Mountain Tea

Bergamot and bay leaf up top, with fig rounding off the edges. It dries down into cedar and vetiver, and that's when the black tea comes through, smelling the way loose leaves do when you open the tin: dry, a little like hay and cured tobacco. The tea never takes over, and that's why it works. Quiet, a little dark, and easy to wear every day.

Frank Voelkl created Thé Noir 29 for Le Labo in 2015. He's also the perfumer behind Santal 33, which we carry as Cades Cove. Le Labo names each fragrance for its main note plus the number of ingredients: thé noir is French for black tea, and the formula has 29.

We named it for mountain tea, the old name for wintergreen you still hear in these mountains. It's an evergreen only a few inches tall that creeps along the forest floor from one end of the Appalachians to the other, with red berries that hang on into winter. Crush a leaf and you'll know it right away. It's the flavor in teaberry gum. Plenty of folks around here grew up chewing the leaves and eating the berries, and the leaves were brewed as a stand-in for real tea. There's no wintergreen in this bottle, so it won't smell like teaberry gum. We borrowed the name for the tea.

Inspired By
Le Labo Thé Noir 29 — Mountain Tea is our impression of Thé Noir 29, hand-blended at extrait strength.

Fragrance Family

Woody · Spicy · Aromatic

Top Notes

Bergamot · Fig · Bay Leaf

Heart Notes

Cedar · Vetiver · Musk

Base Notes

Black Tea · Hay · Tobacco

Gender

True Unisex

Longevity: High

Hangs on through a full day. The dry tea and woods are the last to go.

Projection: Moderate

Noticeable for the first couple of hours, then it settles in closer.

Sillage: Moderate

Someone next to you will catch it. Across the room, they won't.

Concentration

Extrait de Parfum

Size

15 mL · 30 mL · 5 mL · 2 mL sample

Maison Appalachia is an independent fragrance house. This product is inspired by Le Labo Thé Noir 29 and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced by Le Labo.