Pan Seven: Taiwanese Tea Perfumes

Basic Information

Founded: 2012
Founders: Pan Yu Ching and Huang Chien Shun
Official website: Official website (Japanese-language shopping site)

Perfume is like an abstract work of art; imitation is not its ultimate goal.
Its true value and appeal lie in the poetry and meaning behind it.

From the official website

Founding History

There are black-tea and green-tea perfumes around the world, but I want to convey the appeal of Taiwanese tea, whose layers of aroma keep changing. […] In the West, tea is something you enjoy while chatting and spending time with friends or family. For us, tea time is a chance to stop, settle the mind, and have a conversation with ourselves.

From Dig the tea.com

Pan Seven, a Taiwanese tea perfume brand abbreviated to P.Seven, was founded on May 3, 2012, by Pan Yu Ching, who had worked as a tea master at Taiwan’s Grand Hotel for about five years, and Huang Chien Shun. Perfume research and development began in 2011, and the first fragrance, Taiwanese Tea Perfume (Jin Xuan Tea), emerged from a year and a half of work and 200 trials. It was, in fact, Taiwan’s first perfume.
The name Pan Seven combines “Pan,” the romanized surname of the founder, with seven, a number meaning “new life” in the Bible and “fulfillment” in Buddhism. It expresses the hope that a brand born of Taiwanese people and conveying Taiwanese culture would get off to a fulfilling start.

As the description “Taiwanese tea perfume” on the manufacturer’s website suggests, the brand weaves its philosophy, aesthetics, and hospitality into the scent of tea, something as natural as breathing to Taiwanese people, and gives it expression as perfume.

We believe that “the old is new.”
Ultimately, it is the source of recollections and a safe harbor for memory.

We interpret Taiwanese tea culture in an entirely new way,
exploring old and new scents at the tip of the nose, alongside familiar aromas.

From the official website

P.Seven’s perfumes are composed by a team that includes its founders. This is a somewhat unusual team for a perfume brand: it includes graduates of ISIPCA, perfumers certified by the SFP (French Society of Perfumers), people certified by the IFA (International Federation of Aromatherapists), and holders of NAHA (National Association for Holistic Aromatherapy) licenses. The team also appears to work on ambient scent and perfumes for other brands, including scent design for Shiseido Professional’s 2021 Spring/Summer hair show in Taiwan.

The triangular glass flacons are finished by hand by Taiwanese glass artisans, so each has its own variations and is one of a kind. The bottles are presented in boxes influenced by Taiwanese culture.

In 2022, P.Seven’s Aged Tea won an Art and Olfaction Independent Award (A+OA) in the United States. Perfumes from Zoologist, Parfums Dusita, and Hiram Green have previously won these awards. Japanese olfactory artist Maki Ueda also received an award in 2022.

The brand arrived in Japan on September 27, 2019, when the Taiwanese department store Eslite Spectrum opened in Nihonbashi, and attracted attention with its scheduled appearance at Salon de Parfum in October 2023. Do try the brand’s first fragrance to begin with, but note that the Japan-exclusive version differs slightly from the Taiwanese version.

Brand Commitments

P.Seven’s tea perfumes begin with more than the names of tea leaves: the scent left in a cup, a drink in a forest, the welcome offered to a visitor, or the sweet black tea of childhood. The landscapes and relationships surrounding tea provide their starting points. Pan Yu Ching has likened fragrance design to painting. Rather than relying on the aroma of tea alone, she combines other scents to build the impression she has in mind.

The fragrances have expanded from Taiwanese tea in the Classic, FONG-CHA and Black Tea collections to ink, Taiwan’s cultural communities and memories of places in Japan. In 2026, the Goucha collection brought Japanese and Taiwanese teas together.

The Classic Collection: Forests, Jin Xuan Tea and Everyday Memories

Taiwanese Tea Perfume (台湾茗香水), the fragrance that began the brand in 2012, centres on Jin Xuan tea. Its setting is a teahouse in a misty Taiwanese forest. Drinking tea, grinding ink and practising calligraphy become three stages of scent: forest, tea and ink. Cedar, frankincense and Taiwanese cypress lead into the soft, milk-like sweetness of Jin Xuan tea, before spikenard, musk, patchouli and tonka bean create the lingering impression of ink. The tea and the smells of wood, brushes and ink around it form a continuous composition.

