getting tea smell all over the place

January 23, 2008 5:29 AM

What's the best way to get the smell of tea in the room or all over the House?

I think tea is one of the best smelling, worst tasting things ever. And I wanted to get the smell of it all over the house, or atleast in one room. Is there a better way to do this than to make tea and leave it in the room? Because that way it won't last to long.

posted by kall to Food & Drink (13 answers total)

You could put tea bags in a pot of boiling water on the stove for an hour or so. The steam will help disperse the scent farther than a mug of tea.
posted by odi.et.amo at 5:37 AM on January 23, 2008

Tea-scented candles?
posted by danb at 5:43 AM on January 23, 2008

Try this. Available as cologne, room spray, shower gel etc. Browse the site, there may be others.
posted by fire&wings at 5:45 AM on January 23, 2008 [2 favorites]

I think tea leaves might provide more fragrance than a brew. How about filling a ramekin or something with tea leaves and leaving it on a radiator, if you have one? Pot-pourri-style.
posted by dowcrag at 6:13 AM on January 23, 2008

Best answer: The leaves of a Sassafras tree smell like tea. Perhaps a sassafras potpourri would work.
posted by sandra_s at 6:18 AM on January 23, 2008

Definitely try the Iced Tea Twist fragrance oil from Bath and Body Works. Very tea-scented, with just a hint of lemon.

Unfortunately, BBW no longer makes this product, since companies seem determined to discontinue their best products. However, you can still find bottles of it on Ebay.
posted by Work to Live at 6:21 AM on January 23, 2008

Seconding odi.et.amo. When my apartment gets stinky, I'll typically boil some herbs or cinnamon and cloves (especially in the winter) for about 30 minutes. I've never tried tea, though, but I imagine it would work as well.
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 6:31 AM on January 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

A related story, which may or may not be urban legend:

Once upon a time, the United States Navy, having found that the smell of freshly baked bread improved crew morale, went looking for some sort of freshly baked bread scent. They found that it was just easier to make freshly baked bread.
posted by Comrade_robot at 6:46 AM on January 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

Best answer: They have such things as tea burners literally made to do exactly what you want. I always wanted to get one.

Tea Burner
posted by Black_Umbrella at 7:58 AM on January 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

Sprinkle tea leaves on the hotplate of your stove. When its hot of course - like after using it and its switched off but still warm. Energy saving smells suffuse the room(s).
posted by jan murray at 8:09 AM on January 23, 2008

Is there a particular kind of tea that you like the smell of? For example, Earl Grey is flavored with bergamot, so you might just want to look for candles/fragrance that are bergamot-scented instead.
posted by srah at 10:46 AM on January 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Wow a lot of great suggestions. Althougt most of the commercial products will be hard to get here in germany. But right now the smell in my room is awsome.
posted by kall at 11:02 AM on January 23, 2008

Wow. This is exactly what I was looking for. Mefi never fails to come through.

Just to add a late-coming idea to the pile, one could try keeping (hanging?) lots of bags of tea leaves somewhere in the room. Tea shops do little more than stock piles of the stuff, and they certainly smell fragrant.

I suspect it would be a mite more healthful than inhaling trace smoke from burning tea leaves all of the time, too.
posted by davidriley at 4:13 PM on April 2, 2008