Infuse

As someone from East Asia, I’m very used to tea scents—but Infuse feels quite different from the traditional tea notes I know. While it’s said to be inspired by a trip to Asia, this isn’t the typical fresh, crisp, or oolong tea aroma. Instead, it seems to capture the entire tea-making process: from the fermentation of the leaves to the final steep in a teapot. The first few minutes have a damp, almost musty feeling—possibly mimicking the stage where tea leaves are processed before brewing. It’s not immediately pleasant, but quite interesting. As it warms up on the skin, the tea note slowly opens up, joined by sweet hints of osmanthus and apricot. The osmanthus can get a bit strong, making it lean more toward an osmanthus tea vibe for a while. After about an hour, the floral tone fades and the tea becomes clearer—soft, smooth, and slightly sweet. It feels like you’ve followed the journey from raw tea leaf to a finished cup. Although it’s a tea fragrance, Infuse is denser than expected, especially in the opening and heart. It may feel too heavy for hot summer days, but for those who enjoy deeper, more unusual tea scents, this one has solid projection and above-average longevity. Definitely worth a try if you're looking for something different in the tea category.

I enjoy tea, herbal, unusual florals, and citrus scents, so I thought Infuse by Akro would work for me. I was excited when I got my 5ml sample. I oversprayed Infuse today then layered lightly with Light Blue Her and Creed Aventus Her in the pulse points. The initial mildewy smell that this has on me dissipated quickly in the Texas heat. I sprayed Infuse at 7:15a this morning, and I'm still getting compliments at 3:00p in the afternoon! I teach at a high school, so compliments from students are few and far between, but they like this scent. It lasts forever on my skin and clothes. I am contemplating a full bottle because after a two days I only have 2ml left and I truly enjoy the trip this fragrance takes me on.

(Let me start by saying that I love Olivier Cresp so it's impossible for me to say anything negative about any of his creations) I absolutely adore it. It's a very photorealistic boiling tea impression. It reminds me more of caffeine-free herbal teas such as lemongrass tea than mate tea itself (mate is way more bitter). I think it's a great scent to wear at work or even at the gym. Very unisex. Pleasing and comforting. UNFORTUNATELY my partner says it smells like a "stink bug" and asked me not to wear it around him.

Opens kind of earthy and a bit dusty but then you're quickly hit with a blast of zesty bergamot (i imagine more the rind, full of oils but fruit also goes) It is accompanied by aromatic and green tea notes Then the fruiter heart notes of apricot and osmantus come forward accompanied by florals on an aromatic and still a bit citrusy base As it's completely dried it is fruity floral on a base of aromatic woods and some amber

I really don't understand this rating!?? This is a likeable scent! It's not that niche... so? Yes, it's dusty/musty in the first 5 seconds but that is not how the perfumes must be recepted!? In my opinion the scent is a mix between Bvlgari Rain Essence and Wulong Cha. Those two are easy-going fragrances. Infuse by Akro is gentle, fresh, tea-like, uplifting aroma. Perfect for spring (maybe summer too)!

I got Infuse yesterday and it instantly became a favorite. Mate and oolong give it that dry, slightly bitter edge, while the osmanthus and apricot add a delicate twist that keeps things interesting. It’s refreshing, mysterious, and totally unlike your typical cozy tea scent. Projection and longevity are impressive! Will definitely be exploring the rest of the brand’s creations.

Wonderful. Smells like tea after it has been infused. The citrus + floral notes are noticeable and make the tea a lot brighter than I was hoping for. Not really a scent I would wear, however smelling this makes my mouth water - it's such a realistic, tasty, delightful smell. Ahh, I'll go brew some floral green tea.

I’m with Ava96, this is all tea leaves and fruit to me—though I do like it. When I heard so many people describe it as bitter and dank I anticipated something else, but this is just a very pleasant fruity teasan.

Just got this, can't say anything about the longevity or sillage yet, but I like it. It's smoked tea, fruits and flowers mixed in equal parts. Very cheerful

It's so good. Offers a perch for pause. Sits close though. This one suits those wanting something just for themselves 💁🏾

This is what I imagine Beetlejuice would smell like - dark green, moldy and a bit smoky. Loves it!

