Tea for Two

Tea For Two is very simply spicy, smoky, ever-so-slightly-sweet heaven. I have a great deal of personal affection for this fragrance, as it was one of the first niche fragrances I ever tried, way back when I was just a newbie on my fragrance journey. I read somewhere that Tea For Two was very similar to Gucci’s Gucci Pour Homme II, a scent that I owned and loved back in my university days before I was into the whole perfume thing. I discovered that Gucci Pour Homme II and Tea For Two are not all that similar. But I also discovered one of my first fragrance loves. When I got my sample of Tea For Two, I was pretty challenged by it at first. The opening of the fragrance is extremely spicy and even somewhat sharp, and I still think it’s like that today. The note of star anise, just as polarizing a smell as it is a polarizing taste, is very much present. The star anise, combined with all the other spices, tobacco, and the smoky, almost gunpowder-like lapsang souchong tea note, were a bit of a shock to my system. About twenty minutes into a wearing of the fragrance, though, magic starts to happen. The smokiness and sharpness begin to subside, and Tea For Two becomes a lot more mellow. The vanilla and honey serve to soften the rough, harsh edges, taking some of the astringency out of the mix and making the experience a whole lot cozier. The spices and smoke never fully go away, but their frequencies lower and blend seamlessly with the other elements of the fragrance. This really does smell like opening up a box or a tin of holiday spice tea bags, almost bang on. You can imagine this sort of smell wafting through the air as your tea is brewing in a thick, snowman-shaped mug (though the tea-brewing smell is not as authentically captured here as it is in Masque Milano’s Russian Tea), a plate of gingerbread cookies off to one side. However, by no means does this smell like a candle or holiday room spray. The blending, like in all L’Artisan fragrances in my experience, is superb. If you look at the note list, you might imagine that Tea For Two is a dense, heavy sort of fragrance that might quickly become overbearing, but it’s really not that at all. There is a light touch, a transparency here that reminds me of Ambre Narguilé from Hermès. That fragrance similarly features a lot of heavy notes like tobacco, cinnamon, incense, and dried fruits, but somehow manages to be airy and effortless at the same time. Tea For Two might open with a spicy, smoky fullisade, but the overall wearing experience is quite comfy and unobtrusive. In short, Tea For Two is a spicy tea lover’s dream. If you are at all a fan of chai, lapsang souchong, rooibos, or any kind of spiced tea, you need to get your mitts on this one right here. Performance is perfect, just what it should be: long-lasting with intimate projection and sillage. It's a beautiful, cozy experience for yourself and for anyone who comes into close proximity, but it's not loud at all. For me, personally, it's a 10/10

You are surrounded by a vast emptiness; nothing and no one can be seen or sensed. You can feel the air come alive, little by little, it sings. You close your eyes in anticipation - the air sparks with blistering life. Bolts rain from the heavens in a delicate dance around your vulnerable flesh. Rain falls in sighs of relief as you are left breathless in the heart of this wonder. Honey gold bolts strike in tandem with velvet purple arcs - the air is flush with the singe of smoked honeyed tobacco. Their tandem is met with emerald arching across the sky, thier smoked tea note tingles in your lungs. Despite the inherent danger, you crack a smile as if you were nestled safely in the arms of your love - nothing can harm you here. The storm settles and the earth glows in a gingered ash lying over the thick, leathery earth - you begin to waltz through the ash and the thick vanilla mist that dampens the air. The music in your head swells and quiets in some unseen rhythm - life is beautiful for this moment. Day 102 - Electrify me Listening to: London Grammar - Hey Now Notes: I have the second most recent formulation...and I do believe it is different from the original. However, it is still a beautiful experience despite the inflated vanillin note in the base (it's not bad but it reminds me of many candy vanilla candles and scents). The fume opens with a gorgeous smoked tea and pepper mashed in with a dusty cinnamon and burning tobacco all accented by the unassuming yet pervasive smokiness of guaiac wood. These notes linger for a few hours while picking up a sweet ginger/bread note and the ever growing sweetness of vanillin contrasted with a soft, powdered honey and leather. The whole composition is laced with the smoked wood/tea accord which lasts throughout its 10 to 12 hour life. This is a beautiful and delightfully smoky scent that is sure to please the ladies and gents as it can easily play toward the sweet or the woody notes.

