The Tea House

[Seajewel]

Green tea, sandalwood incense, hinoki cypress, bamboo reeds, lemon petals, and plum wine.

[starbrow]

I can smell plum wine in the bottle! Pretty!

 

The green tea and bamboo reeds give a sleek spa-like calmness right away. It's the sandalwood and cypress bringing this to sexy man place for me. They are classic muted notes of wood and almost-aquatic-but-not-actually that conjure up a masculine vibe. Fortunately, it's a really sensual and subtle vibe, not loud and bombastic, not even cologney. But still. Masculine. (YMMV.)

 

The lemon petals are so soft, they kind of just melt into the green tea and bamboo. A fresh and vibrant airiness, the antithesis of floor cleaner. Whew! But where's my plum wine? It has almost totally vanished on skin. There's the faraway suggestion of dark purple fruit, lost completely in the rest of the manly aura. Come back, come back!

 

I recommend this for, clearly, a rugged yet immaculate offering, like a sexy man at a spa. I think many could wear this, but I think I need more plum wine and/or femininity to make it a good match for me.

[picturesofmeghan]

this one is beautiful! the cypress hinoki comes out a lot for me, then the tea and bamboo. it’s very spa like. i don’t get plum or citrus at all. 

 

it’s very unisex to me - soft enough that i can wear it 

[ScarletGryphon]

This one has been my favorite of the 2023 Lupercalias. I love the bamboo note in it and wish there were more scents with it in it.

[doomsday_disco]

I decided to get a decant of this while side-eyeing the plum wine note, because I'm just not a fan of plum in perfume.

 

And I have to say that the plum in the plum wine is pretty tame here, adding a light, welcome sweetness to the scent. But I would not describe this as a tea scent. It's not tea-heavy, despite green tea being listed as the first note, and despite the name. I think this is more about the sandalwood incense, although the lemon blossom and bamboo lift the scent up early on in wear. Over time, it teeters on becoming more masculine, and the wine part of the plum wine becomes more prominent on me and adds this acidic quality to the sandalwood incense that I don't really enjoy. Even though I tried the recent trio with hinoki, I'm not able to isolate that note, so that's why it's not mentioned in this review.

 

While the early stages are pleasant, the end result just is not for me, but it's no fault of the plum itself!

Edited March 29, 2023 by doomsday_disco

[Janis]

Tea House opens with a gorgeous fresh blend of green tea and bamboo, and I love this stage. Unfortunately the drydown is powdery wood (mostly cypress) for the rest of wear. The plum wine is very pretty, but only really detectable if I huff my wrist directly.

[theredkilt]

My skin brings out the green tea and plum notes the most. This is mostly a fresh tea infused with plum (the plum is not sweet, just fresh).

[HerbGirl]

Finally getting around to testing my decant. I love this and wish I had bought a bottle, but the plum note scared me off. It's there, but very subtle and just adding to the sweetness. The tea and bamboo and sandalwood are lovely. Very smooth and comforting to me. A bit of lift from the lemon, a bit of smoky woody-ness from the hinoki. Love it.

 

Actually, during the drydown phase I started smelling the Bordello plum...yup, the good one. I'm not sad about it.

 

Eta Dec. 24 The smoky hinoki, hint of lemon petal and green tea are most prominent today with just a hint of plum. This may be one of my favorite bpal oils.

Edited December 24, 2023 by HerbGirl

[Little Bird]

I went with a decant of this one, but have waffled on whether or not I should have gotten a full bottle.  Whenever I've worn The Tea House, I've found myself wishing that my home space smelled like this (and should have full bottled to use it in an oil warmer so my home *could* smell like this).  I agree with the reviews saying that this is spa-like and reads as traditionally masculine in the drydown.  The Lab's sandalwood often turns to baby powder on my skin (particularly the white sandalwood), but the sandalwood in the drydown of this beauty isn't powdery at all and really has a darker, woody, elegant incense scent to it.  The bamboo, hinoki cypress, and green tea scented with floating lemon blossom petals are a cool, wonderfully smooth, pulpy green melange.  When I wear this, I catch hints of plum candy every once in a while, but the plum isn't strong on me.  It's like a happy child running around this fancy spa, breathing in the incense and scent of tea and greenery floating around an outdoor hot spring retreat.  I should have full bottled it.