Thé Darbouka
Dawn in the Sahara and an imaginary tea, told through sweet, spicy oud with cocoa and styrax.
Perfumer: Amélie Bourgeois
Thé Darbouka opens onto dawn in the Sahara, the sky coloured by the nomadic rhythm of a darbouka drum. The tea in its name is an imaginary one, less a portrait of tea leaves than a cup pictured within that scene.
Its main notes are elusive, sweet and spicy oud, cocoa and styrax. The oud here is not a dense block of wood but something shifting and hard to pin down, warmed by sweetness and a hint of spice. Cocoa adds a bittersweet depth, and styrax layers in soft, balsamic resin.
Subtitled an outer spice travel and marked at 99 BPM, the fragrance lets its listed notes blend in a dark, warm palette rather than compete.
The perfume was composed by Amélie Bourgeois, with music by Nicolas Leroy, a multi-instrumentalist who has performed on stages around the world and was the first musician to join L'Orchestre Parfum, in 2017.
