Espresso Ash

First off, this is an absolute beast on paper. It's literally pulsing off the test strip. I'm kinda afraid to put it on my skin but here goes. Oh wow, that takes me back. If you're of the age where you remember being in nightclubs and late night coffeehouses when smoking was allowed, this fragrance nails it. The smell of the undefined sweetness permeating the walls from all the syrupy boozy drinks mixed with coffee and an unapologetically huge dose of cigarette ash. I'm literally in the back room of the Casanova Lounge circa 1989, and none of us are up to any good! 😉

Espresso Ash reminded me of when I lived a few doors down from a corner coffee shop, when I had to commute from NJ to Manhattan. They had a small menu of carefully made specialty drinks but I'm a black coffee drinker and their regular house brew was super bitter. The only time I ever had this coffee was grabbing it and then standing outside at my bus stop. Even though the smokiness comes through strongly in this scent it still feels morning coffee to me - not late night coffee and cigarettes. Ducking into cafes for a quick cup or breakfast while traveling in an unfamiliar city and being more grateful for the warmth and chance to reset than caring about the quality of the coffee itself. Not that Espresso Ash smells like bad coffee, just that it evokes to me more the universal idea of "glad I have coffee now."