Almonds in my Assam: the festive tea I’d almost wear as perfume

If most scented teas smell like potpourri in hot water, this one made me eat my words. Newby has a Festive Tea for the Year of the Horse, and it comes with real almond pieces riding a sturdy Assam base. Open the tin and it wafts up like marzipan meeting a warm bakery at 7 a.m., sweet but not syrupy, nutty with a toasted hush. The leaf is the malty, second flush kind that usually wants milk and a biscuit. Here, it gets a silk lining of almond that behaves more like suede on the tongue.

Perfume brain immediately kicked in. If your palate loves the soft, bitter-sweet glide of almond and heliotrope, you will hear echoes of:

• Dior Hypnotic Poison for that creamy, bitter-almond hum
• Serge Lutens Rahat Loukoum for the loukhoum-powder fantasy
• Guerlain L’Heure Bleue for the wistful pastry aura, all puffed air and dusk

This isn’t dessert-in-a-cup, and thank goodness. The almond seems tucked into the malt rather than painted on top. Brewed at just off the boil for 3 minutes, it stays plush and balanced. Add a tiny splash of milk and it turns into marzipan custard. Straight up gives a more cacao-nib darkness, the kind that lingers in your nose longer than your mouth. I tried it beside a spritz of Etro Heliotrope and had that mischievous thought I always get with a good gourmand tea: should I be drinking this or dabbing it on my wrists. I behaved. Barely.

Practicalities for the lemming-prone among us. It is 125 g for £22 at Harrods, which is a commitment for a flavored black tea. But the leaf quality shows, and the almond reads natural, not confected. If you collect scent-adjacent rituals the way you collect travel sprays, this slots into that late afternoon window when you crave warmth without a sugar crash.

One more thing I love. Almond in perfumery often leans powdery, wistful, almost vintage. In this cup, it feels present and tactile. Think polished wood, a paper bag of roasted nuts, the small luxury of taking five quiet minutes that smell incredible. If you get it, wear a little Hypnotic Poison on the wrist while it steeps and tell me your kitchen does not smell like a very expensive patisserie.