Jaipur Chai

Ohhhh this is a nice one! I thought I was done with full bottles but I think I need one of this. Upon first spray I get an almost aggressive cardamom for a second, but as it settles on my skin something incredible happens. It turns into the most comforting spicy scent, absolutely perfect for sipping my coffee (with cardamom!) in the morning. Scents tend to turn sweet on me and this is no exception, after five minutes the initial blast of pure cardamom (I'm talking opening the lid of the spice grinder immediately after grinding fresh pods strong!) it becomes a creamy, sweet, slightly soapy scent. To me it smells EXACTLY like I just got out of the shower where I used a dove classic lotion bar and am sitting down to a hot mug of steamed milk topped with whipped cream and a pinch of cardamom, it's beautiful. About one hour in MAGIC happens. One of my all time favorite summer scents is Hamaca edp but it is so weak and subtle I crave more. This becomes, at least on my skin, a stronger version of this. Beautiful creamy coconut, a tiny bit of cardamom and something tropical, maybe even some honey. This is an absolutely beautiful scent and it seems to work very different on people's skin so definitely give it a go because if it works for you it will be wonderful!

Trying this out for the first time today. I have trouble smelling black tea in so many tea perfumes, but this is bold, almost astringent, photorealistic black tea. Exactly what I’ve been searching for. I also vividly smell the cardamom & cloves. If I attune my nose, I can truly pick up each individual top note and middle note separately and then mix them together again as the perfect blend. Such a lovely smelling experience— to be able to do that and succeed. As the first hour has passed, I can faintly detect the mild, fresh rose petal note, not overpowering at all and balancing the heavy spiciness of the chai in a genius way. The wood notes root this gourmand somewhere solid and lasting without really smelling like wood. I don’t get the vanilla or milk on my skin yet, but we’ll see how this develops. I’m about 1.5 hours in. I’m not a lover of sweet fragrances and my skin unfortunately tends to make everything lean sweet. This is not too sweet on me whatsoever. That astringency in the black tea note is really so realistic and cool. 10/10 so far! Would love to compare this to Bombay Perfumery Chai Musk.

Wow, another unique one from Ineke. I do get the other chai spices in this, but the cardamom is particularly convincing- the smell of freshly opened cardomom pods, with special weight given to the hatchet sharp, almost peppery top edge of its scent. Given a few minutes and a pulse point application(no heat and it seems to stay sharp and astringent on me) it tames a little in time, allowing milk and some woods to come through. Once they do they really make camp and it's the Milk Man camp. You know, like koolaid man, busts through the wall, all that. Great sillage middle to end and impressive longevity- by the next day it was a skin scent, but very much still there. I don't ever get a whole lot of sweetness from it, which is great. For a gourmand, I feel like its relatively dry and sharp nature is challenging, but ultimately gives it a sense of sophistication often lacking in this group. Not my favorite of the line, but awfully good nonetheless. I'm so glad I got the sampler - I never would have sought this out otherwise.

Cloves are king here. Also cardamom. Happily for me I don't detect any rose but I do feel a lovely bed of white woods. The suede is totally missing which I don't care for as I wanted a chai scent and this is the best I have found within this genre after a lot of research and trying. The opening carries a minty sensation that other people notice too, maybe due to the cardamom or tea note? Anyways, it is sweet and spicy and I truly love it. I received my bottle 2 years ago so maybe the new batches are different? I don't know but leather and milk are nowhere to be found by me. PS: the owner of this brand has done nothing but great things in my experience. I ordered a sample kit a long time ago and customs charged me a lot as I live outside of EEUU, I contacted him because I wanted to purchase a FB and he told me that during his trip to France he could send one (as at the time places where Ineke was distributed were limited), he was absolutely helpful and kind.

When I first got a sample for this fragrance, all I smelled was leather. It took me by surprise, but I found it to be an addicting scent. Unfortunately, I dropped that sample on the ground five minutes later. I, of course, ordered a new sample and as my nose developed now the first smell I get is intense cardamom and black tea rather than leather. There is no other perfume I've tried that encapsulates the feeling and the smell of a home brewed cup of chai as much as this one. It is complex and spicy and my biggest regret will always be never getting a full bottle of this. If anybody is selling in the US please consider me <3

Got a sample from Olfactif, sprayed it on me 5 times (I'm normally a 1-2 spray tops type of person) and wore it for the day. I actually love the way this smells even though I usually hate gourmands. Only thing is that despite the heavy application, I barely smelled it on myself and it was gone in about an hour. Not worth a FB for that reason, bummer. Edit: I've worn this a couple more times and the longevity is actually pretty good, not sure what happened the first time around. I caved and got a bottle, it's just too yummy to pass up.

