Madras Cardamom

Wonderful stuff: thick, soupy, dark, deliciously rich, extremely strong Turkish/Arabic/Greek* coffee (*delete as appropriate to your background and politics), slurped from a tiny cup and savoured to the last drop. Absolutely loaded with a pin-sharp and true-to-life version of the cardamom pods & seeds, so if you are at all ambivalent about the spice then leave this one well alone. The wood notes are deep, chocolatey, not sweet but certainly gentle, not any kind of weird-medicinal-mothball wilder shore of oud, just a reassuringly solid, warm backdrop to the tang of the spice. True unisex if this dark, redolent, very punchy aroma makes you feel good. Sillage is discreet; longevity not astonishing, but very very robust (robusta?) throughout and still smellable up to 6-7h in, so it really can just about manage to do a full day's work. I am often unenthusiastic about coffee in fragrance (even though I'm fanatic for the liquid - thousands of good flat whites run through my veins) so was honestly surprised to like this as much as I do. Wanna go for coffee with me? If you promise to wear this, any date should go well. You'll smell fabulous.

A very refined concoction of cardamom, cedar, vetiver, and coffee. As a person that cannot withstand heavily oversaturated cardamom fragrances, I can't help but appreciate the allure and complexity of Zegna's cardamom themed creation. In short, this seems to be Zegna's answer to Oud Wood, but instead Madras Cardamom is predominantly a dry cedar and coffee fragrance, with vetiver as a supporting role (and of course a huge emphasize on cardamom). The cardamom, however, is a different take and unlike any other I've smelled before. The cardamom here is very fresh, unripe, bitter and herbaceous. Very realistic as if the cardamom pods were freshly plucked from the plants themselves and wrapped in haitian vetiver, covered in planks of cedar. The coffee provides an obfuscation element of smoke, that really gives the impression of incense. The vanilla acts mostly as a supporting layer, and aids in rounding off the base. The scent comes off as classy, reserved and stylish, as expected from the house of Zegna. Discontinued now, and I'm sure the rest of the Essenze line will soon follow suit.

Madras Cardamom is a fragrance that I really liked, it has phases with the aroma of coffee, citrus, woods and spices. At the start you can feel fresh notes of citrus, cardamom and a roasted coffee aroma, the aroma is delicious in these first minutes. Afterwards, the citrus and coffee fade, but the cardamom remains and woody notes gain presence, such as vetiver and ambroxan, and also some notes between balsamic and minty. This last phase is also very pleasant. The fragrance is woody but fresh, in the Terre de Hermes style without resembling at all in aroma, rather in the elegant and semi-formal type, with a slightly mature style. It is a fragrance for use all year round. It lasted more than 10 hours, but it is not a fragrance that projects much.

It’s like arabian coffee that spiced " flavored" by cardamom but much denser near to turkish coffee style sweetened by vanille,enjoyable cosy and rounded by warmth, you can enjoy the experience more when you are in cool autmospher drinking your fave coffee and the smoke of the oud filling the air. a scent for relax and a peace of mind IMO if this scent contained oud and hint of saffron with leather and rose by same ingredients quality could be one of the best oriantal perfumes "."

This reminds me of an ice cream I used to get. The fragrance is a cardamom lover's dream. I get a natural coffee note that is supported by a soft fresh vanilla and vetiver. Madras Cardamom is best suited for cool environments and weather. Don't expect a beast, but it does have a decent scent bubble for hours. Quite unique and doesn't really remind me of many other fragrances. One of kind.