Aoud Café Mancera 2013

I now perceive coffee scents among gourmands as the almost coziest fragrances. I personally own only a decant of Mancera Aoud Cafe. A coffee scent that I truly appreciate and also own is Montale Ristretto Intense Cafe, for which I have already written a comment. I referred to Ristretto Intense Cafe as a "top note blender," because the top note, with its strong roasted coffee aromas, is really wonderful but dissipates after a short time into a much too sweet vanilla-sugar-honey mixture with a hint of cappuccino. My conclusion was that Ristretto does not live up to what the name promises.

With Mancera Aoud Cafe, I naturally had hopes that it would be a perfume that delivers the coffee notes significantly more persistently. Upon the first spray, it immediately becomes clear that it is primarily about coffee. To me, it smells as if a coffee machine is just freshly roasting the beans and processing them into a (not too strong) black coffee. Those who love coffee will surely enjoy the opening. It is said in the top notes that one encounters bergamot, peach, and blackcurrant. However, my nose cannot perceive any of these three components. Instead, I smell a plum that might be soaked in a bit of rum, along with a hint of fig. The slight fruity sweetness harmonizes beautifully in the background of the top note but is by no means dominant. Coffee comes to the forefront more strongly in the next few minutes, along with woody nuances, creating the impression that Mancera presents the coffee notes significantly more pronounced and longer than Montale Ristretto. Personally, I quite like that. I cannot perceive much Oud, at least it is not an "aggressive" stinky Oud, but rather very soft woods.

After about 45 minutes, however, disillusionment begins to set in. The so-called "gourmand notes" from the base start to break through. To my nose, these gourmand notes are an alternating combination of vanilla, roasted nuts (perhaps walnut), and - unfortunately again - too much sugar. It feels as if Montale and Mancera have both started a co-production and copied from each other. Once again, this honey note breaks through for a few minutes, completely sweetening the coffee and almost entirely overshadowing it. This remains the case for the rest of the fragrance's development. What a shame. While I cannot classify Aoud Cafe as a "top note blender," as at least coffee is perceptible throughout, it is relatively weak in the base note.

The longevity on my skin is quite decent at around 8 hours, with the sillage not being too strong. I can well imagine Aoud Cafe as a date fragrance. Compared to Ristretto Intense Cafe, I prefer Mancera Aoud Cafe, though not by much. If Mancera had made these "gourmand notes" less pronounced and simply darkened the base note, I would likely find it really good. Mancera could have taken a different path here and brought a significantly more original coffee scent to the market. However, since Aoud Cafe is somewhat too similar to Ristretto in certain aspects, they are somewhat interchangeable. So, my search for an even better coffee scent continues. Therefore, I cannot give a purchase recommendation and would first suggest trying a decant. Small samples can be ordered on the Mancera website.