This opens up with cinnamon, spice and tea for me. It’s heavy on the cinnamon but not to much, almost tho. If you don’t like how cinnamon smells the opening may be a bit much. As the mid rolls around I get the woods starting to peek thru and just a touch of rose. The dry down brings the vanilla and musk. It’s a very pleasant scent and as always with Ineke it’s well rounded and smells very nice. If you like the notes then you will like it, I believe. It’s bottle worthy for me. A nice cold winter day with this on would be a good day.

Wow! Jaipur Chai. What a fitting name. This truly smells like a freshly made cup of hot chai tea. It's beautiful. It's cozy. It's warm and spicy. When I first sprayed this fragrance, I was immediately struck by the cardamom and clove. As it dries down you get the black, cedarwood and eventually vanilla. It just becomes creamier and creamier as it dries until you are eventually left with that cup of chai on a brisk winter day. Simply beautiful.

Oh Jaipur Chai they could never make me hate you it is perfect to me -If you don't like **rich**, OILY, spiced chai then.. pls save this one for me -Even the milk note and rose and leather are oily and real...I want to smell like this every day -I have upgraded from the sample to a decant and I'm foaming at the mouth trying to find a cheaper, half used bottle secondhand. HELP!!!!!!!!!

Very, very good. An underrated chai fragrance, in my opinion! Really smells like all of the spices in the tea – cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves. It's creamy but not milky – it's more of a woody chai tea than a chai latte, with the creaminess coming from the combination of vanilla and woods. It's a very elegant scent, and could be worn by any gender.

Was a little hesitant about this, but I’m pleasantly surprised! This is the true smell of a chai latte, one of my favorite drinks. Not a beast mode projector, but I consider that as a good thing. If this was any stronger, it’d probably be cloying. A true gem!

Smells like authentic chai tea on Indian streets. Hot, bitter black tea, lots of cardamom and fresh creamy cows milk(if you're lucky) and everything is poured from cup to cup few times to create foam. Very comforting, makes me nostalgic <3

I actually joined to review this scent. It's amazing- exactly what I was looking for. It definetly needs a bit to open on the skin, but once it does and the spices mellow with a creamy note, it's amazing. Unique but not too out there.

Like a simmering pot of homemade chai, spicy with a bitter tea streak. Rose notes come out slowly and develop into a more feminine sexy scent

I’d love a backup of this, if anyone in CONUS is letting their bottle go.

Love this! Spicy milky tea. So cozy!

With a name like chai, you would expect it would have the robust texture of a warm and fatty beverage, but what I get instead is a thin and piercing veil of cinnamon, clove and cardamom enveloped by a dusty rose and woods, with a DASH of vanilla in the drydown. But be warned - the ingredients are of a far superior quality to the ones used in designer fragrances, so don't be expecting a mass appealing gourmand. There's also a prominent transition from the top to the base, with the sweetness going from non-existent to quite obvious at the 2 hour mark. But what initially begins as a handful of cinnamon and cloves on a dry rose, quickly moves into a heavy rose, cardamom and dry woods, and then into a sweet and creamy rose powder and spice. Unfortunately, everything remains rather thin and there's no real depth or warmth like you might expect from the steam coming off of a fresh cup of chai tea. It's an interesting development though, that reminds me less of a drink and more of a box of glittery Christmas decorations. Jaipur Rose may have been a better title, but as far as spicy scents go, it's still a winner that even leans a bit fem if I'm honest. Just don't go drinking the stuff. Instead, layer it with something that resembles a warm dessert and enjoy. Scent - 7.5/10 Longevity - 8/10 Projection - 7/10 Overall - 7.5/10 PS - The sillage reigns with this one.

drinking chai in a leather jacket right after it rains this is truly a beautiful, complex scent warm and woodsy without being overtly masculine as someone who doesn't typically enjoy unisex scents, i actually really enjoy this one sidenote: the reviewer below actually inspired me to order some samples from ineke and they were affordable and beautifully packaged, came super fast! if anyone wants to test ineke's fragrances, definitely check out their site!

