Cuir Cafe

Interesting reading the older reviews. I wonder if the fragrance has been updated to bring out the leather scent more. I get smacked hard with leather at the opening, in a good way. Coffee is not as prominent, but there. After ~30 minutes things change, oud & saffron scents appearing increasingly and the leather smooths out to balance with the coffee more. I get a little bit of Supremacy in Oud, but dialed back to soft level. I like it a lot. At the second hour I get more coffee on top of the leather/oud/saffron. Overall, this is well refined and nicely blended. The sillage is an arm length, very wearable, very enjoyable. Long lasting, all-day scent. I think Happyland Homme for the Holidays is a smoother, more coffee focused fragrance. But Cuir Cafe is a wonderful scent (seems there is more leather than coffee) and more appealing to me, especially in the middle and into the dry down. Bottom line: great leather & coffee frag that is full bottle worthy for me.

WOW. This! I never heard of this brand, but it caught my eye on the right hand side of the website- recently reviewed. Leather and coffee are among my fave notes. I blind bought the 50ml. And I HIGHLY recommend if you are reading this-- you should go buy it too. If you love leather and coffee- get this. It's uncomplicated. It's perfect. At first the coffee/expresso is strong- with a bite of brown leather. Then as it dries down, the leather gets darker- more like a black leather jacket (somewhat smoky-oily). The coffee dies down until you find yourself in a house with leather furniture and a pot of coffee that brewed earlier. The drydown seems to add some vanilla/woods making this slightly more "generic" and sweet. I also seem to get tobacco vibes. Sillage and longevity is insane. Get this now. My next $60 of unattended money will be spent on this brand's Signature scent. I'm now a big fan.

Sadly, Fragrantica lists the wrong notes above, and so misses much of the fragrance. Happyland website lists: coffee, leather, apricot, jasmine, musk, & labdanum. Great fragrance. Very wearable leather. On my skin the apricot comes out as much as the coffee in the opening giving it a sweet fruity twist. This makes the leather much less dark than the notes above would make you think. And the jasmine is strong through the mid and dry down even as the coffee is receding. The fruit-leather-jasmine trio gives it a strong resemblance to TF Tuscan Leather. In no way a clone; more like a cousin. To be clear, an equally good cousin at a way cheaper price. I don’t like everything EJ does but this one is niche quality. Well done!

This fragrance is composed in the same manner as Tom Ford's Tuscan Leather is. Several types of leather and suede combined with a dark coffee note. This is a more masculine version of it. I prefer this over Tuscan Leather. The coffee really gives it a new dimension. One of my favorite from the Happyland line. The performance is insane. I get around 10-12 hours from it with room-filling projection for the first 2 hours. This is not a quiet fragrance by any means. Now, I did say the coffee note makes it more masculine on men, but this fragrance can be worn by the ladies as well, just like Tuscan Leather can be. An absolutely beautiful creation. E.J. Wells is a master of making fragrances we have never thought of before.

This is about the least misleading fragrance I've ever smelled. It's exactly what its name says it is and it's fantastic! I can't imagine being unhappy with this if you know what "cuir" and "café" mean. The coffee dominates on me early (2-3h) then the leather starts coming forward for the duration. Performance is quite good in every way. I sampled four or five HL fragrances and this was the immediate purchase for me. A nice bonus with the coffee up front is that it's never too early for it on a nice, cool/cold morning where a boozy or tobacco-heavy scent could be quite off-putting at an early hour. This has a firm place in my cool-weather rotation.

Outstanding. Fresh ground and brewed coffee with a spoonful of sugar and some cream in it. The coffee is loud and proud and strong. Underneath it is a little saffron for the house's DNA and some creamy leather. There is nothing rough about this fragrance. Nothing bitter or sharp. It's sweet and satisfying. On the drydown, it is all about the leather and suede. The coffee has been drunk, now you recline on the sofa and have a cigarette. The leather note is smokey like a cigarette smoke, almost like the cigarette note in ELDO Jasmin et Cigarette.

Best frag from the house. Mass compliments everytime I wear it especially w a leather jacket. A leather jacket on a cool morning meeting is where this bad boy really shines. Absolutely beautifully blended. No animalic accord to my nose. This does not smell like TF TL or Ombre but instead, a beautiful soft leather all its own w rich dark coffee. Simplicity creating a masterpiece.

This stuff is a fantastic blend of coffee and leather. It’s sweet without being too gourmandish, and the leather note makes this lean more masculine IMO. The performance on this is extremely good, lasting 8-10 on clothes and 6-8 on skin. If you’re a fan of coffee or leather, give this a shot—worth every penny.

This is hands down one of the best coffee scents I've had the pleasure of smelling. The coffee note is just outstanding but partnered with the leather, just brings it to another level of sophistication and class. If you don't own it get it. And thank E.J. Wells for the Creation

Good heavens, this is a strong coffee fragrance for sure! Smells very good but I'm not sure I want people to think I work at a coffee shop!