I’m so curious as I love almost all the akro fragrances.

Infuse surprised me with how much I enjoy it. If anything, the faint dustiness that does come through reminds me of A/C. It has the same refreshing effect as stepping into a cool, air-conditioned building after hours in hot, humid weather. Lighter and more approachable cousin of Civet by Zoologist imo. Not exactly 'tea' on my skin, but it is sweet and grassy and certainly captures the idea of what tea smells like. On my skin it smells a little more apricot, and if you hadn't told me it was a tea scent I wouldn't have guessed. On a paper strip or cloth this smells more complex: mintier, crisp, like eucalyptus leaves on the tree rather than distilled into an oil, definitely not overpowering and very leafy but not bitter. It’s still juicy like ripe fruit, but it smells more mature than something from Marc Jacobs. Sweet, happy, polite, and gentle, without being overtly feminine due to the dustiness of it. For a tea+fruit perfume is miles better than Summer Peaches By The Tea Room though. Despite me being a HUGE Toskovat' fan, I might prefer Infuse over Ichigo Ichie, which Infuse smells kind of similar to. Performance-wise, it’s not the longest-lasting, which is a shame. Not something I was looking for, but it is nice.

cloth test: top: wood and licorice middle: complex, does not at all smell like tea but I like it anyway. base: wood / herbal / smoky skin test: top: I got the bergamot top note this time. middle: floral, edible-- possibly tea-ish this time. base: went oddly chemical-y, somewhat unpleasant. Although this doesn't really smell like any particular food or beverage, the first spray of the bergamot was oddly appetizing. I still like this despite the issue with the base on the skin. I will mostly spray it on clothes and when I want it on skin I'll put it on the back of my hand where I will undoubtedly end up washing it off eventually. I'm not putting it on my Gourmand shelf, though. I bought it because Oolong is my favorite sort of tea, but I'm really getting less "lovely tea party" and more "the wooden counter where the apothecary mixes and chops things." Which is also a scent story I like, and can see myself using when I want to feel witchy. Which is often.

Delicate...gentle... something light, warm and slightly green. This is a tea scent that is the nicest I've tried. Unlike the tea scents of 20+ years ago, this has ambiance. Light, refreshing, a slight citrus note-the bergamot-.. A delicate concoction, refined and subtle. Truly like a sip of warm tea, it comforts. Unfortunately, the scent is rather shortlived. The drydown is a whisper.. It's vetiver all day, in the drydown. As is true with any tea scent, it's not a good performer. Still, if understated is what you like, this a very pretty. I want to spray this on my sheets and let it lull me to sleep. But it's way too pricey for that. If I can ever find this on sale, I will purchase it.

Infuse starts with citrus sliced sharp, a bright blade before the tea unfurls. The bitterness of mate, earthy and tannic, entwines with the silkier, roasted depth of oolong—one green and harsh, the other smooth and brooding. A contrast, but far from a clash. Slowly, the osmanthus drifts in, not golden and syrupy, but restrained, oscillating between silky petal and unripe fruit flesh, like ann apricot veiled in cool shadows. The base hums with a woody dryness, quiet but distinctly bitterness lingering like the last sip of a strong brew. A meditative, contemplative fragrance—tea, not as comfort, but as ritual.

Wulong Chas goth cousin. I love this! A perfect blend of dark tea notes accompanied by fruity, floral and musky notes. The tea here smells almost similar to freshly brewed pu’er or some of the darker more oxidized oolongs out there. Very woody/earthy and herbacous. I find the osmathus and other florals really balance out the bitter aspects. Not for beginners at all. I have no idea why this line is so underrated on here.

Sweet, sparkling and aromatic tea scent. If I had to pick the type of tea, I'd go with mint tea for the opening, gradually developing into green tea. This one is nice, but doesn't have much sillage. It lasted half of the day, but I had to bury my nose in my wrist to still smell it! Edit: maybe I just became nose blind to it? Because the day after I wore it, someone said she could still smell it on me. Interesting!