A drier take on a chai that maintains a sweetness and airiness to it. It is missing a lactonic factor to it that is described on their website as a steamed milk but I get none of that here. Nonetheless it’s a lovely simplistic composition of warm spices leading way to woody black tea and hints of soft sweetness and musks. It’s chai done very tamely but in a way I think it works for what it is. Really really enjoyable

A very cool Chai. Like an iced chai bordering on Havdalah spices (probably because of all the clove). I don't think it's for me, even though it's very photorealistic. All the ratings are skewing towards it being a fall scent, but I think this could work even in warmer months because it's so cool smelling. If you liked iced chai lattes this is probably IT for you.

Tried this when my partner's sister offered, and I found it very friendly and wearable! It's a very gentle kind of spicy, soft and warm, and indubitably autumnal. Much less peppery than Baruti's Chai, which I tried on my own recently. 4/5 I'd like to try it again!

This smells very similar to Jazz Club but without the tobacco. That’s not a bad thing. Jazz Club is one of the most impressive fragrances I’ve smelled. Without the tobacco, this is really suited to women.

The simmering pot of tea, milk and spices when making homemade chai. Spicy and comforting

I was actually disappointed with this one, unfortunately! It was the scent from the sample box I was most excited to try, too..... The opening is nice, albeit a bit too lactonic for my taste. But really does smell like chai tea spices, which is really cool. Unfortunately for me, then the cloves take over, and just overpower everything. I bet this would actually be really lovely layered over a strong and lasting vanilla scent--that would counterbalance the overbearing clove, and also tone down the milky start of the scent. Also, it's super cold here today (in the negative degrees Celsius), and I echo the below comments that I think this might actually be better in warmer weather. Loving this perfume house, though! All the scents seem really high quality, even if they are not all to my taste.

The top is an ultra strong, camphorous cardamom. Very cooling to the nose that stands in juxtaposition to some warming clove. It is mostly cardamom for a good 1.5 hours. After the cardamom blast I get slightly smokey, drying woods, probably the mix of cedar and guaiac wood and cinnamon. Following the mid is my favorite part of this fragrance, when the vanilla enters the stage. The spices have mellowed out, the vanilla is creamy, very very light and not too sweet, rather creamy, frothy. It makes me *think* of milk, without anything overly laconic or sour. I think there might be a bit of Iso E Super here with its reminiscence of cedar plus the smoothing effect in the dry down, but who knows... Sits close to the skin after 3-4 hours. I wish the dry down had a bit more sillage.

Here are some of the notes from the website: cinnamon, clove, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg and pepper, steamed milk and honey. Immediately powerful, upon first spray. Overwhelming cardamon and nutmeg. Not enough tea or cinnamon in the opening. The dry down is also loud but totally different. It's like a completely different scent. The ginger comes to the forefront with the cedar, suede, pepper and honey. There is the slightest whiff of pickle juice. Later - the warm vanilla dominating during the latter stages of the dry down is very nice. I'd love a fragrance that started and ended like that.

This is similar to what I was expecting but not quite. On me the musk and cardamom pull dominant. I really wanted there to be more cinnamon and milk. The vanilla comes out maybe an hour or two after dry down but still not enough. This is probably very realistic of the spices only. Will probably layer with a pure vanilla frag for the added creamy sweetness I wanted.

i was so excited to try this but it didn’t pull through. evoked for me a michael’s during christmas/cheap chai latte body spray; my skin def amplified the warmth but also it also smelled really plasticky and not like the photorealistic spicy chai i wanted...so disappointed :/

Jaipur Chai definitely reminds me of Madar by Poesie but more sweet, powdery, and musky!

Spilling a chai tea latte on a suede jacket.

If you're familiar with chai lattes in the west, then this perfume will be familiar. Neither actually smells anything like the chai that I grew up drinking on the streets of India. This, you could say, is textbook successful cultural appropriation: borrow a piece of another's culture, water it down, make it your own. That said, this is still quite a delectable gourmand, more an Indian barfi than chai.

really wanted to like this but it did not agree with my skin! the cinnamon was overpoweringly strong and i felt like i was in the holiday section of joann after new year’s when everything that didn’t get bought is on clearance and it’s kinda old and stuffy from sitting so long on the shelves. wish the spices were more balanced and it was more creamy, i didn’t get the lactonic note at all.

