Ristretto Intense Café

Montale Ristretto Intense Cafe EDP opens with a strong projection of sweet, coffee, and rose notes. The opening is delectable, elegant, very sweet, gourmand, bright, intense, and very pleasant. The coffee, roses, caramel, and vanilla are the opening most noticeable notes. The coffee note in this fragrance is evocative of Arabica, medium roast coffee, intense, projecting, and refined. The rose is a feminine, mild, and floral accord. The vanilla and caramel are noticeable, sweet, gourmand. The woodsy notes, white musk, and amber are part of the support notes. The amber adds a sweet resinous touch, and the white musk comes across as a projecting, slightly powdery touch. The woody notes are a faint touch in the background. The fragrance is linear, all featured notes come up as soon as the fragrance is applied and continue into the dry down. Once Montale Ristretto Intense Cafe EDP has reached its full dry down, it can be summarized as a strong projection, very sweet, coffee, vanilla, caramel, roses, and woody fragrance with ambery and white must accords. The fragrance feels comforting, cozy, delicious, elegant, exotic, floral, gourmand, inviting, nicely blended, natural, playful, rich, sugary, sweet, unisex, and very pleasant. BATCH REVIEWED: 2020. WOW RATING: 10/10. The intense, sweet, coffee and rose notes are impressive. DISLIKE RATING: 2/10. The coffee, roses, caramel, and vanilla are very prominent. UNIQUENESS: 8/10. The coffee note is intense, well-blended, a unique fragrance. MASS APPEAL: 7/10. This delectable coffee fragrance is pleasing. PROJECTION: 6/10. Very good, about 6 feet around the wearer. SILLAGE: 8/10. Impressive, about 8 feet behind the wearer. APPLICATION: 4 atomizations. LONGEVITY: 8/10. Impressive, about 8 hours, it projects well for about 4 hours. SEASONS: Winter, spring, summer, fall, colder days, daytime, nighttime, and climate-controlled environments. OCCASIONS: Formal events, outdoor gatherings, office, casual, holidays, vacations, romantic, dating, clubbing. This is an office-friendly fragrance. VERSATILITY: 7/10. A great fragrance for casual or formal wear, mild or cold weather. GENDER: Unisex. The coffee note is prominent, the roses create a slight tilt to the feminine side, yet the fragrance presents itself as unisex. AGES: 25 and above. RECOMMENDATION: Montale Ristretto Intense Cafe EDP can be purchased for about $200. It is a fantastic fragrance with great performance, however, the similarities with Montale Intense Cafe are significant although not the cost. Not recommended. BLIND-BUY: Yes, but only if you are familiar with its main notes. SIMILAR: These are examples of fragrances in the same genre. Grand Parfums Angel Men is a good clone, sweet, fruity/orange soda-like, and blond coffee fragrance; Hugo Boss The Scent Private Accord EDP is a good, unique, short-lived, sweet vanilla, Maninka, coffee, and cacao fragrance; Jesus del Pozo Halloween Man X EDT Men is a good sweet tonka, boozy whiskey, coffee, and spicy cinnamon fragrance; Kilian Black Phantom EDP is a fantastic, intense, delicious coffee, boozy rum, sweet caramel, and dark chocolate fragrance; Kilian Intoxicated EDP is OK, a mild, very sweet, coffee, cardamom, cinnamon, and nutmeg fragrance; Mancera Aoud Cafe EDP is a good, mild, sweet, coffee, woody, and ambery fragrance; Michael Jordan Legend Cologne Men is a good, affordable, sweet, coffee, and leather fragrance; Montale Starry Nights EDP is a fantastic, intense, sweet, rose, sour, apple, green, patchouli, bergamot, white musk, and resinous fragrance; Ralph Laurent Polo Red Extreme is a slightly sweet, dark, and slightly smoky wood, and coffee fragrance; Ralph Laurent Polo Red Intense is a very sweet, cranberry, ginger, amber, coffee, woody, and leathery fragrance; Rochas Man EDT is mild, delicious, sweet, coffee, vanilla, and resinous fragrance; Salvatore Ferragamo Uomo EDT Men is a good, tonka and tiramisu fragrance; Salvatore Ferragamo Uomo Signature EDP Men is a good, sweet, leather, coffee, and tonka fragrance; Thierry Mugler A*Men EDT is a good, sweet, fruity soda-like, and blond coffee fragrance; Thierry Mugler A*Men Kryptomint is a great, spicy, minty, green, patchouli, and sweet fragrance; Thierry Mugler A*Men Pure Tonka is a great, intense, sweet, tonka, coffee, and cacao fragrance; Montale Intense Cafe is a very good, sweet, coffee, vanilla, and roses fragrance; Montale Ristretto Intense Cafe EDP is a great, intense, very sweet, coffee, vanilla, caramel, roses, and woody fragrance. SUMMARY: A strong projection, very sweet, coffee, vanilla, caramel, roses, and woody fragrance with ambery and white must accords. The fragrance feels comforting, cozy, delicious, elegant, exotic, floral, gourmand, inviting, nicely blended, natural, playful, rich, sugary, sweet, unisex, and very pleasant.