My second L’artisan (I also own and reviewed Couleur Vanille). A very bold and unique perfume - truely an olfactory journey. It conjures up images of dark smoke filled dens, off crowded market alleyways, with tea being sipped amongst the cloth bags filled with spices of the orient. The tea is upfront and makes no apologies about it. To me it is like a Chinese black tea, but the subtle bergamot pulls it back a little to Earl Grey style tea. Maybe the tea is a mix of them both. Star anise follows for me, and then it’s the cinnamon lead rich oriental style mixed spices. Ginger plays softly in the background, popping up only time to time, but always there in the background keeping the balance fresh. Once the perfume dries down, the smoky undertones can fully be appreciated. I get a lot of tobacco and some vanilla, but not really leather / honey as per the perfume notes pyramid above. Possibly they are there in the background. I support people describing this as a chai tea fragrance. The spice mix is very chai, at least to begin with. I can say that one small sample spray on the wrist is not enough. Wear this to test with 4 plus good sprays from a full bottle (not a sample bottle) - then and only then will you appreciate how dark and smoky this tea perfume is. After a few hours the spices mellow to sleep, and this really is a dark, mysterious, smoky black tea and tobacco scent. This is an autumn and winter superstar for me. Could wear at the office. Probably not good for going out for dinner. Great at home in front of the fire. Afternoon autumn / winter walks (it will keep you warm). Wouldn’t wear in summer time I don’t think. Down the middle unisex. High quality as expected from this house. I suppose this is a gourmand? About as far as you can get from Jo Malone earl grey and cucumber! Less versatile than some, but more interesting than most. Test for a day before buying. Thrilled with this purchase.

LOVE this. Seasonally speaking, this one reminds me of late Winter. The weather is still cool but not frigid. Looking out a window on a rainy day, tea in hand, onto a garden on where branches are still bare, but you can see the buds just beginning to form. ON ME, I get the following notes in order of prominence: sweet, then tea, then smoke, then spice--emphasis on the *me* part, because I've seen the notes listed in varying configurations in other reviews. Isn't body chemistry fascinating? I even noticed a slight variation in notes between my Left and Right wrists. (I like it better on my Left, lol.) On to the notes: (1) SWEET - mostly honey-sweet on me, which I actually love. (2) TEA - citrus-y black tea notes. Definitely an Early Grey vibe, as I can smell the bergamot. (3) SMOKE - this was the only note on me that I was not super fond of. I was hoping for a lapsang souchong, and ended up with more of a stale-cigarette-smoke-lingering-on-clothes kind of deal, though I suspect that this effect was just something interacting in a wonky way w/ my own chemistry. Luckily the strong cigarette thing mellowed out after a while to become more pleasingly smoky. (4) (warm) SPICE - I was hoping to have this note more prominent, as I love spicy scents. On me the spices just *whispered,* but the effect was still lovely. I could not smell the ginger and anise detected by others, but that could just be because my nose is not as sophisticated as ya'll'ses noses. I smelled clove most strongly, followed by vanilla. Overall: 4.75/5. Love love love, and SO bummed this has been discontinued.

I am reminded of a malty, sweet, smoky cup of Russian Caravan with a dollop of honey when wearing Tea for Two. Russian Caravan is is a blend of oolong, keemun, and lapsang souchong teas. Its name originates from the 18th century camel caravans that facilitated the transcontinental tea trade, from tea-producing areas to Russia. I first recall learning of Russian Caravan from purchasing the Twinings brand blend several years ago while perusing the various teas at Cardullo's in Harvard Sq, Cambridge MA. Much like Russian Caravan, Tea for Two is mellow and subtle. It is no statement fragrance, but it is no gossamer milquetoast that must be detected by burying one's nares to their wrist, at least for the first five or so hours. In the heart, its as if tea has been served with some gingerbread and spiced cookies, which reminds me of how much I love to dip cookies and biscuits into a hot cup of tea. However, there is nothing overly sweet about the experience at all, as the further into the dry down we go, tea leaves merge into tobacco leaves and the experience is drier, with elusive wafts. While outside, Tea for Two seems to augment rather than overpower the natural scents of my surroundings—which was especially nice on this autumn morning.

