Indigo Smoke by Arquiste 

Evoking the traditional smoking of tea leaves in ancient China, Indigo Smoke is an aromatic landscape of narrow serpentine rivers, blue mountains and incense-filled temples condensed into a complex formula of black tea, woody notes and incense.

Rich, sophisticated and long-lasting, with notes of lapsang souchong tea, mandarin orange, apricot, guaiac wood, incense and pine tar. 

Indigo Smoke is a fragrance for every gender, inspired by the aromatic history of lapsang souchong tea. Like the mountain terraces from which it originated, it encapsulates an aromatic landscape of indigo blues, purples and greens.

Lapsang souchong is manufactured similar to black tea but with an intermediary step of smoking. Traditionally pine wood is used for this, and the leaves are processed within a  smoke house. The indoor withering is done with the leaves laid out on bamboo mats and turned and rolling at intervals. Many of the compounds making up its wood-smoked aroma, originate in the pine smoke and are not found in other kinds of tea.

 

The history:

May 1646, Wuyi Mountains, Fujian.

For centuries, diligent monks in the Wuyi Mountains have grown tea and indigo plants in neatly terraced plantations. In 1646, their monasteries were attacked by Qing soldiers from the north. As the monks were forced to flee, they smoked batches of tea leaves over pinewood fire to preserve their crops. This would become the smoky lapsang souchong tea.

Mixing with the fresh mountain air and the incense from nearby shrines, the intoxicating plumes of indigo smoke captured the colors of the Wuyi Mountains and their dramatic river narrows.

Notes: Bergamot, Bigarade orange oil, Lapsang souchong accord, Vetiver, Apricot accord, Cassia oil, Carrot seed oil, Gaiac wood, Vanilla absolute, Maté tea absolute, Cedar leaf oil, Pine tar and Incense

 

100 ml. EdP spray, Indigo Smoke Chiquito 30 ml., 1 ml. spray sample 

Perfumer: Calice Becker