Launched in 2024, [golden] Tea Perfume (金萱桂花) layers osmanthus over Jin Xuan tea. It draws on Pan’s childhood memories of children running through lanes planted with osmanthus, while adults drank tea beneath a banyan tree beyond them. The composition moves from Jin Xuan tea and honey to flowers and fruit, including osmanthus, lily of the valley and apricot, then to woods such as cedar and sandalwood. Where Taiwanese Tea Perfume evokes an inward-looking teahouse, [golden] recalls a hometown gathering place.

[sijichun] Tea Perfume (凝香) joined the Classic collection in 2026, taking Four Seasons Spring tea as its subject. Its focus is the tea people drink with family and friends or reach for in daily life. Jasmine, hyacinth and white ginger lily lead to gardenia, magnolia and Four Seasons Spring tea, settling into iris, cedarwood and musk. Bright flowers and the fresh sweetness of tea replace the forest and ink of the first fragrance as its way of expressing everyday Taiwan.

The Japan-exclusive Jin Xuan tea perfume oil is a separate version from Taiwanese Tea Perfume. Made in Japan, it is an alcohol-free roll-on that places Jin Xuan tea at the centre of an adaptation of the Taiwanese fragrance. On November 4, 2026, the Taiwanese page for Taiwanese Tea Perfume 25 ml carried a notice that it was being discontinued, while the Japanese site still listed 25 ml and 3 ml sizes. That notice concerns the Taiwanese product listing; it does not establish worldwide discontinuation of the fragrance.

FONG-CHA: Three Teas Offered to a Guest

Introduced in 2022, FONG-CHA (奉茶) takes its name from the Taiwanese custom of offering tea to passers-by. Pan has described making the collection in the spirit of brewing a cup for someone visiting her home or workplace. Its three fragrances explore the morning air of a tea garden, the fruit-and-honey character of Oriental Beauty tea, and the depth of tea kept for many years.

Oolong Tea (沁香) centres on Dong Ding oolong. Green freshness meets jasmine and geranium, with the soft woody impression of cashmere wood. Pan imagined the air filling a tea garden during the early-morning harvest. The fragrance extends beyond the leaves to the mountain setting and its flowers, moving from fresh greenery through Dong Ding oolong and flowers to herbal woods.

Formosa Beau-Tea (玉香) focuses on Oriental Beauty tea. P.Seven connects its floral, fruity and honeyed character with a lightness reminiscent of champagne. Bright fruit gives way to the fullness of tea, followed by enveloping, velvety musk. Oolong leaves, green tea leaves, ho wood and honey are part of its composition. Where Oolong Tea opens onto the greenery of a plantation, Formosa Beau-Tea emphasises ripe-fruit sweetness and a soft texture close to the skin.

Aged Tea (暗香) translates the passage of time into scent, drawing on the aged tea Pan has long enjoyed. Green tea, oolong and herbs introduce black tea and the impression of smoked plum, followed by ho wood and cedar. A sweetness reminiscent of longan lies beneath the smoke, expressing the complexity that develops during storage. Aged Tea was one of the winners in the Independent category at the 2022 Art and Olfaction Awards.

The Black Tea Collection: From Minnan Daily Life

The three Black Tea fragrances received a nationwide Japanese launch in December 2024. Their origins reach back to Taiwan’s travelling scent exhibitions, which explored Indigenous, Hakka and Minnan cultures. A fragrance evoking old-fashioned black tea in the Minnan exhibition became the starting point for Vintage Black Tea. Pan was interested in the connection between a familiar taste and human emotion. Honyun Black Tea and Ruby Black Tea joined it to explore three expressions of black tea.

Honyun Black Tea (韻香) gives Hong Yun black tea a spicy, floral depth. Bergamot and mandarin meet pepper and nutmeg, then carnation, lavender, orange blossom, iris and black tea leaves. Woods, oakmoss, vetiver, musk and tonka bean form the base. Dry spice and soft flowers bridge the movement from citrus to tea, giving it a character that extends beyond sweetness.