Original Review from Jan 2016: I don't have Colin Maillard's deep and sophisticated internal library - so can't do the comparisons. Accordingly, I don't have the automated "this smells better or worse than" response he has developed. To me, Tea for Two is indeed quite short lived. But when I reapply after an hour, the second application seems to last much longer... I get few decent hours of performance then. About that performance, I loved the very fact that I could identify smoky tea... I found the whole thing to be really enjoyable. So - now that Colin has set the metric for me (my "really enjoyable" is his "5/10"), I REALLY want to check out Gucci pour Homme II... Can't even begin to explain why I've ignored it. (Note: Colin Maillard's review was not so positive - he rated GPHII as the scent this should have been - and in case you want to see it, Colin seems to have moved away from Fragrantica, but his review is still up on Base Notes). UPDATE I: I just ordered GPH II UPDATE II - 2019: Tea for Two is now one of my favourite perfumes - it keeps giving and I keep taking. As an aside, I bought GPHII, and yes, GPHII is similar to T-4-2. Yet I find that I rarely reach for GPHII - maybe because I find its performance very meek.

I‘m surprised how much I like this! I mainly got this sample because I desperately wanted to try Noir Exquis and needed to pick a second sample from the L‘Artisan website. And now I like Tea for Two even more than Noir Exquis. This is such an unique scent, I have never smelled something quite like this before. The opening smells like a cup of black tea with lemon and honey, standing in some sweet smoke. Not sure where the smoke is coming from, but I can see a cinnamon stick and an anise star swimming in the tea cup. It‘s very warm and cozy, a little sweet, spicy and also fresh. This has a liquid feel, like freshly brewed tea, not like dry tea leaves, and it‘s not bitter. As it dries down, it slowly and seamlessly transitions from tea to tobacco. It‘s starting to feel denser and smells like sweet pipe tobacco with spices, especially cinnamon. But there is still always a hint of tea and smoke left. This is a really interesting take on tea and on the gourmand genre in general. This has nothing to do with the usual fresh and light tea fragrances. It‘s a fragrance I could imagine wearing on a stormy, rainy autumn day to warm myself up. A must try for anyone who likes unsual, warm fragrances.

I'm glad to have finally smelled L'Artisan Parfumeur Tea for Two, among the house's best-know scents, though I concede that I simply do not know the house well despite its significant catalog. Tea for Two fittingly gives a tea-dominant vibe, somewhere in the chai or lapsang souchon range, teas that I don't like drinking but of which I enjoy the smell. It's spicy due a mix of cinnamon and ginger that I can only describe as appealing but nonetheless slightly challenging to my nose, as ginger, in particular, sometimes is. Certainly more at the onset of application and first couple of hours than the later dry down does the ginger say, provoke me. Fortunately, the honey aptly mitigates some of the spicy effects throughout the life of the fragrance, and the cinnamon, at least, is an ever-so-slightly sweet-leaning spice due to associations with dessert foods more so than savory items. Performance is decent, certainly some nice projection for hours and for $102 for 100ml on FragranceNet, it's certainly a reasonable-enough price if one loves it, especially given its versatility and innovation. 8 out of 10

Spicy, smokey, sweet, green. Warm, exotic, sensual, comfy. All of these and more describe the beauty of Tea For Two, which has become my "cozy" home scent. I spray this on while watching something, playing games, or working on something and instantly feel more relaxed. This would be a beautiful cuddling scent for a lazy fall morning, sipping away at a cup of spiced tea and eating a bowl of oatmeal full of cinnamon and walnuts. Longevity is around 5-6 hours on my skin, with average longevity and meh sillage. This fragrance is not a loud, beast mode performer, and it never had any pretentions about being one. This is for intimate moments with yourself or your lover, or the times in your life when you feel most at peace. Try before you buy though, as star anise can be challenging, and this fragrance is definitely anise forward. I wasn't the biggest fan of it when I first tried it, but I've learned to love it, and it will always have a place in my collection. 8.5/10

