Vietnamese Coffee d'Annam 2023

This is pretty darn realistic dark, roasted coffee, no nonsense. D'Annam doesn't fool around. That opening is superb: it smells the same as when I grind roasted coffee beans for my Turkish coffee. Then it evolves into a milky coffee, with...no sugar! What an amazing find in these times dominated by gourmand, sweet tendencies.

This is what I was hoping Kalotinis's Coffee Addict would smell like. But Coffee Addict is diabetic, stale coffee filters sitting in the trash cans behind Dunkin Donuts. Vietnamese coffee also made me realize one important thing about myself: I ADORE the smell of freshly ground coffee beans, but just in the air, not on my skin.

I really wanted to love this fragrance; I was so intrigued by the idea. But the reality of it is that it smells like sour coffee-breathed admonishments and secondhand smoke from your cranky mother when you're wearing too much fruity-floral Ex'cla-ma'tion eau de toilette and several greasy layers of cotton candy Lip Smackers before heading off for your first day of junior high circa 1989. As it dries down, the scent morphs into something eerily reminiscent of days-old espresso shots forgotten and sloshing in the bottom of a pink Caboodles organizer.

A bitter and dark roast take on a coffee scent profile. It’s true to Vietnamese coffee as it’s a coffee that’s typically very strong, bitter, and milky. This opens with a darkly rich and robustly bitter roasted coffee bean smell that quickly ventures into chocolate territory as it develops. The dark chocolate note here captures the true bitterness dark chocolate tends to have, with only hints of sweetness. The condensed milk note here is strong but never ventures too sweet. It’s creamy, lactonic, sweet, but has a sheerness to it as it’s light and airy. The lily of the valley here reads like a clean floral touch and really rounds everything out and keeps it from being too foody or gourmand. The dry down is warmly woody, softly musky, and still authentically dark roast cofffee. Such a beautifully refined take on a coffee scent!

Sebastian "The Perfume Guy" on YouTube raves about this fragrance. As of late, Annam Vietnamese Coffee is probably Sebastian's #1 favorite coffee-centered fragrance. I like Sebastian a lot. I share many of Sebastian's fragrance loves, as he outlines them on his channels. I decided to give Vietnamese Coffee a whirl.

LOVE the opening. The first 30-60 seconds seem promising by offering a unique fragrance twist on the current glutted market of niche coffee-centric fragrances. Perhaps the first burst of notes is coffee and lily-of-the-valley? The opening notes feel green and very raw, earthy to me but not resinous, or dirt-like, or heavy. Just pleasantly vegetal, almost floral.

After the immediate opening, I clearly detect a bit of chocolate over coffee. And this is "cafe-au-lait" kinda coffee. Not black coffee. Not coffee beans. Not espresso shots. This fragrance is milk 'n coffee.

There is definitely a very predominant, creamy, lactonic, milky nuance as the fragrance develops. Dries down as milky coffee with a wee-bit of chocolate and amber.

Nice enough but not outstanding.

Vietnamese coffee is very true to its name. But there’s more: I have never smelt a coffee fragrance more realistic than this. Fragrances like Follow do it pretty well, but nothing will be as photorealistic of a cup of roasted coffee with a splash of milk as much as Vietnamese Coffee is.

Through the entire lifespan of the fragrance you get roasted coffee beans, the condensed milk, and a chocolate undertone that reminds this fragrance of a mocha a LOT, which is so pleasant, relaxing, inviting, and cozy. One of my favorite fragrances of all time, that’s for sure.

9.75/10