Candle and Tea Pairing, since 2020.
HOUSE OF LILAH is the home of candle and tea pairing since 2020.
We combine soothing and uplifting aromas and scents, to create peaceful atmospheres, awaken the senses and trigger imagination.
Where it started
Tea has always been part of my day. Long before there was a business, there was a kettle, a mug and a few minutes of calm I tried to protect.
In 2016, after 18 years in marketing, I was made redundant. A few months later I lost my mum. It was the most difficult phase of my life, and it made me realise how precious time is, and how little of it we give ourselves. I started asking myself what I was really here to do. I wanted a life that felt like mine, with work that meant something. That search for my purpose gave me the courage to build something of my own.
HOUSE OF LILAH began with a wish to help people step out of the noise of a busy day and hear their own voice again. A candle to light. A tea to steep. A reason to stop. Somewhere along the way I noticed how much a scent or a taste can hold. One breath of the right aroma can bring back a person, a place, a feeling, and it can bring you back to yourself.
Why scent and flavour belong together
Taste and smell are closely tied to memory and emotion. Marcel Proust wrote about a madeleine dipped in lime tea carrying him straight back to childhood. We use that same link on purpose.
Read our original postHow we pair
Every pairing works in at least one of three ways.
Complement
The candle's top notes meet the tea's aromas, such as citrus against orange and cinnamon.
Echo
The tea's earthy taste mirrors the candle's base notes, such as red rooibos with smoky, woody depths.
Intensify
One deepens the other, such as sencha strengthening a leafy green candle.
Three states of mind
Creativity is an immersive process that engages all the senses. Mindfulness, Freedom and Curiosity are key states of mind that trigger imagination. That’s why we’ve created three distinct categories for our aromas and scents.
1. MINDFULNESS
Creativity needs stillness first. Mindfulness pairings use warm, calming notes to bring you back to the moment you’re in. Light the candle, let the tea steep, and give your mind room to settle and recharge.
"Smile, breathe and go slowly." — Thich Nhat Hanh
Shop the Mindfulness Ritual set
2. FREEDOM
Imagination needs permission to play, and to get things wrong. Freedom pairings are bright and fruity, with notes that lift your mood and get ideas flowing. They suit the moments when you want to try something without worrying how it turns out.
"Every act of creation is first an act of destruction." — Pablo Picasso
Shop the Freedom Ritual set
3. CURIOSITY
New ideas come from stepping outside what you know. Curiosity pairings combine unexpected notes, like leafy green with tropical fruit, to bring out the explorer in you. They’re for the evenings when you want to wander and see what turns up.
"There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you." — Michelle Obama
Shop the Curiosity Ritual set
Pause is where it starts
HOUSE OF LILAH began with a candle and a cup of tea. It now includes coaching and Reiki, for the moments when slowing down matters most.
Explore Coaching and Reiki