Performance on my skin Longevity 10+ Projection 3+ Sillage about 3-4 feet Fantastic

Happyland Cuir Café, the scent with leather and coffee dominant notes per its name, is true to its name—bold, dark, and slightly biting, it’s perhaps the strongest perfume created that I’ve tried in the leather/coffee vein. The leather isn’t overly funky or animalic, but it’s not perfectly smooth, either. And while the coffee isn’t completely black, it’s not particularly sweet, either, so certainly it makes me think more “black coffee” that “latte” or “cappuccino.” Most of what I get from the other notes is a vaguely sweet and mostly spicy blend, but they included apricot, musk, jasmine, and labdanum. The balance is off ever so slightly to my nose that it’s a “like” not a “love”---a fragrance like Black Velvet Café from 4160 Tuesdays hits the mark for me personally a bit better in terms of the coffee note, though that’s more of a coffee/woody blend. It’s fitting that leather would make for a more biting, animalic experience, and Cuir Café hits that mark. Additionally, the anecdotal evidence is strong—I don’t see any fragrance talked up as much by Happyland fan as Cuir Café. Even with great recent releases, it seems to be the crowd favorite. It inherently leans slightly masculine based on stereotypes but I believe that Cuir Café can work for anyone who enjoys the strong leather and coffee. I’d be remiss not to mention that another fragrance in that catalogue that I regard as similar (but a bit sweeter and nuttier) but preferable to my nose is Homme for the Holidays, so I’d recommend looking into that one as well, but Cuir Café is one that everyone not afraid of a little leather and coffee should try. 7 out of 10

To be honest I was expecting this fragrance to be a little different. I was thinking this was going to be a dark bold fragrance, well it is not. This is probably a plus for most people :-) Cuir Cafe is a combination of coffee and leather (as the name states). The coffee note comes off to me as a cappuccino type smell creamy and slightly sweet, and the leather is a soft suede. There is a subtle brightness to this one, that gives it a lighter softer character. Personally this was not a winner for me it just came off a little too soft or tame for my taste. But it is a very nice fragrance with decent longevity and sillage. I can see this as a winner for most people.

This is gonna sound strange but it's true. Today was my 1st day of sampling this so I gave 2 squirts to both wrists and 2 shots to both inner elbows. My wrists smelled of nothing but saffron for 4 hours with great projection. My inner elbows did not carry the saffron note at all. Just dark coffee and leather as every other reviewer mentions.I have now had it on for 6 hours and all 4 spots are coffee/leather. This is the strangest thing that I have ever noticed in my 20+ years as far as perfumery.

Nice coffee/leather DNA. Think TF Tuscan leather combined with Mancera aoud cafe. The coffee opening is a strong black coffee note. Tames down as the leather note becomes more pronounced. Lasts the full day. Projection is slightly above average. Unisex...but the leather might lean a tad masculine. Overall, one of the best from ‘HappyLand.

Cuir Cafe is French-roast espresso (so dark that you can smell the almost burnt coffee beans) spilled upon a nice leather jacket. It reminds me of Tuscan Leather, but without the sweetness (which is a plus for those of us who shy away from most gourmand fragrances).

You get exactly what it says on the tin with this one (or at least my nose does): leather and coffee. A pungent, raw leather and a pure dark roast black coffee. That's it, no real further explanation needed. Strong projection for 4-5hr, longevity 10-12hr. Do you like leather? Do you like coffee? Cool, because I don't.

I have to agree with "Musings of a Fraghead" below. This is Tuscan Leather with a sweet steamed cream and coffee twist. I love Tuscan Leather, but I love Cuir Cafe MORE. Happyland Studios has several offerings that I love, but Cuir Cafe is my favorite. This is absolutely beautiful and so well blended. I also agree with the comparison to Cognac Cafe from Galleria Parfums, which I also love. Take the leather from Tuscan Leather and the coffee from Cognac Cafe and you have Cuir Cafe. E.J. Wells is some kind of genius mad scientist to bottle this stuff in a small, one man shop. I am blown away by his competence and I am a collector of numerous, much more expensive, niche fragrances to include; Xerjoff, Amouage, Roja, Creed, Initio, Tom Ford, Mancera, Montale, Tiziana Terenzi, etc... I'm not one to be a fanboy; if a fragrance is weak, I'm all too happy to say so. Happyland Studios is a house that punches way above its weight. Not all of his fragrances are amazing but, damn, Tom Ford and the others could learn a thing or two from this one man shop.

This fragrance is pure bliss, very unique and addicting,the coffee complement's the Leather so well, E.J is a master at what he does. Note: if you are not a fan of coffee or leather this may not be a good pick up for you, I suggest sampling first.