De Toma à Zouma

De Toma a Zouma is my first try from the recently-purchased sample set from the new Motif Olfactif line launched by perfumer/owner Oswald Pare, YouTube’s Mr. Oz. Inspired by Oswald’s childhood memories, De Toma a Zouma features coffee heavily but with support from cardamom, cocoa, vanilla, tonka, benzoin, nutmeg, and cedar. It’s coffee-dominant but with a very healthy helping of cardamom. The opening for me has an almost super-spicy, licorice-like sharpness to it, but this quickly fades away and gives way to the coffee, first and foremost, and the cardamom, as a supporting piece, with some of the creamy, sweetening elements in the background. De Toma a Zouma has an excellent balance in the dry down to the point that I can enjoy the coffee and cardamom clearly but neither is overwhelming and the sweetness is still detectable, a really harmonious mix. It’s just vanilla and benzoin; the accents of tonka and nutmeg are impressive in restraining the overall blend from leaning too creamy. Kerosene Follow might be my very favorite coffee-dominant fragrance, and it’s largely what I recommend to fans of coffee in fragrance (like me), because the coffee aspect of it is big and dark, though Follow similarly incorporates a lot of amber and vanilla to sweeten the pot. So Follow incorporates both extremes in balance. By contrast, De Toma a Zouma doesn’t seem to be extreme in any sense, but has a restrained balance that makes it a bit subtler, albeit still rich and fairly dense. Additionally, I’d be remiss not to note that while I’m sure there are scores of spicy coffee fragrances, some no doubt inspired by beverages of that ilk (i.e. with cardamom it’s cinnamon), perhaps more popular elsewhere in the rest of the world than the US, De Toma a Zouma does remind me of one in particular that I smelled and purchased relatively recently, Café Noir by DSH Perfumes, featuring cinnamon rather than cardamom. There are some differences, though, but both are enjoyable, coffee-dominant fragrances that are both sweet and spicy, so I’d certainly recommend looking into the other if you’ve tried one or generally like the sound of one. De Toma a Zouma may not be a cup of coffee that I’d drink, but I enjoy it is both a near wholly-gourmand and environmental experience. I enjoy its smell in the way that I enjoy the smell of coffee, even if it’s not specifically a cup of coffee that I’d drink. It does not project loudly beyond a couple of hours but has a strong aroma near the skin that has not faded at all, which is generally what I’m looking for, anyway. In EDP concentration, De Toma a Zouma is priced at $130 for 50ml bottle and is surely now on my list to buy. The ingredients feel high-quality and I’m looking forward to having this in my collection someday. It’s definitely among the best coffee scents I’ve ever tried and is a neat blend overall. I look forward to trying the rest of my sample pack, too. 8 out of 10

Comforting, inviting, cabin getaway... these are what come to mind smelling this fragrance. Starts off slightly bitter note of coffee with a hazulnut vibe. Spices soon to follow. Not a drinker of coffee nor really a coffee fragrance fan, but this is the best coffee fragrance for me. The star of the show here is a spicy, slightly sweet, resinous woody accord that is wonderful. Some undertones of bitter chocolate and coffee remain into the heart and the sweetness comes from vanilla and benzoin. Very well made fragrance and I would classify as unisex. Would smell good on anyone. A theme I've noticed with this house and perfumer is he has very balanced and smooth transitioning fragrances. I could see this being his best seller. I highly recommend getting your nose on it. The first time I wore it once the coffee faded it reminded me of coco blanc from house of matriarch, which is a very expensive natural fragrance. But that was only the drydowns, and even then side by side they are different fragrances and would not be redundant to own both. I really don't feel you'd be sacrificing any quality here either it feels very natural. A fantastic job 9/10. Edit: After owning this for a while I must come back to say I have moved it into my top 5 fragrances all time, which i find astonishing for a fragrance with coffee in it. Lasts for days on clothes. The smell literally makes me smile. A masterpiece, perfect 10/10

