Is it just me, or is there nothing "tea" about currently hyped tea fragrances?
Hi! I'll be forthcoming: I'm not a fragrance snob, and my nose is definitely not the most distinguished. However, I recently ordered some samples of two D'annam fragrances that have been circulating as amazing tea scents (Pomelo Oolong and Matcha Soft Serve). However, after I tested these both on myself and on paper, I was dumbfounded. Both of these have their respective tea blend as a top note on Fragrantica, and I've seen people raving about how this is the perfect photorealistic tea fragrance. I decided to keep my mouth shut for a bit, but then
I saw a video about tea fragrance differences based on perfumers who lived in China vs. who didn't (from a creator I forget, sorry!) that really captured how I felt: it smelt like they were how someone imagined tea was, rather than smelling like what someone who truly drank tea every day would imagine. By extension, I can't help but wonder if this is also what's happening when people suggest these scents.
Pomelo Oolong doesn't smell bad, but I believe this is far from tea. Oolong itself does have a floral scent, yes, but if you drink a cup of it, there is a light herbal/calming/earthy/bitter scent. It took me a while to figure out what this fragrance reminds me of, but I found it: it smells so much like a Lush Cosmetics store. I think that does reflect the parts it got right, which is a natural, calming, almost essential oil-esque scent (obviously the name has pomelo in it so this is not a negative), but again, like ZERO tea! It is definitely more powdery than it is anything tea, which is so confusing.
Matcha Soft Serve has been hailed as being an authentic matcha, rather than an overly-sweet, non-traditional latte, with bitterness and earthiness. This is the one that truly confuses me. This smells nothing like matcha, like, at all. I regularly drink matcha, prepare matcha, hell, I went to Uji. I didn't smell the sweetness, but my friend also gave it a sniff and thought it almost smelled like a vanilla. My nose is not good enough to give you exact notes, but this almost had a synthetic/strong smell that I might find is a bath & body works mist (not exactly).
I know I can't just expect a cup of tea to atomize into the perfect tea fragrance of my dreams, but I'm genuinely wondering if this is partially just a disconnect in what people believe tea is?
Has anyone else noticed this, or do I just have the worst nose ever?
Side note: I will say that while it is VERY essential oil smelling, I tried London Fog from For A Strange Woman, and it definitely fades out to a scent almost exactly like an actual london fog. The only downside is that (for me) it has like no projection, and the bergamont definitely comes off a bit TOO herbal at times, like it's going into a diffuser. But I still consider it to be a more "accurate" tea profile, if that makes sense.