I've tried this one a few times (I'm going to try again) I just feel undecided if it's just okay, or I need a bottle. I like the woody tea scent that I get in the first hour or two, but it dissipates and just leaves me with a rock candy sugar scent at the end with none of the original notes. I get why some people get wet basement because of the mate sort of has that really earthy damp dirt smell.

Update: had to sell off my full bottle. The full bottle just got more vanillic and sweet in the drydown than I’d like, compared to my luckyscent sample. Sadly what made me love this fragrance to begin with was how it stayed pretty bitter and herbal.oh well.....

Very complex and satisfying aromatic tea scent - mate, oolong, a little Earl Grey introduced by the bergamot and osmanthus sweetened with a little apricot. Definitely a stimulating cuppa first thing in the morning.

I have been going through the discovery set so I must caveat that tea based fragrances are not a profile I enjoy. The very opening was harsh and made me pull a face, but that was short lived thankfully. This fragrance smells more aquatic to me, another profile I'm not a fan of. It reminds me of the Potpourri my aunt had in her bathroom and I don't want to smell that on my skin. Has good sillage however.

At first I was shocked to read all the reviews saying that this smells mildew, i couldnt smell it at all. A couple days later i decited to wear it for the day, i sprayed it twice on my wrist and then i left the room. When I came back in after 30 maybe 45 minutes the whole room smelled like mildew, absolutely disgusting, I washed it off my wrist.

It's quite a lot! It is really smoky/musty without any of the tannic or mineral crispness that oolong tea has especially. The way the notes come together is kind of confusing. It reminds of a jumbled frumpy step-sibling to indigo smoke from arquiste which is a much more balanced and beautiful rendition of all of these notes.

This is a rather intense and heavy scent that really starts with an amazingly bright, as if amplified note of osmanthus, but over time it turns into a vanilla sweetness with rough, perhaps amber and woody undertones. A bright and distinctive aroma, in which there is, perhaps, nothing that would remind me of tea...

I smell abricots, tea and soft leather. A comfortable fragrance, but a bit of acquired taste, pleasing perhaps only noses used to niche offerings.

I blind bought this. Has a little bit of a moldy note (like an old house), not loving it. Besides that note it’s nice.

The scent of oolong tea with a note of mate instead of it? hmm...

Tea scent for everyday. Good one to use at the gym.

I’ll be damned. A tea perfume that actually smells like tea. Bravo, Mr. Cresp. The oolong is actually a clever trick of woody notes but it’s completely convincing nonetheless. I can almost smell the steam coming off of it, earthy and fragrant, as it super heats the rind and the flesh of a lemon slice. The tea doesn’t last long though - always a problem perfumers face when creating a tea perfume with an as-yet elusive solution - and the first dry down gives us a big accord of osmanthus. Apricot is noted as well but real osmanthus actually smells a lot like apricot, and so does the heart of Infuse. The sort-of rose and indolic jasmine floral note combined with a ripe apricot note is unmistakable as osmanthus and very beautiful. The material(s) Cresp used for this is/are exceptional. Though I honestly couldn’t tell you what it has to do with tea. I’m by no means a tea connoisseur, but I have not encountered a tea of any type that smells like this. The final skin scent is an ambroxan heavy but light woody vetiver. The osmanthus lingers a bit after the last dry down, which gives the skin scent a lotion or soap type aroma. Odd. Infuse is a bit of a let down overall. The opening is glorious; I was completely bowled over. But as the perfume evolved I found myself becoming increasingly bored and detached to the point, now at the skin scent, that I feel like I’m wearing a completely different perfume from when I started. Infuse, then, is one more perfume to add to the list of tea perfumes that aren’t. Though it succeeds more than most, the lack of direction as it proceeds to the base is where it misses the mark.

At first sniff I got this annoying citrusy burst and I was waiting for this bitter, floral green tea with this weird sourness, like the flavor you get at back of your tongue when you drink green tea stewed for a bit too long. But then... mildew. I thought okay maybe my nose doesn’t want to work with me today, great, I’ll try it tomorrow. Next day, mildew. I let my colleague smell it cause I thought I was trippin. She said it smells like when you wash your clothes but don’t let them dry properly so you get this weird smell. I’m a bit disappointed. I wanted the taste of green tea but in a scent.