Warm cinnamon and peppercorn spice with gentle smoke. Immediately delivers that sweet spot that makes Gucci Pour Homme II so popular. This is woodier, but softer, and without the bright blue/fresh chord. Restrained iron fireplace and tobacco adds cowboy edge, making top note unique. Masculine chord also matures the warm cinnamon/ginger. Raw honey adds balance without being too sweet. Different...while cozy, sexy, and a little dirty. This is Gucci Pour Homme II while riding a motorcycle in Autumn. Good strength/projection. Unique and easily likable take on the genre that seems bottle-worthy. 1ST REVIEW: Applies extra warm/sexy Gucci Pour Homme II with smoky lapsang souchong. Rich with spice from dry cinnamon/gingerbread adds complicated edge. Nuanced honey and vanilla creates a sexy sweet tobacco vibe countered by tangy/metallic burnt sandalwood. Gucci Homme II is bigger and more in your face blue, while this is spicy and sexy with a smoky manly edgy.

Oh, this is such a delightful gourmand to me. It smells just like a gingerbread house with a nice cup of earl grey tea. A little dry, a little spicy, just a hint of icing sugar. That's all I have to say. I find the silage and lasting power quite average. It's crisp and suitable for any time of the year, the spices are lovely ( mainly nutmeg and a little bit of cloves if you ask me, with a tiny dash of cardamon). There is something from the gingerbread here that smells toasty. I think it resembles a little Immoretelle from L'occitane and Onde Mystere from Armani. I find it definitely feminine, I don't see how a man could wear this, unless he wants to be attacked by hungry females. Edit: In warmer weather it does have an "ashtray" undertone. Which of course I find sexy, because I smoke cloves and it fits me; something like tobacco mixed with spices burning. Smoky, unpredictible. Ahhh, just fantastic! But surely, an aquired taste.

When I traveled to Paris last year I went to L'Arsitan Parfumeur boutique and asked if they have Tea For Two, they said that they don't have it anymore because it has been discontinued, fortunately they have last few sprays in the tester bottle that they kept in their office and they allowed me to have a sniff, and I just fell in love with it at that very moment. Fast forward, after searching for it for a long time, I finally found it in Dubai, Dubai Mall to be exact. Man... It was my lucky day or what?! And to top it up, it was discounted too, definitely one of the best days in my life. The reason why I love this perfume is because it reminds me of my teenage-hood, it smells like a cup of sweet black tea that I used to have when I lived in Indonesia. The delicious tea note last for an hour on my skin, than the tobacco & vanilla notes take over and it becomes very relaxing and calming. Tea For Two is definitely my cup of tea =)

Since it's really starting to get colder and rainer in Sweden now, today felt like a good time to start going with the real autumn scents. And for those of you looking for a mature dark tea scent that isn't too saccharine or vegetal, here it is! Tea for Two is one of my favorite fragrances for colder days, and it is a great smoky tea / spices / tobacco mix with a smooth finish from the leather, honey, and vanilla. Overall it feels like a warm cup of lapsang & earl grey tea with a side of gingerbread on a cold autumn day. I am very skeptical of honey in perfumes, since it often has that cloying synthetic honey note that makes me sick to my stomach, but this one is soft and mixes very well with everything else. It wears very close to the skin, but that's not a problem for me. Longevity is great. When my sample runs out I will definitely buy a full bottle 😊

I love Tea for Two and hope that it will be added back to the line up at L’Artisan (along with Dzing!) and in their older formulations. I don’t get gourmand from this, which is good since I don’t generally enjoy gourmands - it opens smoky on me, occasionally to the point of cigarette butts, but not quite. As the smoke recedes I get spices over tea, in a way that is reminiscent of a Thai tea over a chai. There’s no milky note in this, on me. I get a little leather and vanilla as it goes on, occasional whiffs of smoked tobacco. I have the new bottle, rather than the old version with the gold cap - and I don’t find it particularly long lasting. I am usually a spritz on each wrist and one on my chest, kind of sprayer, but I have to lay it on with this. It may just be my skin chemistry changing but I remember smelling this years ago and finding it stronger.

