Sweet Tea

Ahhhh, a refreshing glass of cool Sweet Tea. I've smelled many tea fragrances, but this has got to be the best of the best. It's simple and cooling, and it's rather rich for being a tea fragrance. I find most soliflore tea perfumes to be somehow too dry, grassy, almost allergy-inducing. But this is so nice, clean, like freshly-picked tea leaves. A tad sweet, but it could still easily be unisex. While there is maybe a touch of honey here for sweetness, it's not in any way a honey perfume. I don't think anyone would even notice honey as a note if it weren't listed.

This scent that has haunted me since 2004 when I first tried a sample of this perfume from Elizabeth W. and I've been hoarding that tiny vial for over fifteen years! Back then it was called Sweet Tea, but they've since changed the name to Té. That looks like an accent aigu, but I'm not certain that this is French. Maybe it's Spanish? Either way, perhaps they thought a rebranding would lend a classier vibe than sweet tea evokes with its deep south connotations as a sugared libation to accompany your all you can can-eat ribs and meat sweats. And as a Floridian, I love me some Sonny's BBQ so I mock not. Listing notes of amalfi lemons, black tea, and almond honey, the opening is lively and brisk with a tannic, floral elegance, the aromatic tea and intense perfume of the lemon balanced and beautiful. I don't get a sense of honey, just a lovely hint of sweetness, more like a light citrus syrup, or a limoncello. This is not the most nuanced or complex scent, but who cares? We like what we like and this is one of my favorite tea concept perfumes.