I hate the opening, but I think it might be intentionally off-putting, like a test: to me it's harsh, acrid, fresh, cardamom-y and slightly mildewy. But. As it develops something lovely appears, quiet, like a tendril of steam - I get tea, smoky osmanthus and wood, an occasional peek of fruit. THAT part is very interesting, multi-faceted and wearable. Still to be seen how long it lasts... [answer: not long enough. The odd opening precludes buying a bottle]

This is like a combination of two apricot perfumes I have: Roger and Gallet's Fleur d'Osmanthus, and Penhaligon's Vra Vra Vroom. Mainly a fruity perfume with underlying oolong tea. I thought I would really enjoy this but there is something about the combination that makes me sick even though I love drinking oolong tea. The tea note in here smells rancid.

Mostly citrusy perfume with a hint of apricot and flowers. I don’t like the mix. It is not totally bad, but you have to like flowers which i just can’t stand. I thought it was nice when i tried it in the store, but when i took a sample, it was more clear which notes are actually there.

Definitely more feminine, floral sweet up to suffocating/headache prone after second hour. Starts pleasantly with green tea notes, peach and bloody orange. Second hour turns to generic rose/freesia/florist shop.

Musty wet laundry sitting in my basement. It gets a bit better after the dry down on the blotter, but this is not for me.

if you didn’t tell me this was a tea fragrance i would assume it’s supposed to smell like a stoner’s basement

I usually love tea scents, but this is too smoky and thick for me. It just sits very heavy

A scrubber that won’t come off

This is aromatic alright. As in wet two week old half smoked joints are also aromatic. At least, this is what the opening smells like. The dry down is just vetiver, plain old vetiver that I oh so dislike. I wanted mate, I wanted oolong, but all I got is this...

The opening is genuinely one of the worst things I’ve ever smelled. It smells like musty cleaning cloths. It gets better as it dries down into a naturalistic smokey dry tea but unfortunately still a scrubber for me.

This was a scrubber on my skin - no way Strong screechy floral mixed with sharp tea ugh - not rounded out at all Piercing to the nose - least favorite by far

It smelled like someone brewed hot mate tea in a humid broom closet

Infuse I first smelled this blindly, without consulting the note pyramid, and was truly baffled, ...also rather delighted and intigued, but mostly baffled. The beginning smelled like coffee ...but not coffee, like chocolate ...but not chocolate, like tea ..but not tea. There was also a strange dusty, woody florality to it as well, ...but really, I couldn't identify much. Then, looking at the listed notes, I see the most exotic is yerba maté (Ilex paraguariensis), a type of holly native to the southern cone of South America that is brewed as a tisane, especially in Argentina, Uruguay, southern Brazil, etc. The maté being mimicked here might be an unsmoked or lightly smoked blend, as the more traditional smoked yerba maté would smell differently (smoky). In any case, I've drank yerba maté. In fact, I have a bag of its dried leaves in my cupboard now, ...but Infuse does not just smell like yerba maté, being far more richly complex, ...but what if maté was blended with oolong tea (between green and black), osmanthus, vetiver, ambroxan, etc.? Yes, perhaps then, ...that could create the strangely mystifying, yet wonderful, accord from Akro's Infuse, which does persist form the opening well into the drydown. Also worth noting, not only are yerba maté and oolong (black dragon) tea well-known, hot water-infused beverages, ...but a deliciously perfumed tisane can also be brewed from osmanthus petals. Infusion itself is likely the thematic link of this perfume, ...as the name does obviously suggest. Infuse is a worthy, perhaps even essential, perfume to sample, if one desires to explore the less-traveled regions of perfumery, ...and yes, it is also quite pleasurable enough to be fully worn as a personal fragrance, ...especially if one wishes to evoke a sense of undefinably exotic mystique.