A milky tonka subsides into a soothing and smoky Russian caravan tea. Then comes the star, a rich, dark and dry tobacco. Perfection. A quintessentially Parisian tea time between two non-chalant intellectuals. The tea and tobacco play beautifully together and both are equally addictive. This creates such a wonderful characterisation, the type of cool, mature bookworm with dishevelled espresso hair and wearing a dark grey tweed jacket and brown Oxford shoes and a bottle green silk scarf.....the dark academic aesthetic and so so charming and fascinating to talk to. They are more artsy than scientific but in a non-pretentious and authentic way. They are even discrete about their penchant for romantic literature. It’s the tea accord, it’s so relaxed. This person has nothing to prove, they have mastered life.

the opening is a strong smoky black tea with tobacco and bergamot facets like you put your nose into a box of fresh Earl Grey tea leaves. then, after 2 or 3 hours it changes completely, it fades to a quite sweet white flower composition that reminds me of La Chasse aux Papillons, even sweetened by honey with milky, vanillic, indolic jasmine or tuberose-like aspects. the brassy tone of the tea is not gone but steps to the background. this is a surprising development and I wear Tea for Two on and off now for some years, but today I had a bigger dose than normal and this made it quite obvious...I always found it nice, because seldomly a gourmand or edible smelling scent has notes that I find interesting after the initial burst...longetivity is quite good and sillage also for the first few hours.

#2 on my hunt for a warm cosy tea based signature cold weather fragrance This one disappointed me on first sniff, I could barely detect any Tea note and it reminded me of what a florist smells like; flower stems. However, my nose mustve been cooked because boy am I glad I gave it another try. Its a very spicy tea scent with subtle whiffs of sweetness from the honey/vanilla in the base. I wish the sweetness was a bit more forward in this fragrance as personally the spice is a touch too prominent causing the fragrance to not feel very wearable. I can appreciate smelling it but I'm not sure others would. Definitely a cold weather fragrance, I could probably see it wearable for special occassions where you want to make a bit of a statement. Partners verdict: "very strong spices"

Oh my gosh, it's surprising and breathtaking. I do love drinking tea and the teatime, and I was not convinced it would be possibile to make a rich cup of tea into perfume. I was wrong. In the exact moment that I put this frag to my nose, I had a perfect vision of a Victorian living room lit by the sun of a spring afternoon, and two elegant ladies dressed in white and flowers, sitting on the sofa, chatting while sipping a fragrant and spicy hot black tea. On the small table next to the saucers, a small buffet of sweets, decorated with vases of white flowers. To be clear, they are not two elderly Victorian ladies, but two young women in their prime. And they are selfconfidents, sensual but elegant and full of dignity. I think it's an amazing day scent. I love it!

Ugh, I ordered two of these from the website when I heard it would be discontinued, have been waiting patiently and just learned my order was lost, and now it’s unavailable in the US. 🥺 If anyone could help me get a 100 ml I would be ever so grateful! Oh and for the review- I have so many teas but was struck by this darker spicier smoky creation that is sweeter than I usually go for. I think I washed it off the first time, but came across it again and just past the initial tobacco blast the ginger and tannins settled in and completely intrigued me. It is not wonderful or anything and you definitely don’t need a bottle, so you might as well sell it to me. I have terrible taste and love to stink so would be happy to take it off your hands. ❤️

It's a heavy, thick and dark tea scent... It resembles tobacco a bit, but it is really the scent of Lapsang Souchong tea. A very rich composition, it's dark and heavy without ever getting lighter. it smells bitter, warm, unforgivenly audacius. No wonder it is famous. Do not blind buy this, it's not for everyone, but a must for tea lover. If you are searching for matcha (japanese green tea) fragrance, you may want to check out Margiela's Tea Escape or Satori's Oribe, if you like ceylon tea try Atelier Cologne's Philtree Ceylan (FYI, Oolong Infini is an utter disappointment), if you feel like a English breakfast tea with flower addition, try Equinox Bloom from Penhaligon's, and if you love tea fusion, try Zoologist's Panda.