Midnight at the Crossroads Café Neil Morris Fragrances 2016

Once again, I had a long shift behind me and had delivered the last load late. Continuing my journey was out of the question. So I looked for a diner here in Marshall, Illinois, one of those places where you can still get a decent cup of coffee and a warm meal late at night. My trucker friend Neil recommended this cozy little diner called Crossroads Café. The facade was wooden, already a bit dark, the roof green, and the house specialty was a hamburger with fries.

The other house specialty was supposed to be the homemade coffee. As soon as I entered the place, a dark, saturated coffee aroma wafted towards me. This was complemented by a group of tea drinkers in the corner, engrossed in their board game. It wasn’t mint tea, I thought to myself, as the spices in the air practically exploded. I sensed the balsamic-spicy element of cardamom; perhaps they were chai teas.

A man in a greasy leather jacket hurried past me, obviously a smoker. I barely noticed this in the draft he caused. However, what had settled on him was the olfactory mélange of this café. In the pores of the leather, the smell was dirtier, not animalistic but more pronounced. This made me recoil because although I found it all pleasant, the presented scent collage overwhelmed me and would not change until the end of my meal. I paid and went to my truck to lie down. Neil's recommendation was solid but left me puzzled until a light bulb went off. The nice waitress named Darlene shares the same last name as Neil; now it was clear to me.

Midnight at Crossroads Café: the coffee is indeed defining, made lush and golden by the amber, clearly perceptible and intense. This is not coffee for everyone; it is not sweet like Follow by Kerosene, nor is it straightforward like Café V by OOA, but rather broader in scope and vying for attention. Here and there, the scent reminds me of Antaeus, though it does not reach that level of class. The patchouli grounds the scent, adding a kind of chocolatey aroma. Gradually, it becomes darker, and the leather merges with a now established coffee aroma. To illustrate this olfactorily, I want to evoke the impression of a well-filled coffee house, where warmth and intense coffee, as well as old coffee, are perceptible at the same time. Additionally, there is a fundamental spice that is rather Asian in tone; the tea could be a Yogi tea, making me think of India.

Very excitingly composed but somehow not consistently put together. At times, the scent smells like fragments of a larger whole, but unfortunately, it does not fully come together. So this is a nice exercise and pleasant, but also not breathtaking despite my high rating. Honestly, I find it increasingly appealing, but I wouldn’t buy this scent. I prefer to stick with Café V by OOA when it comes to coffee. The scent by Neil Morris is the ultimate question for me when it comes to coffee fragrances. Unfortunately, I cannot align myself with Crossroads.