J’s image of Epichron Twin Peaks
Twin Peaks is the first release from the new house of Epichron based in Hong Kong and was already shortlisted for an Art and Olfaction award this year. You might already know of the perfumer Michael Wong and his own stunning house One Day, especially his tea series of which Oolong Tea won one of the two Art and Olfaction awards in the Artisan Category in 2022. Tea perfumes lovers take note, as they’re some of the most incredible tea based perfumes I’ve smelled. Twin Peaks ups the game with two teas from different regions meeting and blooming into a stunning rich floral rose with a soft shroud of smoky mystery lingering around it. The teas are not what they seem…
Perfumer Michael Wong at the Art and Olfaction awards 2022 via A+OA
Lapsang Souchong and Darjeeling are the two teas that form the concept and the warm enveloping scent makes Twin Peaks feel like a rich dark mystery that envelops and unfolds around you. You’re instantly taken deep into a dark, smoky woods, with splashes of bergamot sunrays flickering through dark dense trees. It’s smells like a soft haze of steam is rising and floating like a soft woody incense mist. It brings with it a cosy yet complex array for aromas. Off in the distance I pick up a peated whiskey facet, it works beautifully with the smoke, giving off a subtle scotch aroma with pine resins and soft smoked spices. Darjeeling slowly starts to make itself known. From this tea haze, a beautiful delicate abstract flowery aroma begins to bloom. Epichron Twin Peaks softer tea side has a subtle bouquet of fruits that enhance the Lapsang Soucshong’s darker elements with soft plummy and peachy facets giving a plump richness and brighter fell to the composition. More abstract citruses blur with topical fruits, making it hard to pick apart, giving Twin Peaks a rich warmth and glow. There’s a touch of an astringent note that weaves beautifully back into the darker more resinous pines, linking both the teas as they start to weave through each other.
Lapsang Souchong and Darjeeling tea leaves via Wikipedia.
Both of these teas, Lapsang Souchong and Darjeeling originate from the same plant. Their environments and how they were cultivated have created two unique experiences stemming from the one source. The name of the perfume references these two different teas emerging from two unique mountain ranges, the Himalayans and Wuyi Mountains, but I can’t help but think of David Lynch’s classic TV series of the same name. Agent Cooper in the series, especially the final one possess this dual identity, one sweet clean cut all American good guy FBI agent and the other his darker mirror self from the red room. Twin Peak’s teas both have light and dark elements running through them, capturing the contradictory duality of humanity.
Twin Peaks Agent Dale Cooper and his evil counterpart via Wikipedia
Speaking of the red room, as these teas merge they form a rather stunning deep red-honeyed rose that blooms from this rich tea haze. I love this moment where you can feel the deep red petals unfurl and open into this almost dusty rose with a dark honeyed tone giving it this deep allure. The rose in Epichron Twin Peaks feels carved from cedar wood, one that’s stained a deep red hue, as soft plumes of incense are joined by that delicious, fruity, smoky, peated tea aroma slowly wrapping it in a soft veil of mystery. Here again the Twin Peaks TV show pops back in my head, not only for the soft haze of powdery cedar woods but also this dark sensual rose full of mystery. It’s almost like Laura Palmer, but rather than being wrapped in plastic, this red room rose is wrapped in a tea and incense cloud The honey brings out a subtle, subliminal yet intoxicating purr that feels very seductive in the air.
Twin Peaks Laura Palmer via Wikipedia.
Epichron Twin Peaks has an elegant duality of darkness and light all the way through the wear, letting musks give it an alluring diffusive presence. Darjeeling’s fruity warmth is cleverly picked up on again as a richness of vetiver gives the base a warmth and illuminates the rose in a stunning way. Twin Peaks is full of delicious delicate aromas that’s fold over and through each other making it feel effortless, while being incredibly complex and satisfying to wear, not only in making you smell amazing but giving you this unfolding mystery that keeps you coming back for more. I keep finding new subtle facets during each wear. Epichron Twin Peaks is an extrait but rather than sitting close, Michael Wong makes it quietly fill spaces in a cosy alluring way. It’s a mystery you want to bury your face into, wrapping yourself in its smoky tea rose enigma and let its beauty wash over you.
Epichron is a house to watch with their second perfume Nightchild has just released, composed this time by perfumer Michael Nordstrand, (who won one of two of this year’s Art and Olfaction Award for TALE/ Independent). For tea lovers Twin Peaks is one to search out and its one that I love to wear.
Notes: Bergamot, Incense, Lapsang Tea Leaves, Black Tea, Honey, Rose Absolute, Atlas Cedarwood, Musk, Haiti Vetiver.
Disclaimer: Epichron Twin Peaks from J’s own collection, his opinions his own.
J Wearescentient – Senior Editor, artist and olfactive writer.
Epichron Twin Peaks courtesy of the brand.
Thanks to the generosity of Michael Wong and Epichron we have a bottle of Epichron Twin Peaks to giveaway in the US/UK/EU (France, Germany, Italy, Hungary & Netherlands only). You must register or your entry will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what sparks your interest based on J’s review and where you live. Draw closes 6/19/2025
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