The Essence of Tea

Posted in Exhibitions, Programs and Events, The Edible Garden on August 4 2009, by Plant Talk

Mandy Aftel creates artisan natural perfumes and is the co-author of Aroma, a cookbook that focuses on the essential link between food and fragrance. She will be presenting at this Thursday’s Edible Evening.

Tea is a source of inspiration for me as a perfumer; it is a perfume we drink as it possesses aromas of wood, leather, and earth. In a great tea the taste as much as the smell will provide interest. Both tea and perfume are fragrant liquid: Tea is perfect harmony by nature, perfume by man.

Oolong teas, in particular, possess a diverse and appealing range of sophisticated, complex, and richly rewarding flavors and aromas such as peach, apricot, melon, leather, amber, and sandalwood. Oolong teas are made from large tea leaves, sometimes with the stem attached, because a more mature leaf yields more flavor during the partial oxidation in the manufacturing process.

My personal favorite oolongs are the green-leafed ones that are rolled into irregularly shaped balls. Fine oolongs require several successive infusions for the leaves to unfurl to their full extent. They do not open to their original size until the third or fourth infusion. Once fully open, oolongs can commonly be infused several more times—sometimes for as many as eight times. This is similar to a fine perfume that evolves on the skin over time, demanding new samplings of the aroma.

I have always loved everything about brewing, smelling, and drinking tea in beautiful ceramic teapots and cups. I wanted to bring my tea habit and my perfume work together, so I tried many dozens of oolong varieties, gravitating toward Dong Ding and Monkey-Picked Ti Quan Yen. Their aromatic complexity, the sophistication of their manufacture, and the long history of their development have no equal outside the French wine culture. With these two varieties I found the most interesting aroma and taste: They are complicated, rich, and able to stand up well to pairing with essential oils.

I decided to fragrance the Dong Ding using a beautiful jasmine with a hint of mint and the Monkey-Picked Ti Quan Yen with fresh ginger and Turkish rose. My creative process in making the tea was like the one I use in making a perfume— finding harmony among all the various aromas and flavors, like a marriage that brings out the best in both partners.