Black Vetyver Café (2003)
by Jo Malone

I had been warned off by perfumistas who claim that everything Jo Malone has ever done is underwhelming, but this is one I like and wear semi-regularly.

Its a journey perfume-- starts as coffee and ends as vetiver. A little perfumey for my taste, but sooo interesting that I can't resist jumping on every once in a while for the ride...

I agree with Surreality that the coffee note is very gourmande, but I fine the vetiver to be refreshingly sharp and green, and not so smoky.

The longevity is decent, and though the coffee open fades quickly, on my skin it makes an encore appearance in the dry-down.

The coffee top note in Black Vetyver Cafe is very sweet gourmand note, more like a coffee candy than a fresh brewed espresso. It reminded me of a coffee icing a local bakery used to use on one of their cakes. This coffee note fades in about 30 minutes revealing an earthy vetiver with hints of wood in the background. From here the development is linear.

The longevity of Black Vetyver Cafe is reasonably good; on my skin it lasted about 5 hours before it needed refreshing. The coffee note really projects while it lasts but the vetiver and woody notes stay fairly close to the skin. If you are looking for a vetiver fragrance that is a little different then this might just be for you.

Immediately the black coffee note is eviden,t smooth and creamy with sugar.

Lip smacking good.

Unfortunately ,after a very short time it begns to fade releasing the Vetyver.

It isn,t long lasting,but maybe in cool weather(it,s 90 F. this evening) it would behave
differently.

I’m not sure what I expected, but I didn’t expect it to be this rich. The vetiver is very well done, but the coffee note is wonderful – just like some especially lush freshly roasted freshly ground coffee beans. Oh, yes, I do get a bit of incense in the background, and, I suppose, the sequoia, although I have a difficult time separating the sequoia from the incense; they are both just that – background. What makes the coffee note seem so rich, and what I really love about it is that the coffee is not sweet. I’m tired of coffee notes mixed with sweet, and this one, even though it’s quite different, can sort of take the place of the coffee / fragrance love of my life, Vanille Mohka by CSP. I’m out of Vanille Mohka and I haven’t been able to replace it. It’s just a pure pleasure to have found Black Vetyver Café. Short on longevity, though.

OH MY GOODNESS - YUM! I'm in my 20s and this is just so yum. Think sensual, deep, warm smelling. It reminds me of incense or something woody but not burnt incense.

I am not good with these things but it's so delicious and I imagine would go nicely with the Rose one that is available.

I'm so going to buy this!

I really liked the initial burst of scent here, especially the citrus and coffee notes. Unfortunately, this almost immediately fades to just the vetyver scent, which is NOT my favorite part of any pefume. Also, I NEVER picked up any scent of temple incense of sequoia, which were part of the description that made me want to try this.