Small Comforts - Perfume

Notes: Black tea, tamarind, clove, anise, cinnamon, white musks

Descriptors: Tea, spices, fruity, clean

Ingredients: Isopropyl myristate, fragrance

Known Allergens: Citronellol, eugenol

The robot looked a touch offended.
“I would never call you just an animal, Sibling Dex.”
It turned its gaze to the road, head held high.
“We don’t have to fall into the same category to be of equal value.”

- A Psalm for the Wild-Built, Becky Chambers

About:
A few months ago, I spent about an entire week craving Thai iced tea. When I was able to finally enjoy my tea, I thought, “Mmm...I should make this.” and started working on a reconstruction of it. The hardest part was the tamarind. I wound up making a separate reconstruction just for it, and then working that into the spiced tea.

This is the first time I’ve created a fragrance first, and then looked for inspiration afterwards. Naming it “Thai tea” is accurate, but also kind of…boringly pragmatic.
I’d read Becky Chambers on and off for a few years (The Wayfarer’s series) and had kind of forgotten about her work until a friend kept recommending her to me, so I picked up A Psalm for the Wild-Built. This book was in the perfect place at the perfect time for me. Reading it was cathartic for me, in the way that exhaling is when you’ve been holding your breath for just a little too long. That perfect moment of tension releasing. I didn’t know I was trying to make that at the time, but I hope I can convey that with this perfume.