A guys perspective... This scent for me is being viewed from the window of having already tested the original Montale Intense Cafe. I think a lot of guys struggle with certain aspects of the original IC, especially the top and earlier parts of the dry down. They do present as being quite a feminine leaning mix of floral and gourmand. I know for myself there’s a big portion of the opening and earlier parts of the dry down that while without hesitation I absolutely love and appreciate, I’d much rather be smelling on a woman than myself. That said, as the original IC dries down, some of the more feminine aspects tend to ease off as the notes merge and the scent becomes more melded and unisex. The point at which the feminine aspects disintegrate enough to be wearable for a guy will be different for every guy though. That’s based on all number of matters such as skin responses, personal affections and preferences for gourmands, florals, etc, etc. All those things impact wearability of the Original Intense Cafe for a guy. One of Ristretto’s purposes I believe is to not just create a more coffee centric version of Intense Cafe, but one that’s also more accessible for guys. It’s certainly a well presented option for a guy that’s comfortable with a floral gourmand. The increased coffee creates a scent that’s darkened by intensified coffee - during which that darkening also absorbs more of the floral aspects. Coupled with that the reduction of vanilla in the base (a part of what creates the more overt gourmand aspects of the original IC) does cause Ristretto overall to become more accessible for a guy - in theory that is. There is an issue with Ristretto however. By making those darkening changes, Ristretto loses a lot of the dynamic evolution that the original IC has. Part of the pure joy of the original is the way it so radically evolves from a somewhat lighter floral gourmand to a rich jammy darker floral gourmand during which the olfactive gourmand experience is highly evocative and extremely pleasurable. Ristretto on the other hand loses an aspect of that evolution by starting already somewhat darker, then evolving to even darker, during which some of that more opulent gourmand experience IC has is lost in Ristretto. So what we are left with is one scent at the lighter more opulent end of the coffee spectrum (Intense Cafe) and another that’s at the darker more intense end of the coffee spectrum (Ristretto). So in effect a lighter roast and a darker roast. What IS missing though is a MID roast, which in coffee terms is a HUGE part of the market. I know for myself when making espresso coffee at home, I’ve always had the very best results by mixing a rich chocolatey dark roast bean with an opulent full flavoured lighter roast bean. The combination of the two is a divine, blissful full flavoured taste experience. I can’t help but wonder how that would translate by layering Ristretto along side Intense Cafe. Food for thought!

I used to have the hardest time with the Intense Café DNA but now I'm hooked. If you're interested in trying this, you've probably been disappointed by the lack of coffee in the OG Intense Café, like I was at first. Yes, Ristretto has more coffee but don't set your expectations too high because coffee is definitely not the main character. It still is rose. I now love rose more than I used to a couple of years ago but I think one really has to love rose to like the OG or the Ristretto. Ristretto opens up with a blast of dry and bitter coffee beans mixed with an opulent rose in the first couple of minutes. After the opening phase, the already very potent rose gains in intensity but contrarily to the OG, coffee is perceptible in the background. It stays quite dry and bitter and not only this helps taming the sugariness of the rose in this perfume, but it also gives it a very interesting and slightly dark facet. I find it quite unusual. You could spot this perfume from miles away and recognize it instantly. Speaking of spotting the perfume from miles away--- yes, longevity is eternal and sillage is massive. But it's a Montale, what did you expect ;)? For the love of everything that's holy, do nooooooot overspray! You will kill everyone and everything breathing in your surroundings, including yourself. That being said, Ristretto feels smoother, slightly less in-your-face and less sweet than the OG. It feels like less of a nuclear bomb, which I find great. The dry down is a delicious vanilla pod tinted with caramel, very soft and contrasting with the previous stages of the perfume. It gets more sensual and inviting. Ristretto is always evolving, you can't get bored with this. However, I wish it had the super creamy vanillic of the OG and that is just to die for. It would have been so perfect and I wouldn't feel the need to have both in my collection haha. Lastly, if you're wondering which one is the most beautiful rose-coffee perfume including Delox, I definitely feel like Delox wins the match. You can't deny how smooth and refined the latter is. It's the Intense Café DNA without Montale synthetic DNA (not that I mind it, I really like Montale). But on paper, I didn't end with the creamy vanilla accord I get with Intense Café. Still the dry down is very sweet and beautiful. If you only want to own one and care more about the overall feeling vs subtle differences, get Delox. If you want a tad more coffee, get Ristretto Intense. If you want more rose and a creamy vanilla, get the OG Intense Café.

