Tea perfumes
Looking at the international fragrance industry, we find that most perfumes are either floral or fruity, while fashions and trends are almost invariably driven by Western cultures. Going against this grain, Pan firmly believes that Asia should take pride in its own scents.
Pan’s award-winning perfume captures the soul of Taiwanese aged tea. “Aged tea” refers to tealeaves that have been stored for more than a decade. Post-fermentation facilitates the aging of tealeaves, bringing out aromas different from those of fresh leaves. Progressively, aging leaves develop scents evocative of plums, camphor, ginseng, and so on. The top notes of P.Seven’s “Aged Tea” include the refreshing smell of green tea, from which the fragrance of wood smoke gradually emerges. With the passing of these earlier notes, we then perceive the sweetness of smoked plums and dried longans. Pan has given consummate expression to the mellow taste of aged tea, a subtle maturity that only time can bestow.
“Ten years ago Taiwan had no perfume industry,” Pan tells us. It was while she was working as a tea master that she discovered her acute sense of smell. Enamored of Taiwanese teas, she came up with the idea of collecting tea fragrances, and eventually founded P.Seven. As Taiwanese teas had long been known to the world for their high quality, Pan decided to specialize in tea perfumes.
Pan’s ambition is to “turn Taiwan Tea Perfume into a classic.” She and her team spent a year and a half developing their range of perfumes. After trying out more than 200 blends, their first product—called “[mor] Tea Parfum”—was born. Its top notes feature the scent of Taiwan cypress, while Jin Xuan (a variety of oolong tea) is part of its sweet and milky middle notes. The base notes comprise borneol, spikenard, and other ingredients that are used to make inksticks, offering a lingering sense of literary refinement. Weaving together Taiwan’s endemic flora, a distinctly local variety of tea, and Oriental calligraphy, this perfume is profoundly Taiwanese. Its understated elegance attracted the attention of Japanese media, and many Japanese tourists looking for gifts and souvenirs have been inquiring about it. [Mor] Tea Parfum also garnered warm praise when it was exhibited in Hong Kong. These enthusiastic responses from overseas have contributed to Pan’s local fame.
Pan’s first export sales were to Japan, and now the prestigious Art and Olfaction Award has brought her Taiwanese tea perfumes to the notice of distributors from Estonia, Budapest, New York, and Vietnam. Pan has succeeded in marketing Taiwan’s scents on the global stage.
“Aged Tea,” a perfume carrying distinctly Taiwanese scents, won an “Independent” award at the Art and Olfaction Awards, the “Oscars of independent perfumery.”
Blessed with an abundance of woodlands and a wide variety of endemic plants, Taiwan provides an inexhaustible source of inspiration for perfumers.
P.Seven uses Taiwanese tea perfumes to reinterpret authentically Asian aromas, winning international acclaim.