Demeter Earl Grey Tea

I spent a lot of time trying to find just the perfect tea fragrance. Something that smells exactly like a cup of earl grey tea without any other fluff surrounding it. I tried Black Phoenix Alchemy Labs with notes that were supposed to smell like earl grey tea but found there were other notes getting int he way. I tried niche and mainstream and finally I decided to settle down and see if Demeter Fragrance Library could get me any closer to that earl grey scent. Earl Grey Tea

In Bottle: Bergamot with a squeeze of lemon, I think. There is a heavy, gritty, dusty note settled on a black tea like note underneath the citrus opener. It’s almost like smelling a cup of weak tea with a sprinkling of dust on top.

Applied: Bergamot comes roaring out on the entryway, dragging this very bright yellow lemon behind it. The dynamic citrus duo is followed by a really strong hit of black tea. This is the earl grey scent I’ve been looking for. No punches pulled, no extra fluff, just plain old earl grey with a squeeze of lemon. It smells as advertised and I’m just delighted! Then, just as quickly as I was delighted, Earl Grey Tea disappears on me. It packs its bags and heads out the door, leaving almost nothing but its slightly astringent black tea scent. And after a few more minutes, even that’s gone. I understand this cologne is truly meant as a very temporary burst of happiness and amazement but the longest I’ve ever gotten Earl Grey Tea to stay on my skin was around thirty minutes. I’ve tried lotion, I’ve tried using more, I’ve sprayed it on my clothes but this stuff just wasn’t meant to last. It’s fabulous while it’s there though, as close to earl grey tea as any perfume has gotten so far.

Extra: Demeter Fragrance Library, instead of focusing on complex evolutions of top, middle and base notes,  focuses more on creating scents to invoke memories. They have a huge selection of literal interpretation fragrances. If you think you might like Earl Grey Tea, why not try out their Orange Cream Pop fragrance? Dirt is a very popular one, and their Espresso scent might send you to the nearest Starbucks after sniffing.

Design: Really simple bottle. Glass cylinder with a metal cap. The sprayer distributes a larger than normal amount of fragrance but trust me, it’s necessary here. The labels and packaging are fairly simple but there’s not much complaint on my end here. Demeter doesn’t charge anywhere near as much as other fragrance houses might so I’m more than happy with the packaging we do get.

Fragrance Family: Gourmand

Notes: Bergamot, lemon, black tea.

Gourmand, not gourmand? It smells good enough to drink to me. In either case, one could spend a lot of time smelling the offerings from Demeter but don’t forget that one of the founding noses of Demeter has branched off to form his own line too. Christopher Brosius creates fragrances under CB I Hate Perfume.

Reviewed in This Post: Earl Grey Tea, 2009, Pick-Me-Up Cologne Spray.