Oh my Darjeeling! Jo Malone creates six new tea scents
Jo Malone Rare Teas collection is a range of six new scents: Silver Needle Tea, Jade Leaf Tea, Darjeeling Tea, Oolong Tea, Golden Needle Tea, and Midnight Black Tea, available at Jo Malone boutiques.
Expect no mad hatters or cascading pastries — this tea party, purely Asian in origin, is the quiet and rejuvenating kind. Resist the urge to drink the tea, though. They’re not edible: they’re part of Jo Malone London’s latest collection, Rare Teas, which uses only the best camilia sinesis leaves, some considered more precious than gold.
The Rare Teas collection is a range of six new tea-infused fragrances:
Silver Needle Tea is inspired by the delicately flora, supple and velvety nuances of silver needle tea from Yinzhen, China, which, for centuries, was a delicacy reserved for the imperial family. The fragrance is enriched with rose, sage and musk, and was infused for 10 hours to achieve its fresh scent.
Jade Leaf Tea is inspired by Sencha Ariake, the smoothest of all fine Japanese sencha teas. It is a marine scent infused with pomelo, maté leaf and sesame. The tea was infused for 22 hours to keep its fresh note. It is a crisp, green, slightly bitter interpretation of tea.
Darjeeling Tea, my favorite of the six, is radiant and exotic. The tea is found in the foothills of the Himalayas, and is light-bodied and aromatic. The fragrance includes jasmine, freesia and Indian herb davana, and the tea was infused for 45 hours.
The rare teas, sourced from Japan and China, are infused for different periods of time, from 10 to 100 hours, to preserve their original ideal notes.
Oolong Tea is a scent inspired by a Fu Lian Oolong, which is slightly fermented with dark, woody and smoky facets, and is collected in Fujian, China in spring. The tea was infused for 68 hours to get the woody dry and spicy personality and the scent has cocoa, tonka, hay and tobacco for a roasted effect.
Golden Needle Tea has notes of leather and spice, inspired by Yunnan golden tips, producced back in 200 B.C. under the Han dynasty in China. Jo Malone master perfumer Serge Majoullier added benzoin and sandalwood for a creamy, leather effect, and the tea was infused for 92 hours.
Midnight Black Tea is inspired by Puerh tea from China’s Yunnan province, traced back to the Tang dynasty from trees over 1,700 years old that can still be found there today. The tea was infused for 100 hours and mixed with vanilla absolute, labdanum and guaiacum wood.
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Rare Teas is available at Jo Malone with boutiques at Greenbelt 5, SM Aura, SM Megamall, Rustan’s Shangri-La, Rustan’s Cebu and S Maison.
