Ask someone which Chinese fragrance house to try first and most Australian shoppers cannot name one. TO SUMMER is the answer we give.
Sourced in person from Shanghai and Beijing, TO SUMMER makes three fragrances worth learning by name: Osmanthus, Rambler Rose and Triple Tea. Each pulls from a different Chinese botanical or cultural reference, and each wears differently on skin.
This guide walks through all three: what is actually in the bottle, who each one suits, and which to reach for first if the house is new to you.
What TO SUMMER Actually Is
TO SUMMER works from its Eastern Essence Eau de Parfum series, built around ingredients and references specific to Chinese fragrance culture: golden osmanthus trees in bloom at Beijing's Yihe Garden, a wild climbing rose, brewed tea taken through its green, black and smoky stages. Bottles carry an octagonal, jade-toned cap that nods to latticed flower windows in Jiangnan courtyard architecture, and gift boxes are made with paper from England's Lake District.
It sits alongside SoJan's best-selling fragrances roundup as the Shanghai and Beijing half of that edit, next to Seoul's Tamburins and Tokyo's Shiro. All three houses share a fragrance-forward register, but not a sourcing city, so treat each as its own thing rather than as interchangeable.
Osmanthus and Triple Tea come in 30ml and 100ml. Rambler Rose is a single 30ml size. All three arrive in a gift-ready box, which makes the range an easy pick when a fragrance-loving friend is the one you are shopping for rather than yourself.
TO SUMMER Osmanthus
Osmanthus 桂 is built around golden osmanthus absolute, developed over three years and more than one hundred formulation iterations by perfumer David Huang. Bitter orange and white peach open it, May rose and jasmine carry the heart, and it settles into amber and white musk.
It reads as a fruit-forward floral rather than a heavy one. If Byredo Mojave Ghost Absolu already sits in your rotation, Osmanthus takes a softer, fruitier route towards a similar warmth.
Best for: a first bottle from the house. It is the most approachable entry point and wears well day to day.
TO SUMMER Rambler Rose
Rambler Rose 蔷薇 takes its name from the wild, climbing rose rather than a hothouse bloom. Perfumer Jérôme Epinette built it to move rather than sit still: bergamot and passion fruit first, then centifolia rose, jasmine, green tea and pink peony, before crisp amber, skin musk and blond woods settle underneath.
The green tea note keeps it from reading as a straightforward rose. It sits in a lifted, less syrupy register than most rose fragrances, closer to a garden after rain than a bouquet.
Best for: rose wearers who want lift and a green edge rather than density.
TO SUMMER Triple Tea
Triple Tea 茶茶茶 is the house's tea fragrance, also from Jérôme Epinette, and it runs through tea's full range rather than settling on one note. Mate and green tea open it, black tea with violet and jasmine carry the heart, and rock tea, dried grass and amber close it out.
There is no fruit, cream or sugar in it anywhere. It is dry, gently smoky by the end, and unisex by design.
Best for: anyone who finds most florals too sweet and wants something closer to a quiet room than a garden.
Our TO SUMMER favourites: Osmanthus for the easy, approachable floral. Rambler Rose for lift and a green edge. Triple Tea for something dry and unisex.
SoJan tip: Rambler Rose and Triple Tea share a perfumer, Jérôme Epinette. If one wears well on your skin, the other is worth testing before you look elsewhere in the range.
Which TO SUMMER Perfume Should You Try First?
Taste, not spec sheets, decides this one. Start with whichever line below sounds like your own scent story.
- New to TO SUMMER, want an easy first bottle: start with Osmanthus.
- Already wear rose and want something lighter: Rambler Rose.
- Tired of sweet florals, want dry and smoky: Triple Tea.
- Building a fragrance edit across cities: pair TO SUMMER with a scent from Tokyo's Shiro or Seoul's Tamburins, and see the full line-up in our best-selling fragrances roundup.
A Few Practical Questions
What does TO SUMMER actually smell like?
Nothing generic. Osmanthus is fruit and floral, Rambler Rose is rose lifted by tea and green notes, Triple Tea is dry, tea-led and smoky at the end. None of the three leans sweet or heavy.
Is Triple Tea a unisex fragrance?
Yes. Its tea, floral and woody notes work on anyone who prefers a dry, aromatic scent over a sweet one.
Which size should I start with?
On Osmanthus and Triple Tea, the 30ml is the lower-commitment way to test whether a scent earns a permanent place in your rotation before moving up to 100ml.
Sourced in Shanghai and Beijing
Our personal shoppers choose the TO SUMMER range in person, in Shanghai and Beijing, from the house's own stock. Nothing is sourced through a third party. Bottles arrive factory-sealed, in the presentation the house intends.
Stock moves in runs tied to each sourcing trip. When a size or scent sells through, the next trip brings the next allocation, not an immediate restock. If a scent on this page is calling you, do not wait a fortnight on it.
Free delivery available. TO SUMMER ships to Australia and worldwide, with no customs paperwork on your end.
Shop the full TO SUMMER collection →
Not sure which one to start with? Message our Personal Shoppers on Live Chat with what you already wear, and we will point you to the closest match.
