Tea for Two, from L'Artisan Parfumeur was released in 2000. The perfumer behind this creation is Olivia Giacobetti. It has the top notes of Bergamot, Star Anise, and Tea, middle notes of Cinnamon, Ginger, Gingerbread, and Spicy Notes, and base notes of Honey, Leather, Tobacco, and Vanilla.
Tea for Two is one of the more scarce L'Artisan perfumes it seems. Even the most comprehensive stockists seem to be out of this stuff in recent years. I had tried this a long time ago and then got hold of some samples a few months back, which reminded me that T4T was on my radar. I was very surprised to see it in TK Maxx where I picked it up for a very reasonable £25 for 50ml. It's clearly not a fragrance for everybody but as a tea enthusiast I'm always keen to expand my tea fragrances and this one represents a distinct difference from the norm of cutting metallic, freshness coupled with citrus or fruit. This is more like a proper cup of tea with milk in(not too suggest it's creamy in anyway) blended with tobacco it's got a freshness but it has the signature 'challenging', offset, darkness of other releases like Timbuktu or Dzing! It's got the spicing of a chai tea, plenty of cinnamon which is spicy hot but not sweet, and clove representing an old cologne vibe. I'd say that there's vetiver in here and a leathery vibe but sort of clean in a traditional manly way like a knize Ten. To me the drydown is like a very old type of soap that you just don't get anymore and somehow is indicative of the 1960's (not like I was around then!) It's like the kind of toiletries a really, manly man can admit to using. You know...not Dior or Chanel it's the sort of purely functional moisturizer made famous by Icelandic fishermen or something? (So it's totally okay to use and not gay!) Tea for Two is never going to appeal to everyone and I'm almost one of those people, despite buying this fragrance. It does challenge me though and sometimes I enjoy that in a fragrance.