MOUEEL
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fruitrose · perfumed · musky · grape · floral

Lychee

Roses in syrup inside a lizard shell. Gewurztraminer spent a century trying to smell like this.

on its own
1.0sour
4.0sweet
0.0savoury
0.0bitter
0.0umami
order · canon first

4 of these 26 are wild — theory says yes, nobody has cooked them. why →

26 pairings for Lychee.

Rose

classic

Both run on geraniol and phenylethanol. Ispahan is a chemistry lesson with cream.

Doubling the rose oxide. Two drops confirms the flavour, five drops ruins it.

Ginger

common

Sharp gingerol under heavy perfume; it gives a very soft fruit an actual edge.

Lime

common

The fruit has almost no acid. Lime turns syrup into something you can drink twice.

Mint

common

Menthol keeps the floral note cold. Warm lychee smells like hand cream.

Coconut

common

Lactone fat carries volatile terpenes further than water or syrup ever will.

Black tea

common

Tannin dries the mouth between mouthfuls, which perfume-heavy fruit badly needs.

Both run on linalool. The tea reads as though the fruit was steeped in it.

Jasmine

common

Linalool in both, but the fruit brings juice and stops the flower going airless.

Riesling

uncommon

Shared cis-rose oxide, the same molecule that makes Alsace smell like a perfume counter.

Cucumber

uncommon

Both are watery and faintly melon; the cucumber makes the perfume read cleaner.

Gin

uncommon

Juniper and rose are both terpenes, and the alcohol carries them further than syrup.

Mangosteen

uncommon

Same terpene family, but this one brings the acid the lychee has never had.

Oolong

uncommon

Two perfumes from the same latitude. Neither has to be dialled down.

Elderflower

uncommon

Both loaded with linalool and rose oxide. Impossible to tell apart when chilled.

Agar

uncommon

Perfume plus snap. Both are slippery, so the texture contrast is small but real.

The same linalool from two continents. Side by side the resemblance is uncomfortable.

Prawn

rare

Sweet shellfish and sweet perfume, held apart by salt and a lot of white pepper.

Both run on rose oxide. Perfume doubled, sweetness untouched.

Floral on floral, and the seed adds the woody spine lychee entirely lacks.

Pisco

rare

Cis-rose oxide in both. Two things that smell like a perfume counter agreeing.

Oyster

wild

Brine under rose. It sounds absurd until the second one, then it makes sense.

Rose-sweet fruit against smoked salt fat; the perfume survives the paprika.

Both gelatinous-crisp. The fruit supplies perfume the fungus never had.

Floral rose-note against blank protein. Nothing competes, everything shows.