances alertness and vitality.
Fashionable fusion
Commercial fragrances are practically never one-note, and tea certainly doesn’t buck the trend. Popular fragrance profiles are heavy on stone fruit and flowers, offering up tea-based products with modern appeal.
Nest’s Apricot Tea fragrance – available in candles, soap and lotion – blends black tea, English apricot, bergamot and golden amber. Guerlain’s Aqua Allegoria Herba Fresca is a heady blend of green tea, lily of the valley and pear flower.
Unisex Allure
Fragrances with appeal that transcends gender lines are predictably popular, and tea is one of the notes that works beautifully in these versatile scents. Jo Malone’s Earl Grey and Cucumber cologne winds together the distinctive bergamot-scented black tea with the zingy splash of fresh cucumber for both men and women to enjoy. Jo Malone, a fragrance wonderwoman based in the UK, actually has an entire line of Rare Tea fragrances intended for both men and women. Her Silver Needle Tea fragrance is a heavenly elixir infused with bergamot, saffron, mimosa and musk, all wrapped around the delicate notes of a tea that was once reserved for the exclusive use of the imperial family of China.
Few raw materials possess the versatility, universal appeal, and exotic allure of tea, and 2017 promises to be another chapter in the riveting saga of tea-infused scents. Drink it up!