Ruby Black Tea (耀香) expresses the sweetness and complexity of Ruby black tea. Honey is joined by jasmine, oolong and cedar. The Taiwanese notes also list cane sugar and cinnamon, while the Japanese description includes caramel. Despite the shared English word Ruby, this is a separate fragrance from the Hakka collection’s Ruby (紅桂), which centres on osmanthus and Sun Moon Lake black tea.

Vintage Black Tea (璞香) preserves the memory of old-fashioned sweet black tea that began the collection. Bergamot, sage and fir lead to brown sugar, vanilla and Assam black tea, with woods, amber and musk in the base. The Taiwanese description connects impressions of brown sugar and cassia seeds with simple childhood days. Its subject is familiar everyday tea rather than a formal tea ceremony.

The [mor] Collection: Developing the Ink of Taiwanese Tea Perfume

The [mor] collection (墨香), introduced in 2025, develops the ink accord at the end of Taiwanese Tea Perfume into a collection of its own. For Pan, ink is both a material for calligraphy and ink painting and a connection to the time a calligrapher spends in self-reflection. She has also referred to the thought of Mozi, describing a wish to express closeness between people and nature and warmth towards others. All three fragrances centre on ink, approached through tea, flowers or bamboo.

[mor] Thé (墨茶) evokes dry tea leaves and the ink of a brush moving through a quiet night. Its Japanese description moves from jasmine and tea leaves to iris, borneol and ink, ending in cedarwood, musk and patchouli. Whereas Taiwanese Tea Perfume travels from forest to tea and ink, [mor] Thé concentrates on the meeting of tea and ink, with the restraint of dry leaves and a woody finish.

In [mor] Flor (墨花), Chinese rose and peony open first, with iris, borneol and ink emerging beneath them. Spikenard, cedarwood, musk and patchouli support the base. The image is of flowers gradually spreading through an ink painting; ink-like shadows give depth to their soft outlines.

[mor] Bambu (墨竹) depicts wind passing through a bamboo grove and ink mingling with green bamboo. Bitter orange, bamboo leaf and hyacinth lead to ink, clove, iris and borneol, then spikenard, cedarwood, musk and patchouli. Its opening emphasises cool leaves and the air of the grove. The notes given here for all three [mor] fragrances follow their Japanese product descriptions.

Indigenous and Hakka Fragrances: From Exhibitions to Perfume

The Taiwan Aroma Exhibition extended the brand’s interest from tea to the cultures of the island. Its first edition in 2017 explored Indigenous and Hakka cultures; the third, held in Tainan in 2018, focused on Minnan culture. The exhibitions invited visitors to encounter lives and memories through scent. Originally created for display, the fragrances were developed into products after visitors asked to take them home. This work lies behind the fragrances grouped in Japan as the Indigenous and Hakka collection, as well as the later Black Tea collection.

Hunter (獵), inspired by Indigenous culture, is a spicy woody fragrance drawn from hunting and celebrations. Millet wine, betel leaves and flowers, maqaw and cypress connect the forest with human activity. Its Japanese notes move from sweet orange, millet wine and betel to maqaw and cedar, then cypress and ambergris. Food, drink and ritual are part of its forest landscape.

Animism (泛靈) depicts sea air blowing into a forest through herbs and greenery. Betel leaf and shell ginger establish the vegetation, while chichikogusa, lavender and rose geranium form a softer herbal layer. Mint brings the coolness of the wind. Leaves and air take precedence over Hunter’s wine and spices.

Flower of Life (石縫之花) explores the smells of primeval forest and earth. Vetiver evokes damp soil, while guaiac wood, cedar and sandalwood express the stillness of trees. Despite its name, the subject is the depth of the forest floor and woods rather than a bright bouquet.

Oriental Beauty (細妹安醬), inspired by Hakka culture, connects Oriental Beauty tea with memories of daily life. Its story includes persimmons drying in sunlight, dyed cloth and pickled ginger, but its listed notes are champagne, rose, Oriental Beauty tea and musk. It is a separate fragrance from FONG-CHA’s Formosa Beau-Tea, with which it shares a tea as its subject.

