Decorative Azulejo Tile — Lemon & Manjerico

A decorative tile from Essências de Portugal's Azulejos de Portugal collection, in the Lemon & Manjerico fragrance pairing — a nod to the coloured tiles of Lisbon and the smell of basil in the streets during the June festivals. Use it as a coaster, as a base for a candle or a reed diffuser, or simply on a shelf.

The producer's own copy for this is in Portuguese; what follows is our own English description, with the collection name kept as it is.

Azulejo

The word is not Portuguese for "blue tile", which is what almost everyone assumes. It comes from the Arabic az-zulayj, meaning polished stone, and it arrived with the Hispano-Moresque tiles that Manuel I saw in Seville in 1503 and brought home.

The blue-and-white that most people picture came much later, in the seventeenth century, under the influence of imported Dutch Delft — and Delft was itself imitating Chinese porcelain. So the most Portuguese thing in Portugal is a Moorish technique in a Dutch palette copying a Chinese original. Lisbon then took it further than anyone: after the 1755 earthquake, tile went onto the outside of ordinary buildings, not just churches and palaces, because it was cheap, waterproof and it kept the interiors cool. That is why whole streets are tiled there and almost nowhere else in Europe.

Manjerico — and how you are supposed to smell it

Manjerico is the small-leaved Portuguese basil, Ocimum minimum, grown in a pot as a dense green ball. In June it is everywhere: given as a gift on Santo António in Lisbon on 13 June and around São João in Porto on the 24th, always with a paper carnation stuck in it and a folded quadra — a four-line verse, usually cheerfully bad, often a little rude.

Here is the part visitors get wrong. You do not put your nose in it. Tradition and the plant agree: you brush your palm gently across the leaves and then smell your hand. Sniffing directly bruises the plant and, according to custom, brings bad luck to whoever gave it to you. Anyone in Porto will tell you the same thing, usually while taking the pot out of your hands.

What to do with the tile

A coaster for a glass or a cup. A base under a reed diffuser, which is the sensible use — diffuser oil marks wood badly, and a glazed tile catches it. A stand for a candle in a jar, which also protects the surface from heat. Or simply propped on a shelf.