Imperial Tea is the latest addition to the Asian Tales collection from niche line By Kilian. It is being launched along with Sacred Wood, and the duo made me sit up and take notice: I’m not always a huge fan of the By Kilian line, and the earlier scents in the Asian Tales series — Bamboo Harmony, Water Calligraphy and Flower of Immortality — pretty much left me cold, but jasmine tea and Mysore sandalwood? Theoretically, at least, I’m in.
I’ll talk about Sacred Wood later (possibly on Thursday); today’s focus is the Imperial Tea, inspired by the Asian tale of “The Big Red Toga Tea” (you can read versions here and here), and promising “the olfactory impression of authentic Jasmin tea”.1 Jasmine tea is one of my favorite smells in the world. I drink a cup of Yin Hao jasmine nearly every morning, and while there are fancier (and more expensive) versions of jasmine tea, few of them can beat a really top quality Yin Hao. The smell from a freshly opened pouch or tin is exquisite, and the taste is about as close to a drinkable perfume as you are likely to get.
The Imperial Tea fragrance was developed by perfumer Calice Becker, and it’s darned close to perfection…
