Tea/Rose (2005)
by CB I Hate Perfume

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

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.

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.

Forget the Unisex label. This is a lady's perfume. I don't mind wearing a feminine perfume, so I would still buy a bottle.

It smells like roses and something else sweet, that doesn't overpower the rose top note. The other thing probably is raspberries if I believe other reviews.

It has only decent longevity although my shirt still smelled like roses the next day and my skin smelled some kind of sweet, red smell. Can't tell if it was roses for sure.

If you aren't sure about my claim that this is a lady's perfume, please keep in mind that all of CDG's perfumes are listed as Unisex, and that some of their male fashion shows feature men wearing pink dresses and other ridiculously feminine clothes. I think it just has to do with CDG's philosophy rather than an unbiased claim that this is wearable for both genders.

Again, I still would wear this (I'm a 26 year old guy) just like I would wear some of their other feminine scents such as Burnt Sugar.

Tea plus rose is an accurate description of this. Actually, it's more like rose plus tea. In the beginning, I get them in about equal parts; a bright vibrant rose and smoky black tea (think L'Artisan's Tea for Two with rose). If only it could stay this nice. As the the scent evolves, the tea dies down and the rose remains. I use the word "evolves" loosely in this instance, as the rose stays pretty much the same throughout the life of the scent, and pretty much nothing else shows up. The rose is bright and bold, it reminds me a little of Frederic Malle's "Lipstick Rose" minus the lipstick (thank god, that lipstick smell killed me). Longevity is average. While this is listed as unisex, I feel like it falls a little more towards the female side of the spectrum. Not so female that a man couldn't wear it; I just find the pure rose accord to be a decidedly more feminine smell.

At a first glance at the bottle, which was a gift, I thought this frag was "tea rose" but on first whiff I realized it was crafted of tea plus rose. Brosius says, "I composed this classic scent with real Tea (Indian Black) and real Moroccan Rose Absolute (Rosa Damascena)" and the tea adds a dry, smokey, woodsy quality to the exquisite rose absolute. A stunning combination; not too sweet and very long lasting.