I am by no means a tea connoisseur, but I certainly have experience with quality teas especially oolong. This is only VAGUELY reminiscent, and as a side note I am yet to find a fragrance that accurately embodies the smoky, dark, fermented woodiness with a hint of mineral sweetness found in oolong tea. The opening to this is horribly acrid. I get a plasticky, waxy, mouldy, woody musk that is reminiscent of cheap plastics and paints used by toys found at the local dollar shop. The osmanthus and apricot notes peak out after about 15 mins but it is not NEARLY enough to make up for the nauseating experience that one has to sit through at the beginning. The dry-down is incredibly boring - a semi-sweet shampoo-like fruitiness still underscored by that horrible "tea/mate" accord. The concepts presented by this house are very creative, however I have become increasingly disappointed with each release, to the point where I feel compelled to write this negative summary: Awake - Perhaps the only worthy candidate in this whole line-up, but still too sweet as a coffee-centric scent Smoke - same acrid feel as Infuse, except this time overdosing on cade oil, resulting in minimal cigarette smoke but a tonne of disgusting day-old cigarette butt staleness Night - no "sexiness" or carnal evocations, just a clean rose and wood Dark - amazing chocolate accord on paper, falls flat on skin, dries down the same as Awake but less potent Bake - I dislike Xerjoff generally, but Lira decimates this as something in the same genre. Haze and Malt - i don't even know what's happening with these with regards to the reflection of their artistic inspirations, especially Malt with that strange marine accord jammed in there

Very guaiac forward. Smoky, a little balsamic, and has that characteristic bbq facet very subtly present. It's really interesting initially while the tea notes are more prominent, and I do get ideas of wet wood and damp leaves with a bit of citrus on top. That rather quickly fades to an aromatic, lightly fruity-floral guaiac. Almost reminds me of molecule 01 + guaiac but more developed as an idea- fleshier and more deeply woody and a bit leathery. I ended up selling my bottle of M01 + guaiac so it's hard to gauge whether I'd like this much more, but it's a type of aroma I keep chasing. Earthy and natural, with a smoky aromatic quality that feels oddly refreshing, like sticking your face to the ground after it rains. Worth a sample if you like smoky, woody tea scents but it's not a clean, conventionally pretty or cozy tea. It's more rugged and realistic of oolong, which itself has fermented, somewhat "off" notes.

Quite a clever rendition of tea, to my nose. I don't usually pursue tea focused fragrances as a 'must have' but I can't say I don't like them. Monday morning and first day of Summer - seemed appropriate to sample and reduce the stress! The opening here is like sticking my snout into a bag of black tea leaves, prior to putting them in the pot (I'm not familiar with mate). Given the dry down is much more placid and calming, you need a pretty strong constitution to wear through that opening, after the 4-6 sprays I felt the need to apply. Thereafter I smelled green tea (and possibly the aforementioned Earl Grey), and the dry down to me was a milky English Breakfast tea slightly sweetened. Roughly 5-6 hours or so; puffs out from under my shirt, and sits close after the opening 45 minutes on my skin. It's pleasant and well done, but not really something I'd personally want a bottle of.

very intense! unfortunately, this did what tea service by chasing scents did on me which was smell extremely over-steeped and harsh. it smells like you’ve mixed an assortment of tea bags into 1 mug and let it sit there for hours and then come back to smell it. I like my tea fragrances either extremely cozy and warm (sometimes with a milky note added) in, or I like them light airy and fresh with white florals and citrus notes. I have a hard time with these super dense tea fragrances and I’m starting to think that mate is the common contributor amongst all the ones that I’ve smelled that don’t work for me.

Really good! Delicately balanced scent which weaves together tea notes with a distinctively fruity touch & florals. Starts with a crisp blast of all the notes and maintains a sense of freshness as it mellows. Very well judged use of ambroxan, enough to elevate the pyramid without being obtrusive. Apricot is a main player as it plays off the florals, resting on a bed of light but earthy tea. Don't expect huge performance but a delicate & pleasing smell as is found in the best quality tea. Bravo to Mr Cresp for an original and expertly blended take on the genre.

Very interesting scent. I have to wear it more to make up my mind about whether I like it or love it, but it's really nice on first wear. The tea and apricot accords stick around for ages in the drydown, and they are creamy and beautiful. I didn't get anything resembling mildew or a basement, so I don't get those references, but I guess it is not a safe blind buy if others do.