Café Vert (1998)
by Il Profumo

Café Vert is a light, soft, laid-back fragrance that has reduced sillage and projection. I get the “green coffee” note, and, while it is a unique and pleasant note, it falls a little short of being more impressive than most green notes… it is “green-coffee” which might as well be defined as a soft green note married to a soft coffee note. The green coffee is noticeable in the opening and then more or less quickly gives way to a citrus / floral heart of grapefruit and jasmine. I also can identify a geranium note but not a rose note in the middle. This heart citrus / floral is as pleasant an accord as the opening. It is clean and embracing as it quietly performs its well-balanced and refined duties. Where the fragrance lets me down is with the white musk with a sweet citrus drydown – it is entirely unexciting and a bit less masculine than I like in the base. In all this is a pleasant fragrance, but its inspiration seems to have been a little forced and its carry-through is lacking. The fragrance as a whole has below average sillage (which is not a problem if that is what you want) and barely adequate longevity, but its clarity and its pure notes could make it an excellent fragrance for someone seeking a pleasingly gentle, effortless fragrance with a tiny bit of pleasant uniqueness. I’m voting a neutral but it could very well be a thumbs up for the right person.

On my skin, this turned into sweet, inoffensive pink grapefruit-jasmine.