SCENT EXPOSÉ: The Beguiling Bewilderment of Blackberry Tea Leaf

So this candle has caused much consternation throughout social media - the debate being whether not it's a repackage. Most (myself included) are in the no camp while there are a few who stauchly believe that it is. I want to take this time to break down and give my argument about this candle and its supposed origin.

Let's go back to the very beginning  and talk about this badboi.

So for those who don't know, Blueberry Pumpkin Patch was a failed test scent back in 2012. Thanks in part to mainly Tinadivlicious, Littleballadeer and Touchthefiretwice, it receive a cult status amonsgt the then burgeouning candle community who ordered it like crazy over the phone (back when you could call test stores for phone orders). Because of its popularity, it ended up going wide the following year.

Despite what the name suggested, it really didn't smell like blueberries and pumpkins. It smelled very bakery/gourmand, more so when you actually burned it.  Whatever blend they used to replicate "pumpkin" came off smelling grainy/cereal-y. With the berry note, it really just smelled like a blueberry bran muffin or granola with dried blueberry or berry flavored cereal (Berry Berry Kix)

Then the year after BPP went wide, we got Blackberry Bramble Tea in the Artisan collection which was sort of a transition collection from summer to fall and came out before the standard fall scents were released. Like Blackberry Tea Leaf, BBT caused some debate in the candle community. It was EXTREMELY similar to BPP but there was a definite London Calling-esque black tea note chillin in the background - basically a repackage with a twist; same scent with a little something extra

Now that brings as back to BTL - is it a repackage?

In my most humble of opinions, I'm gonna have to go with no. Here's why...

First of all it's missing that odd earthy grainy/cerealy "pumpkin" note that both BPP and BBT shared.

And while it does have the same London Calling-esque black tea as BBT, it has something that BBT definitely did NOT have - citrus. There's a citrus blend in BTL that hits your nose almost immediately - orange zest/peel, maybe some lemon or verbena as well. Neither BBT or BPP had that bright pop of citrus.

Now the blueberry/blackberry blend is pretty much identical in all 3 scents but that's where the similarities end.

Here's the thing - just because a fragrance blend has the same top notes as another blend doesn't necessarily make a repackage or even a repackage with a twist

You can call BBT a repackage with a twist of BPP because it was the exact same blend but with an added tea note

However I think it's inaccutae to call BTL a repackage of BBT just because they have the same berry note, BTL just has one too many differences.

Another reason I don't think they're the same is a matter of commercial success. If they were both the same scent, why is BTL not selling nearly as well as BBT did? Every other post I see on social media are folks either not liking on initial cold sniff or getting buyer's remorse and not liking once they got it home and/or after they burned it. If it was the same, BTL would've sold equally as well (if not more) than BBT did backintheday.

So in conclusion, BTL isn't a repackage, just similar.