I did not get any of the spicy smell; to me, it smelled like a wet leather chair in a library. It was not necessarily bad, just not what I wanted. I am glad I tried the sample size before committing.

Sadly lacking a detectable lactonic note, it’s pure spices to the point of smelling like the spice inside the plastic packaging. Oddly flat and leathery. Packaging of the sample was lovely though.

I agree with review below. Ends up. Smelling like playdough. The only one in the sample kit I didn't like. Or if you made plaster and cloves were dumped in by accident.

smells like slightly caramelized, really creamy spoiled milk and play-dough. hardly getting any spice at all. i’ll let it rest longer, but i’m pretty disappointed.

I am a huge fan of chai scents. I own and like lots by Ineke, which is why I am so bummed that this doesn't work for me at all. The suede note comes off as really rubbery on me. There is also some sort of spice or herb that is weirdly vegetal, green and smells almost like dried celery and just has no place in chai. I can tell the base is nice--milky, but overwhelmed by the other two unpleasant notes. Lastly I smell no back tea at all. Will pass on this.

It smells like expired lipstick on me which makes me sad because I was so excited about this perfume. Maybe I need to let it rest because I want this to work so bad. The packaging of my sample was nice though.

@Shannonlk and @premshree describes my Jaipur Chai experience to a perfect "T"-ea. This is a Western-style, masala (mix) chai that has yet to be brewed. Imagine a tea barista who customized your chai preferences (which you like it cardamom heavy) then proceeded to roughly pulverized them with in a mortar before pouring the entire mixture inside a tea tin for you to take home. All those rich, spicy oils being released! Then you get home and brew the tea yourself in rolling water with barely a splash of milk. For me, it doesn't smell quite lactonic (milky). It doesn't give me the sense that the tea has steeped/boiled in the milk long enough, which is what traditional chai is: equal parts milk and water, aerated, boiled, and cooked in spices and tea leaves for a period of time. Not for 30 seconds, not for 3 minutes, but for a good dedicated 15-20 minutes until you start seeing the milk turn a nice color of caramelized brown. But it does get softer and "creamier" thanks to the rose, cedar and suede warming up over time. Either way, Western chai or milk tea, it's still unique, fills a niche, is fiercely spicy and delicious in its own way.

This is a lovely, gentle, comforting scent that sticks around all day but never insists on itself--like a dog in a basket at your feet as you're working, present but not overly insistent. Sadly I don't get any rose but I do get a heavy dose of black tea and chai spices--cardamom, cinnamon, and clove, with just a little creamy vanilla. The cardamom is the most insistent note--the sharp, almost green note of the pods, not the ground up and toothless version in the spice jar--but settles down into a smooth supple wood. This would be good if you want a chai scent but can't do lactonic notes like in Jovoy's Fire at Will or even BDK's Gris Charnel, both of which share similarities to my nose--Jaipur Chai is woodier (maybe that's where the rose is? A slightly woody rose?). It makes me think of sipping a chai sitting in some beautifully carved teakwood furniture looking out into the woods at dusk.

I'm on a quest to find the most photorealistic Indian-train-station-chai scent. Black tea, cardamom, milk, and sugar are really all I'm looking for. When I originally sampled this several months ago, I felt this fragrance came pretty close to what I'm looking for. Revisiting it, I'm picking up on a lot more of the cloves and woody aspects than I did previously. I originally described this fragrance as breezy, but now it's feeling arid. The green cardamom is indeed very green. The cloves and cardamom together are very dry and harsh—not at all like what a good chai should smell like. I still think this fragrance is special. The spices are beautiful and the cold quality this fragrance has is unique. However, the fact that the tea is impossible to smell and the fact that the milk and vanilla notes are buried deep below all the woods and leather is a bit heartbreaking.