Ruby (紅桂) brings afternoon black tea together with osmanthus in a lane. Bittersweet orange, sweet osmanthus blossom and Sun Moon Lake black tea evoke an unhurried moment. BaLa BaBa (芭啦芭芭) turns instead to childhood play: running over grass with an ice cream, falling and picking up the smell of earth. Blackcurrant, buchu leaf, guava leaf, black spruce and patchouli translate that memory into fruit, leaves and woods.

Goucha: Bringing Japanese and Taiwanese Teas Together

Announced in 2026, the three Goucha (合茶) fragrances grew out of a collaboration with the Fukujuen CHA Research Center, operated by Fukujuen. Pan’s encounters with Japanese tea and tea-making after entering the Japanese market provided the background for exploring the two tea cultures. All three use tea-leaf extract obtained from Fukujuen green tea. Advance sales began on October 7, 2026, at venues including Isetan Shinjuku; the nationwide Japanese launch was announced for November 25. As of November 4, the collection was therefore available ahead of its nationwide release. The same nationwide launch date was announced for [sijichun] Tea Perfume.

Gyokuro × Biluochun Tea Perfume (悠香) combines the soft sweetness of gyokuro with the young-leaf and floral character of biluochun, evoking a tea garden in morning mist. Jasmine and gyokuro lead to biluochun, ho leaf, violet leaf and galbanum, supported by woods and musk. The two teas meet within a clear green composition.

Matcha × Jin Xuan Tea Perfume (凛香) pairs matcha’s bittersweet greenery with the milky softness of Jin Xuan oolong. Matcha, jasmine and gardenia open into Jin Xuan oolong, mate, galbanum and violet leaf. Cedarwood, vetiver, oakmoss, musk, ambergris and tonka bean form the base. Bitter and rounded impressions bring the Japanese and Taiwanese teas together.

Hojicha × Oolong Tea Perfume (和香) joins roasted hojicha with the floral character of high-mountain oolong. Hojicha and green tea introduce jasmine, oolong, mate and violet leaf, finishing with cedarwood, sandalwood, vetiver and musk. Its subject is the warmth of cupping freshly brewed tea in the hands, expressed through roasted tea and woods.

Japanese Landscapes and Collaborations: A Harbour, a Colour and an Ark

Harbor of Time (時之港) depicts memories of Yokohama. It developed from Red Brick Warehouse T2, selected through a vote on seven candidate scents at Sogo Yokohama in March 2026. Pan wanted to express not only the harbour but the atmosphere of a city connecting people and eras. Bergamot, cardamom and frankincense lead to a woody iris accord, cypriol and tea leaves, then woods, musk, vanilla and tonka bean. Spice, tea and wood support its imagery of turning pages and written memories.

Yurikago (揺籃), also classified as Japan-exclusive on the Japanese shop, takes sunlight, dry rice straw, water and the freedom of running barefoot in childhood as its subjects. Its notes are citrus, cucumber, lavender and rice grain. Green moisture and grain, rather than tea leaves, evoke its childhood landscape.

Edo Purple (江戸紫) translates a traditional Japanese colour into flowers. Wisteria and rose are central, with citrus, lychee, cardamom, mugwort and thyme at the opening. Black tea and jasmine lead to amber, wood smoke, tatami and musk. Tea serves as part of the connection between flowers and wood. In Japan it appears in the Aroma Exhibition collection, and it is also listed on the Taiwanese sales site.

ARK (芳舟), a collaboration with Taiwanese aromatherapy brand CANJUNE, grew from the idea of a boat carrying plants. Noah’s Ark supplies an image for bringing plant knowledge and benefits into daily life. Bergamot, Scots pine and Siberian fir lead to lavender, rose, orange blossom and elsholtzia, supported by Virginia cedar, frankincense and patchouli. The product description specifically identifies natural aromatic oil from Taiwanese elsholtzia among its ingredients. Honeyed floral sweetness, herbs and the stillness of conifers shape the fragrance.