Fresh herbaceous notes of lemongrass and rosemary highlight bitter green yerba mate and sencha tea leaf to capture the Fougere-like essence of 'sparkling greenery' that is Gaucho. Damiana leaf, spearmint and the true coumarin quality of red clover blossom soften the aromatic finish and taste profile of this beguiling tea.
Gaucho perfumed tea is the perfect balance of spring color and flavor- and in being so, gently and safely stimulates the very activities that support spring's expansive, rising qualities within us. When sweetened with a slight amount of raw sugar or green stevia, Gaucho tea balances the stimulating energetic actions of spring in a form that is unique in quality and pleasure.
Brewing Suggestions Bring fresh water to a boil. Let sit to cool slightly and infuse 1/2 tsp. of tea for every 5 oz. cup of tea desired. Steep for 1 to 2 minutes. Strain and enjoy. If desired, sweetened with a slight amount of raw green stevia leaf, honey or sugar to bring out the natural sweetness and flavour balance.
Ingredient Listing - All Ingredients 100% Certified Organic Damiana Leaf - Mexico (Turnera aphrodisiaca) Lemongrass - Guatemala (Cymbopogon citratus) Japanese Sencha - Japan (Camellia sinensis) Green Yerba Mate - Brazil (Ilex paraguariensis) Rosemary Needles - USA (Mentha spicata) Spearmint Leaf- USA (Rosmarinus officinalis) Red Clover Blossom - Canada (Trifolium pratense)
Dawna Ehman is the founder of Inner Alchemy Tea Co and has lectured, taught and written extensively on the intricate relationship between plant energy and human experience. The essence of Dawna’s work arises from a wholistic perspective and is informed by a vision of re-connection with the Natural world. Drawing on her expertise in the plant based healing modalities of herbalism, aromatherapy and flower essence therapy, as well as the art and culture of tea, Dawna creates unique plant based tonics, elixirs and formulas for clients worldwide.
I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a Happy St. Patrick’s Day before it's over! – Enjoy the rest of the night if you are celebrating, and especially your Guinness beer! I’m not much of a beer person but I heard this particular kind is actually really healthy…
Without much time to post (the day was very busy with Spring Break starting today and lots of work remains undone as a result), this would be just a quick post to tell you that my day started with trying Gaucho tea for the first time. There will be a lot more about it tomorrow. For now, before I pass out after a very long day, I just wanted to share a few thought in regards to the challenge of green.
One of the things that both Dawn and I experienced when creating the perfume and the tea, was the challenge of creating something that is different from our own personal tastes and overcoming our own prejudices and preferences. As much as I find it difficult to wear green fragrances, I can tell you that mate is not Dawna’s favourite tea kind. We both had to overcome the natural impulse of rejection that comes from the smell and taste of sharp, bitter greens.
Interestingly enough, what this as an exercise has taught me (I can’t speak for Dawna but I can sense that she enjoyed the challenge…) how close opposites really are. As I was sipping Gaucho this morning with increasing curiosity as we let the tea steep longer and stronger – I noticed that strangely, the more bitter the herbs are, the more sweetness they leave in the mouth after sipping the tea. This sensation has left such an imprint on me that I can still feel it in my mouth as I write…
Tune in for a guest appearance tomorrow – a piece by Dawna Ehman about Seasonal Attunement and the Therapeutic Use of Flavour
Heather Ettlinger of Memory and Desire has initiated a unique project titled Perfume Inside a Poem, reqcruiting 14 independent perfumers to the challenge of distilling a perfume out of a very short and very beautiful poem by Ezra Pound. Yours truly is one of the fortunate perfumers to be invited to this inspiring and exciting project. Each perfumer's response will be published on Memory and Desire in alphabetical order:
Ever since I watched Jennifer Lopez’s mind blowing performance in U-Turn, I’ve been waiting for something like this to happen in her perfume line. I know, this is a rather nive wishful thinking, but we can all dream a little… I don’t know what the future holds for the J. Lo perfume line, but so far the only one I can smell myself wearing is the newest one - Deseo. That is not to say that Deseo is even remotely close to mind blowing in perfume terms. But at least it’s nice to find a fragrance to like bearing the name of such a talented actress (and I do prefer Ms. Lopez acting than her music). However, while Glow was too soapy, Still just not interesting, Miami Glow mouthwateringly artificial (and so were most of the others to follow – Live and the rest of the limited edition sequels for Glow) – Deseo is easily wearable and falls exactly into the fragrance category I would have belong to if I was the typical modern woman of my typical social cross section (which I’m not).
Deseo joins the growing family of modern chypres, and to me smells like a hybrid between Pure Turquoise and With Love (Hilary Duff). It starts fresh and citrusy, yet not as brisk as Pure Turquoise. It brings forth some milky notes, but is not quite as milky as With Love, as it stirs towards beachy coconut-milk, skin and sand notes. The floral heart is obscure and I can’t say I recognize any particular note, but if you are familiar with star jasmine, this might be the only thing I can somehow relate to that resembles a living flower. Star jasmine is not a true jasmine, and has a fresh, fleeting green-floral note. It is easy to see why it’s getting so popular with recent fragrances released – it’s a white floral sans the drama, i.e. with the indole left out. The underlining notes are not any more articulate than the heart notes – mostly musks and woods of vague origin, yet upon dry down the oakmoss starts to really shine through, which is very encouraging for all of us true chypre lovers who are being fed a non-oakmoss chypre diet for quite some time…
Judging by the packaging and name (Deseo means desire in Spanish) is meant to symbolize something deeper than it may seem – the bottle being in the shape of a diamond in the rough, and that got to have some deeper meaning in regards to Ms. Lopez’ life story, perhaps even with some implications to other diamonds out there yet to be discovered... What I’m smelling though, is fresh citrus notes of no particular identity, slightly beachy with nice smelling yet nondescript floral bouquet, over woody and and slightly warm and skin like base anchored in moss and salty mineral notes. The base would definitely suit a man very well. Deseo is simple, clean, easy to wear (even more easy to wear than Pure Turquoise), cool yet neither aloof nor distant, fun but not overly beach, serene without being pretentious - and that is precisely what I like about Deseo. After all, any diamond, even a diamond in the rough, is just a cold stone; and unless it's adorning a certain piece of jewelry, it is about as meaningful as a virtual lover or an imaginary boyfriend...
Top notes: Watery Bamboo Leaves, Garden Yuzu, Sicilian Bergamot, freesia. Heart notes: Star Jasmine, Pink Geranium Flower, Orange Blossom, French Mimosa. Base notes: Warm Amber, Oakmoss, Sensual Musks, Creamy Sandalwood, Atlas Cedar, Patchouli, Mineral Accord.
A new Facebook group was created for you, dear SmellyBlog readers. This is a place where I hope to see you post your ideas for what you'd like to read on this blog in the future. Any material you are particularly curious to learn about? The story behind a particular perfume? Requests for perfume reviews?
No, I'm not having a very dull Friday night to have even bothered starting a group... I'm just in the mood for experimenting and seeing if Facebook could be actually used for something (aside from spying on friends from high-school, which is quite an achievement on its own...).
And of course, it would be nice to meet some new readers that I don't know about. After all, there are 8,000 visitors going through this blog every month, and I can't say I've met all of you just yet... So maybe this is our chance to meet, at least virtually...?