One of my favorites of 2019 is the utterly fantastic De Toma à Zouma from Motif Olfactif by Oswald Pare. Without a doubt, one of the best coffee fragrances I have ever smelled. It also doesn’t smell like any other coffee fragrance I have tried. It’s more exotic, VERY spicy with lots of cardamom and other spices like nutmeg. There is vanilla, tonka bean and cocoa but it’s not overly sweet, for me it’s just the right amount of sweetness. There is benzoin and cedar that keeps it from going full on gourmand, but the gourmand aspects are quite authentic. De Toma à Zouma has a very natural feel to it which isn’t surprising as it’s made with about 60% naturals. It’s funny because I’m not usually into coffee scents or very spicy scents for that matter but for whatever reason this one works for me. It has this very slight touch of yuzu that keeps it from feeling too heavy. It is sort of an uplifting and exciting scent. I really can’t stop sniffing it and lucky for me I get huge scent wafts for hours. Even on my more anosmic days when I have trouble smelling some things I can still smell this one loud and clear. But not because it’s “loud” or anything, it’s just very solid and prominent. If you love coffee, if you love spicy scents and for goodness sake if you love cardamom you need to put this on your must try list.

Opens with such a lovely, natural cardamom, nutmeg and cacao scent, a bit spicy, chocolatey, a little powdery, as if nibs and pods were being ground and shaved right in front of you. A deep woodiness soon comes to the fore to support, cedar I can tell, it’s robust, slightly smoky nature melding beautifully with the spices. Benzoin, vanilla and tonka work to lighten the affair, providing an abundance of delicious balsamic and lactonic facets. I actually find that the coffee also acts as support rather than in a dominant role, giving just the slightest mocha connotations, which to me is just perfect. All in all, despite being quite linear I can’t help but adore this scent, a warm, woody, cozy gourmand, executed just about as Mr. Paré intended. I find it’s just about the best combination of cardamom and cacao that I’ve come across yet. Sillage moderate, longevity high, priced comparatively to similar niche. I consider it a great deal especially during their occasional sale. Bravo, good sir!

This one is now my actual favorite coffee based scent and also my second favorite from the Eccentric collection by Motif Olfactif since it really reproduced in my mind the aridity of the savannah of West Africa with its ocher sand of laterite that I knew myself in my childhood and I was really transported by the notes of coffee, cardamom, nutmeg and vanilla. Surprisingly I get a note very similar to the smell of rattan armchairs that are made in my hometown Senegal and it also reminded me of our famous and national “Café Touba” which is a mix of coffee, selim pepper, cloves and sometimes cardamom. I never smelled a fragrance similar to this one and it really reminded me of Africa, of its warmth, it’s light and it’s maternal enveloping vibration.🧡 Thumbs up for this masterpiece!🙏🏽❤️

Purchased the debut discovery set of samples which had all scents except for Vetu de Vert & Huaka'i. Given that these are sample vials, no comment will be made on sillage or projection. De Toma à Zouma My least favourite of the sample set. And that's only because this scent profile is not my preference. Compared to the other scents in the line-up, my nose perceives most notes in this one quite clearly. To me, there are two distinct stages in this scent: (1) the opening 30 minutes or so which is a very realistic blast of bitter ground coffee & cacao powder, supported by some spices in the background (i.e. cardamom & nutmeg). (2) after 30min or so, the bitter ground coffee & cacao powder recedes in the background to allow the mix of vanilla+tonka bean+benzoin to step forward which creates a milky and naturally, softly sweet quality to this scent. That's pretty much it - if you want to smell like ground coffee+cacao powder, this is your scent. This scent stays in its lane and it executes very well. I remember watching a YouTube reviewer say that this is like a niche/artisanal version of one of the AMEN flankers, Pure Tonka or something. I can see that being the case - this can definitely be considered a FULLY natural smelling version of one of the A*MEN flankers. These scents are artisanal in nature - they don't smell close to anything a designer house or a well-known niche house would put out. In other words, they smell very natural, even raw at times. With that comes a lot of character which is worth exploring as you can sense that the self-taught perfumer (much respect to Mr. OZ!) has a signature feel to all of his scents. That also means you can't blind buy these - you must sample them first. Main highlight for me = my scent preferences don't include smelling like ground coffee/cacao powder BUT if this is included in your preferences, you won't be disappointed here. Just sample it first. On a rating scale of: Dislike Neutral Like Love De Toma à Zouma = Neutral YT Channel - The Scentrovert