Chai

Wow, this is a perfume that delivers: bold, powerful, and long-lasting. 
When I developed the first samples, the scent lingered on my gloves and on the glass vials for ages, and a warm trail of spicy aroma filled the air in the lab.

Imagine crushed cardamom pods, a crack of black pepper, toasted coriander seeds, all warmed up and steeped for hours in boiling coconut milk.

I also used a pinch of cumin - a spice that is not traditionally used in chai blends, but that has a very unique role in perfumery. Technically, it creates an “animalic effect” because it shares some of the same aroma molecules found in the natural scent of warm skin. Your nose recognises a familiar smell and wants to get closer, adding a layer of olfactory intimacy.

The formula has a woody backbone, with creamy sandalwood for a delicious, smooth, cashmere-like comforting hug. Then I used a very unique vintage wood: Tuscan oak, recovered from barrels used to age local Vin Santo. Deep, woody, and dry - a smoky, tannic base with long-lasting depth.

OAKWOOD ABSOLUTE (Quercus petraea) recovered from aged Vinsanto casks in Tuscan wineries

​The absolute used in Chai originates from the fine-grained oak (Quercus petraea) of aged casks used for Vinsanto refinement in traditional Tuscan wineries. This wood represents an ancient olfactory heritage, born from the casks' ability to transform wine, enhancing its aromatic complexity by releasing unique natural compounds.

​For the extraction, the oldest wood is carefully selected—the wood that has most deeply absorbed the essence of the cellar. The staves are debarked, sanded, and treated with low-temperature extraction methods to preserve the most delicate molecules. The result is a material that encapsulates the memory of the barrels: notes of honey, sun-dried fruits, and date and dried fig molasses.

​The olfactory profile is defined by the medium toasting of the staves, a traditional process that thermally transforms the wood, releasing key molecules such as whiskey lactone (notes of coconut and boozy wood), guaiacol, furaneol, eugenol, and vanillin. This results in a natural gourmand, woody, and boozy character, with nuances of tobacco, caramel, coffee, and a subtle smoky vein that directly recalls the wine it hosted for years.

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Ingredients: Alcohol Denat., Parfum, Tetramethyl Acetyloctahydronaphthalenes, Cardamom Oil (Elettaria cardamomum seed oil), Vintage Tuscan Oakwood Absolute (Quercus robur bark extract), Sandalwood Oil (Santalum austrocaledonicum wood extract), Black Pepper Oil (Piper nigrum fruit oil), Cumin Oil (Cuminum cyminum seed oil), Coriander Oil (Coriandrum sativum seed oil), Cinnamal, Cinnamyl Alcohol, Coumarin, Farnesol, Limonene, Linalool, Santalol. Vegan

Read about our packaging here