What struck me about this scent was (and, still is) the interpretation of chai . . . . This is not a brewed cup of milky chai. This is a freshly opened package of a high quality chai that you have yet to brew. But, the blend is the sort of thing you will find actual star anise in, fragments of a vanilla pod, and whole black peppercorns. It's as if the perfumer has captured the moment where you've opened the package with the tea and held it under your nose to take a good, long whiff before you brew a cup. This is a sweet fragrance because cloves, anise, cardamom and vanilla all give the impression of sweetness, whether it's actually sweetened, or not. This scent is both invigorating and comforting at the same time. It's more like an impressionist work, depicting making chai on a brisk and grey day.

Oh I do LOVE a nice spicy chai frag. I'm comparing this one to my baruti chai as that is one of my top favourites in perfumery. Gorgeous cardamom and soft clove in both. This one is a little less tea dominant, and in my opinion just a touch more soapy, whereas baruti is a little more gourmand with it's cocoa, and just a smidge more arabic feeling with it's leathery rose and musk. Not really arabic, but more intense in a musky kind of way. The ginger dominance is also noticeable in baruti. Ineke is also a little bit more woodsy. Overall both amazing frags. Noel au Bacon is nowhere near these btw - to me that was a mere whisper of Christmas. ** sample swap UK - 10+ bundles, check my customs, get in touch! **

Some first impressions from a sample: It definitely smells like a chai tea on first blast. Clove, while not my favorite note, is prominent and definitely blended well into the fragrance, but the other spices cardamom and cinnamon seem to sit on top and don't incorporate well enough with the other spice notes. It has a very dirty-milky quality that runs throughout, but dominates in the drydown (makes me think of those "dirty chai" drinks at specialty coffee houses). It actually is very similar to Jo Loves' Red Truffle 21, but with the added chai spices. While not a fan of sweet or gourmand fragrances, I do wish it was a bit sweeter or creamier, to push it into that chai latte territory.

This is the chai that I have scooped into a jar at the tea shop before brewing. Pure clove, cardamom, black tea goodness with a few rose petals scattered throughout. It is so spicy and warming and can be a big blast at first but it settles down, although I'm careful not to overspray. At first I was a bit disappointed to not get a milky note but then I remembered that I didn't particularly enjoy Jovoy Remember Me because the milk note went a little sour on me. I would like to try Baruti- in fact I want to try all chai fragrances!-to compare but this is quickly becoming a winter signature.

I haven’t tried this yet, but I wanted to share how easy this company makes it to try their fragrances. It’s $5 and free shipping to order a sample. And if you order multiple samples they give you a discount on a full bottle. I think it’s brilliant. If more companies did this I’d have a much larger collection and I’d end up returning less perfumes. I get discouraged to order samples when it comes out to $15+. I’ll update when my sample gets here. I’m really hopeful because I want to support a company that believes in its offerings enough to know that sampling them will lead to a purchase

Ultra dry chai spices, so much so that it comes off dusty and scratchy. The spice mix in the cabinet. I am usually one for dry scents, but Jaipur Chai falls short for me. When I’m looking for a chai fragrance, I want something a little bit more enveloping and comforting. The way drinking chai makes me feel. Even if not lactonic or creamy, something that holds it together. For example, this works better for me when combined with some simple orris/coumarin fragrances to round it out. It does last, though, so I’m happy to have it for layering.

it smells like a sterilized leather chair in the lobby of an upscale bank. I dont know how else to describe it it just has this super strong leather smell (one spray has filled my room) and when you smell it up close it has this cleaning supplies smell and some slight spice. Very weird but I am going to let it macerate for a while and then come back to it. All that being said I have smelled far worse fragrances before and if you want a very clean photorealistic leather scent then this might actually be perfect lol

Lovely! A creamy Indian mix of spices, milk, and woods. Cannot pick out one spice, but surprised not to see saffron in the mix. Chai, Kheer, Ras Malai, and Kulfi. The sillage is huge, (husband could smell it in the next room)! Gentle spicy milk becomes gentle spicy woods. So soft on my wrist, yet fills the air with scent! Just wish the longevity was better on my perfume eating skin!

This is my absolutely favorite spiced chai fragrance. The addition of rose note is *chef's kiss*. It's SO comforting! It'll get plenty of use in cooler weather. Very photorealistic spices. As if you are roasting cardamom, cloves, a tiny stick of cinnamon on low flame while steeping black tea leaves in rose petal infused warm milk. Stunning! High quality ingredients for sure!