Eau Parfumée au Thé Rouge (Red Tea) was released by Bvlgari this month, and is the third in a series of tea-based perfumes following Eau Parfumée au Thé Vert (1992) and Thé Blanc (2002). It was created by perfumer Olivier Polge, and features notes of bergamot, orange, pink pepper, fig pulp, Roiboos red tea, Yunnan red tea, walnut and musk.
It starts with a heavy, rather sweet blast of citrus with a good dose of pepper. That calms into a sweet mix of tea, fig, and walnut. It is very well blended and none of the individual notes stand out; it smells vaguely figgy, vaguely floral, and has a subtle nutty undertone. The Yunnan red tea, which is simply black tea from Yunnan — in China, fermented teas (e.g., all black teas) are referred to as “red” teas” — is more noticeable than the Rooibos tea to my nose…
