Tea/Rose (2005)
by CB I Hate Perfume

I really like the idea of a scent featuring Moroccan rose absolute and I am not usually a tea note lover, but I think it works well here. The tea is of the Darjeeling type, black, spicy, and full of old world charm not the newer watery green tea accord used by lesser house. The Moroccan rose is quite nice, but more on the lighter, snappier, tea rose type accord--I'd of preferred a Bulgarian rose absolute for a richer, more satisfying accord. One of things I really like about this scent is its ability to show the various facets of both the tea and rose as each is very complex with more notes than just their namesake. Tea/Rose is exactly what it claims--nothing more, nothing less.

11th September, 2011.

As today was my "home office" day and I didn't feel inclined to go out in the unpleasant cold, I decided to play "sample lottery." I've acquired quite a few vials from LuckyScent, eBay, and freebies with purchases, so I closed my eyes and reached into the box in which I keep them. And today's "lucky number" scent was...Tea/Rose?

I'm not quite sure where this one came from--I find CB I Hate Perfume's hype and stories behind the scent facile to the point of repugnance, and I know I hadn't sought this one out. But never mind--on with the scent, poured out in its entirety on freshly showered skin.

The opening is a completely unsubtle and very common rose, reminding me of the inexpensive rose soliflores that working-class women striving for gentility (like my mother, her sister, and her friends) bought from the Avon lady or the local drug store back in my childhood. The fragrance became interesting, though, when the tea note emerged; but once again the childhood memories persisted--the tea was definitely Lipton Orange Pekoe/Black, as mundane as it gets.

While the CB IHP publicity leads me to believe that most of Christopher Brosius's scents are packed with childhood memories (possibly of a highly dysfunctional sort), the memories struck me as more ironically amusing than sad. Indeed, the mingling of these two quotidian smells was so off-beat and perverse that I actually enjoyed it tremendously.

That is to say, I enjoyed it for about an hour. Then it was gone--completely.

This ephemeral pleasure is not enough, as far as I'm concerned, to merit the purchase of a full bottle. If I really want to do the rose thing--which I rarely do, as most women need to differentiate themselves from their mothers, I think, and mine was a rose lady--Stella McCartney Rose Absolute would be my weapon--I mean, fragrance--of choice.

18th June, 2010.

Sparkles open with a distinct tea note over green rose geranium. The tea note here is smoky if not a little sour, rather similar to the one I first encountered in Russian Caravan Tea but it doesn't stick around, dissolving right into the rose to give it a musty and sometimes woodsy nuance. Think Bulgari pour Homme with a bit of earthy rose, and a white musk drydown that falls a little on the sweet side.

On my skin TEA/ROSE lasts around 4 hours. But with a scent smelling this pleasant, a re-application could actually be something to look forward to.

26th February, 2010. (Last Edited: 28th February, 2010.)

A beautiful tea and rose fragrance that lasts mere seconds. How does one even review a fragrance with this little longevity...?

17th September, 2009.

Hm. This was a non-starter for me. A nice-enough rosy/sour geranium top -- something like a very good geranium essential oil. Gets a little sourer and a little mustier and then vanishes completely. No tea. I guess I am one of those for whom many of the CB scents just don't last.

3rd September, 2009.

When every other perfumer does a rose scent, they use the rose flower as a model. Christopher Brosius, confounding expectations as usual, gives us the whole rose plant: not just the flower, but the leaves, the stems, and even the moist soil at the roots. I find that Brosius work falls into two categories. The first is photo-realistic depictions of an object or place, such as this photo-realistic depiction of a rose plant. That's all well and good, but Brosius' best work goes beyond mere depiction to a more abstract realm of meditation and fantasy inspired by something in the real world. Tea Rose is one of his less inspired, earth-bound creations, interesting but not fascinating.

6th March, 2009.