Maté

Maté is the leaf that half a continent drinks every morning. Its absolute smells of dried tobacco, green tea and hay, bitter and warm at once, and it gives a green composition a depth that no flower can. It is the leaf that makes Paradis de Bleu taste of something.

What maté is

Maté is the leaf of Ilex paraguariensis, a holly of the subtropical forests of South America, dried and roasted for the bitter infusion of the same name. The absolute is solvent extracted from the dried leaves and carries the full character of the roasted leaf: tobacco, tea, hay and a warm, dry bitterness with a faint sweetness. It is a natural bridge between green notes and the warmer world of woods and resins.

Where our maté comes from

Ours comes from Brazil, one of the three countries where maté is grown and among the largest producers, where the plant is cultivated across the subtropical south and the leaves are harvested, dried and roasted in the traditional way. The warm, humid climate of the region gives leaves rich in the aromatic compounds that the roasting develops, and Brazilian maté absolute is prized for its rich tobacco and hay character.

How maté smells

Tobacco, tea and hay. It opens green and slightly bitter, like a dried leaf crushed in the hand, then warms into tobacco and hay with a faint sweetness that lingers.

Maté in our chapter

• IIParadis de BleuThe Leaves · in the heart

  In Paradis de Bleu it sits in the heart among the flowers, the dried leaf that turns the green chapter from garden to landscape.

A note from the atelier

A chapter about leaves needed a leaf that smelled of leaves rather than of flowers. Maté is that leaf, and it is the reason Paradis de Bleu smells of a whole field and not a single stem.

Questions about maté