India and Chai
When I was very young, I wanted to discover the world, whereas in my family, strangely enough, no one passed on this passion to me. I am so happy that my children are also piqued by this desire to travel.
Discovering new cultures means enriching oneself at all levels: opening one's mind, but also opening up to new rites, landscapes, discovering previously unknown scents, or new associations.
Each destination has enriched my olfactory heritage and brought new inspirations.
Everything can be inspiring: landscapes, nature, colours, local art, museums, flowers, fruits, spices, drinks, cocktails, local food.
Curiosity is the essential fuel to keep the passion alive.
As soon as I come back, I always have this urge to project myself into the next trip.
India, a country of scents
I made about 5 trips to the north of India in Rajasthan: Jaipur, Jodhpur, Udaipur, with their breathtaking remains, sumptuous palaces, shops selling precious stones and embroidered fabrics.
The highlight is a visit to the Taj Mahal, one of the most beautiful wonders in the world, which offers a different spectacle depending on the time of day.
An intense memory indeed, I often told the story of Guerlain's Shalimar during my career, whose tragic ending takes place at the Taj Mahal.
Goa, which offers heavenly beaches with a baba cool atmosphere.
I also went to the south, to lush Kerala, where the poverty is less obvious and where a certain sweetness of life reigns.
The big cities are head spinning and exhausting, often very sad, as they are marred by great poverty like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, juxtaposed with debauches of wealth. In these cities it was impossible for me to take pictures, there were unbearable scenes of everyday life on every corner.
It is such a varied country that it is difficult to summarise all that I have discovered there.
India is rich in powerful scents, sometimes very pleasant, others especially in the cities can be confusing. Indian women and men are very coquettish and like to wear perfume. We are starting to see selective perfumeries where big international brands are sold and also recently niche perfumes.
India is a major producer of flowers, such as tuberose and jasmine, which are revered for temples, but also for weddings and various festivals.
Indian spices are also very famous among perfumers, I actually visited a factory in South India, and I understood better how these spices are processed for perfumery, a great memory!
The recipe of the chai
Chai is a beverage from India whose Hindi root name means tea. In India, it is more precisely Masala chai.
The history of this recipe goes back over 5000 years, originally this chai tea recipe was used as a remedy in traditional Hindu medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, and did not involve tea, only milk with an infusion of spices.
Now chai is a drink made of sweetened black tea with spices and hot milk. Indians drink this chai from morning to night, in small cups, in all circumstances, as a welcome, in shops, on the train, at the Ayurvedic doctors, etc.
Making a good chai requires a precise technique: boil water for a few minutes with spices, a few peppercorns, 3 cardamom seeds, some also add cinnamon and cloves and sometimes ginger.
Then add 3 cups of milk, I use vegetable milk, boil a second time for a few minutes, then strain and pour.
This recipe inspired me to create the Vangelis fragrance from the Vanilla Collections, a tribute to this drink and to India.
In this fragrance, for both women and men, woods dominate (patchouli, cedar, vetiver and the precious sandalwood used for wedding chests and also for religious ceremonies), spices crackle (cardamom, pepper, juniper, ginger, cloves), they are associated with a subtle milky note and a natural vanilla from Madagascar which brings the necessary sweetness to realize this chai accord.
I have other olfactory memories of these trips to India which will, I hope, be sources of creation for my future olfactory adventures.
Sylvaine Delacourte perfumes
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