I'd have to admit, I was super surprised when I smelled the original Intense Cafe EDP. I had ordered a bundle of 3 samples. They all had that "Montale" synthetic accord to them, but I remembered Intense Cafe smelling like a creamy version of Roses Musk. It was literally creamy, semisweet, dense red roses. Ristretto Intense Cafe Extrait is nearly identical, but there is a burst of fresh dark coffee beans in the beginning. I mean it literally smells like coffee beans - NOT a perfume version, not a "note" or "accord" - straight COFFEE BEANS. This primarily lasts for the first 20mins or so and then it drifts off into the background while the creamy red roses begin to take over. Apart from the opening, I'm not sure if this comes off as a gourmand. The original certainly didn't. You must like the original to like this one, as the whiffs you get become identical into the mid. You could, perhaps, notice the smallest subtleties if you test them side by side. I honestly do not experience the wood, musk, and amber until it becomes a skin scent (1 year later, lol). For example, after I shower and there is the slightest hint of the fragrance left - that's when those notes appear to my nose. I honestly don't get the caramel at any point - perhaps it adds to the creamy dense texture. I am definitely keeping this in my collection, as I've always wanted at least one Montale fragrance. Most of the fragrances I've wanted to try from the house are rarely on display or even available in stand alone samples - they have way too many, haha. All in all, I wouldn't say this scent is for everyone because Montale is not for everyone. It's barely for me, haha. They all have such a strong profile that is signature to the house and it makes the experience with their fragrances not as fun. Sure, there are houses that have a signature essence, but each of the fragrances stand alone and don't remind me of the other ones. I'd like to get my hands on something like Vanilla Cake since it is such an edible profile... see how that synthetic accord works with it.

So I've been testing both Ristretto Intense Café and Intense Cafe today. Had each one on my wrists to compare them well. Carefully checking how the notes develop. And I can definitely say now, those two fragrances are nothing alike. For the first two hours at least. ;) First of all if I didn't know what I'd been testing, I wouldn't even say I'm dealing here with some coffee fragrance after the initial spray of Intense Cafe. No wonder people complained about lack of coffee there. Intense Cafe does smell Montale, yes, all the characteristic Montale vibes're present there, but no coffee though. It's more about rose and vanilla. Pretty nice, I'll give you that, but for someone looking for coffee?... pretty disappointing as well. Now, Ristretto Intense Café from the first spray smells like you were having your face hanging over the cup of delicious, sweet coffee, still steaming, hands on the hot cup, and looking through the window at snow slowly falling down on the evening street. That cozy image came to me immediately once I smelled my wrist. As the most prominent notes of the head are coffee itself, together with vanilla and caramel. After about half an hour rose starts to appear. But more gently than in her older sister's pyramid. As for coffee, it stays, but somewhat less sweet than at the beginning. This is the moment when woodsy notes are coming out too. Amber and musk? I can't detect them. Not during the first two hours anyway. Then comes the drydown. And in those last notes these two fragrances have the most in common. Montale famous musk, rose and just a hint of coffee in both. I must admit, I'm a litlle disappointed that coffee, so strong and marvellous at the beginning, dissolves so at the end. Having said that, I still might be thinking of buying at least a smaller bottle of Ristretto, that's how absolutely mesmerizing first two hours with it are. Winter is coming after all, and everybody deserves good, hot coffee. :)