Black Vetyver Café Jo Malone 2003

Black Vetyver Café is another star of this line although it rarely gets the praises it deserves. It has a somewhat harsh opening, reminds me of hairspray, but this lasts only for very little and is followed by a brief burst of vetiver. Very quickly the coffee notes enters the scene and this is the best coffee note I have come across in a fragrance. This is pure, plain coffee: no cappuccino, no frappuccino, no milk, no cream, no sugar added. Coffee notes very often seem to take a turn to the gourmand ending up smelling like those cheap flavoured coffee blends, a nondescript combination of coffee-chocolate-caramel-hazelnut concoction, straight out of the labs of food flavouring companies. This one however is surprisingly dry, dirty and herbal. It reminds me a lot of Greek/Turkish coffee, which is lightly roasted, preserving the herbal qualities of the bean. Coffee in this form reminds me of a light immortelle note. Throughout the development coffee is supported by the light green vetiver note and perhaps a little citrous, but it always stays the centre of attention. Many of the fans of BVC complain about its longevity. I have a different experience with this. On me it soon develops into a skin scent with incredible longevity. Just as I start forgetting I wear it I get a cloud of the rustic coffee note surrounding me again. I do not get a great deal of notes combining for this. Although Fragrantica lists vanilla in the blend I cannot detect a hint of it or of any other sweet smelling ingredient. I love BVC because it is dry, herbal and rustic and it becomes one with the skin. Sometimes it smells like I have spilled coffee on me and forgot to wash it off, which I find very charming and daring. Fortunately it has the right amount of vetiver to keep others from detecting it as such. I like the quiet storm feel, close to the skin quality, big longevity (at least on my skin) combination. I would have loved an eau de parfum version of this though. One of the best and most original of the line.
Notes from my nose: hairspary, vetiver, coffee, grapefruit, woods

I kept thinking where's my coffee?

It opened with Vetiver and Incense and didn't really evolve to anything else. Just vetiver and incense until it fades. I was really disappointed that I didn't get any coffee. It smells like it would be a great base to something but is un impressive on it's own.

Nov
24
2013

As one who does not subscribe to the Jo Malone "the solution is dilution" aesthetic, I never approach the fragrances of this house with much hope. I really do prefer perfume to cologne and I find it absurd to pay perfume prices for a tiny bottle of weak cologne that would last me maybe a week.

That said, BLACK VETYVER CAFE certainly sounds like an excellent idea to this coffee lover. What I find, however, is that this is not really very black at all--again, a result of dilution. Take a black elixir and add a ton of solvent, and it will be a pale shade of dirty gray. This fragrance does not smell dirty, but it does smell like weak coffee sweetened with sugar and seasoned with vetiver.

Unfortunately, I have yet to acquire a taste for sweet vetiver (I'm also ambivalent toward Hermessence VETIVER TONKA...), so I'm afraid that BLACK VETYVER CAFE will not be the first Jo Malone to grace my collection... I would recommend this fragrance to people who think that Thierry Mugler A*MEN is way too thick and synthetic. This composition, while thin, is also natural smelling.

Krutzefix... once again such a beautiful scent that has unfortunately been discontinued. Somehow the manufacturers really have a "lucky" hand and always take the most beautiful fragrances of the brand off the market. Heaven by Chopard, the rest of the brand... rather a generous "meh", Kiton Napoli, the rest of the brand snooze.. well, Malone still has a few good scents... but maybe none so extraordinary anymore!
I love this dark-spicy coffee scent, a wonderful aroma... dark, bitter, and espresso-savory! The lovely Parfuma from whom I got the decant described it just right, the coffee smells like freshly ground, but not from a packet, rather like in the still warm coffee grinder. The aroma that rises here is sooo beautiful! Less Dallmayr, but more Illy in the Galleria Milano. On top of that, there’s a rather bright and slightly sweet vetiver and a light gentle incense. Grande selezione!!! No sweet instant coffee or overly sweet chai latte like in I Love New York for all or in Intense Cafe. More bitter-sweet with mild smoke. I haven't smelled anything like this combination before.
This is also the first scent that truly deserves the name coffee. A wonderfully aromatic fragrance for autumn and winter. Unfortunately, the scent fades as quickly as an espresso gets cold in the cup; after just 2 hours, only a hint can be sensed... that's a big minus and also a deal-breaker. The sillage is only strong in the first 10 minutes, after that the term "close to the skin" takes on a new dimension, even the extremely airy Musk for Men effortlessly overshadows it.
Ci veddiamo... non piu.. purtroppo!

Very interesting - "Black Vetyver Café" by Jo Malone is one of those fragrances that develops very differently on paper and on the skin (at least for me).

Malone presents this scent as "The aroma of roasting coffee beans. A robust, beautifully bitter coffee note is steeped in the smoky depths of vetiver and temple incense." After a slightly silvery-peppery opening note where coriander and incense from the heart and base already announce themselves, with a very slight citrus overtone, I get this dark, roasted, smoky coffee note on my skin after about a minute. This intensifies and rounds out with the support of vetiver - the less I apply, the darker and blacker the hint of smoky coffee, the more I apply, the more silvery the coriander becomes. On paper, however, there is hardly a hint of coffee from beginning to end, but a strong vetiver. In this composition, several molecules are obviously working in conjunction with the skin chemistry to bring out this defining and titular coffee note, which holds potential for quite different reactions depending on the wearer. So definitely test it multiple times on your own skin!

The further development is quite linear; one could also say: not much happens anymore... Unfortunately, with the exception that later the scent always becomes slightly sour on my skin, a rather unpleasant transformation that can occasionally be observed. Incense at this point is rather weak, as is a slightly herbal, green-mossy, woody vetiver, a rather dull base beneath the still present coffee. Unfortunately, this is not wearable for me. On paper, the silvery-spicy coriander-pepper note lasts much longer into the drydown, a spicy green vetiver scent, but for me, without coffee...

Therefore, definitely a recommendation, and please test on the skin!