If you’re shelling out $8.50 for a “wellness” beverage that started as someone else’s centuries-old ritual, don’t worry, you’re not alone. From chai to matcha to whatever roasted-tea latte your European city-guide-TikTok is currently gentrifying – if your drink habit is the reason you can’t afford a house, you might as well smell the part.
Whether your drink is grassy, sp(iced), or even if you’ve succumbed to the pistachio-everything propaganda, this guide will help you find a perfume that matches your overpriced beverage, because if we’re splurging on tea, we might as well smell like it too.
For the reformed matcha addict: SETCHU’S 9AM GENMAICHA
If you’ve finally retired your bamboo whisk but still crave that grassy, monk-core energy, SETCHU’s 9AM Genmaicha is your next obsession. Genmaicha is often compared to “drinking the idea of toast,” and SETCHU’s 9AM Genmaicha perfectly embodies that burnt scent, balanced with the green freshness of tea and subtle hints of rice. There’s something both meditative and violent about this perfume: though it’s named after a morning ritual, I find it too smoky for the morning (if your breakfast is normally a cigarette, you might like it, though). Comes in a perfect cube-shaped bottle.
For the ones who can’t live without their daily mental health (read: Matcha) walk: Versatile Paris – It’s a Matcha-a
Matcha ruled 2025. Not necessarily for the tea itself, but for the ritual of preparation, turning a simple cup into a performance of control. If your desk looks like a Muji ad, Versatile Paris’ matcha roll-on perfume oil, the olfactory equivalent of clean-girl minimalism, will fit you perfectly. It leans sweet, cozy, and wearable, with enough gourmand heft—think matcha, vanilla, and sweet pancakes—to pass for your actual drink order. Like all of Versatile Paris’s oils, it’s pocket-sized, wearable, and affordable—perfect for blind buys or for reapplying mid-walk when your sense of peace starts to fade.
For the people who can keep it simple but special: Balenciaga’s TO BE CONFIRMED
For the minimalists whose drink comes in bone china and whose idea of a treat is “just one” linen napkin set from Japan House, Balenciaga’s To Be Confirmed is your scent. There’s a note inspired by steamed Silver Needle tea—made via CO₂ extraction of Chinese leaves, which sounds fake but smells like liquid light. It’s crystalline, mysterious, and slightly untouchable—the kind of fragrance that makes people lean in just to confirm it’s there. The perfume was made to translate Balenciaga’s couture “Tulip” silhouette into scent: built around an exclusive kimono tulip accord. For people whose favorite color is see-through.
For the Dubai Chocolate-to-Pistachio Latte Pipeline Victims: D.S. & Durga’s PISTACHIO
If your feed’s been overrun by pistachio lattes and glossy spreads in ceramic bowls, congratulations — you’ve survived the evolution of “clean girl” aesthetics into Dubai dessert-core maximalism. And while your local café is charging rent money for nut milk foam, D.S. & Durga’s Pistachio lets you smell the part without the sugar crash. Forget the milky pretenders — this one skips straight to the good stuff: pure, nutty pistachio, no frills, no milk foam. Because let’s be real, that sweet little green nut was the whole reason you fell for the trend in the first place.
For the Elegant but Slightly Weird Girl: D’Annam’s Pomelo Oolong
Smells like: Oolong tea, pomelo, osmanthus, porcelain, and white musk
If matcha was the hyper-clean minimalist, Oolong is her effortlessly disheveled art-school friend. D’Annam’s Pomelo Oolong balances the layered elegance of oolong tea with a twist of pomelo and osmanthus: sunlit, floral, and eccentric. D’Annam’s Asia-inspired collections (Vietnam, Japan, and now China) have been quietly building a cult following, and Pomelo Oolong proves why. It’s bright, breezy, and beautifully odd.
For the Chai Loyalists: Baruti Chai
For the ones who will politely sigh when someone asks if they’re “still on that chai phase.” These are the people who were early to jump on the alternative (read: non-Western) tea trend and are now seeing the drink teetering on the edge of cheugy. Don’t worry, we still adore that cozy, spiced warmth. Baruti’s Chai is comfort bottled: a gourmand blend of cinnamon, cardamom, and clove, softened by vanilla and fused with a milky black tea accord. It’s warm, genderless, and nostalgic.
For minimalists who prefer a classic, British brew: Shiro’s Earl Grey
Shiro’s Earl Grey is the perfume equivalent of a perfectly steeped cup you don’t have to think twice about—bright, balanced, and quietly confident. Japanese minimalism at its most wearable, with bergamot and white tea giving it that crisp, Sunday-morning clarity. It’s the ideal everyday scent: affordable, unfussy, and somehow still chic, just like Earl Grey.
For the “I don’t do caffeine” crowd: Prada’s Infusion de Gingembre
It doesn’t technically smell like tea — but considering the least overpriced “tea” on this list is literally just ginger floating in hot water, a ginger perfume feels spiritually accurate. Infusion de Gingembre captures ginger in its most photorealistic form: spicy, sunny, and sparkly. It opens with a punchy, photorealistic ginger, then settles into soft vetiver and musk. Refreshing and addictive.
Words by Pykel van Latum
