Espresso Aoud

Now we are talking! Through a mix of hits and misses over the past year, Espresso Aoud has presented itself as a frontrunner from the brand over the last handful of releases. Have I found my favorite coffee fragrance? Espresso Aoud opens up with the most realistic-smelling coffee note I’ve smelled in a long time. Imagine putting your nose up to a cup of espresso. The first blast is dark, roasted, and slightly bitter coffee with a hint of milky, creamy sweetness. This is far from a gourmand scent and has some dark, gothic qualities with different nuances throughout the scent’s journey. As Espresso Aoud develops, a green nuttiness comes through, presumably from the pistachio. Right behind that, a sensual note that we’ve come to love from the Aoud line peaks its head through. Like in Amber Aoud, a jammy, dark rose pushes through, adding extreme sensuality. Don’t worry, that dark roasted coffee note is still lingering around. Gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! Through the life of the scent, the coffee remains dark, but it only gets darker into the base. The coffee, light milky sweetness, and the jammy rose still stick around, but at this point, the scent starts to lean masculine. The base is mostly dry and woody, with a little smokiness from leather coming through. I love the mysteriousness and the change Espresso goes through. So, is this the best coffee fragrance I’ve smelled? It’s up there. When it comes to a true coffee-centered fragrance, other brands should use Espresso Aoud as a baseline. Dark, mysterious, sensual, and roasted coffee to the max.

First impressions: This one is actually complex! The opening is literally like sticking your face into a cup of espresso. The opening has a HUGE blast of roasted coffee that’s slightly bitter and powdery. Surprisingly, there’s actually very little sweetness off my skin. You get a very light milky creaminess that has a natural lactonic, vanillic sweetness on its own, but is not gourmand by any means. The dry down stays true to the roasted coffee scent with some warm nutty qualities. While this all sounds pleasing, this does have complexities to fit into the Aoud line. The woods are dry with some slightly smokey nuances coming through from other notes. Off first impression, this is very unique, mysterious, and not entirely what I thought it would be. I expected more lactonic sweetness, going into gourmand territory. However, you get a bitter roasted coffee all the way through with the later dry-down having similar woody and slightly smokey qualities like in Frederic Malle Promise’s dry down, off my skin. Not the same by any means but does have those similarities. For me, this is a winner. This has the complexities we look for in a true Roja creation.

I'm so over the Roja bashing, all because of sound bites that it is overpriced. The quality and blending are supreme and just not comparable to many others. Many brands are using synthetic or non-natural ingredients. Even in perfume, you get what you pay for. With Roja, you are getting high quality, artisan level blending.....and wait for it.......pure parfums (with a few exceptions) vs an EDP or EDT. It's okay to not like a fragrance, if you truly tested it. It's also okay to say it is too expensive for your taste, if you tested the actual product. Just give us real feedback and some respect for the artistry...not just bashing cost and Roja for sport. Please also own the bottle, or get at least a 5ml or 10ml sample to properly sample and give us real feedback. You are doing us all a disservice with junk commentary, when we all are looking for real and unbiased information to help us make purchase decisions on a platform and community we want to trust.

This is not an espresso nor a latte, this is a macchiato, and probably one of the best perfume version you can find. It opens with a hyper-realistic, mind-awakening and fully caffeinated dark-roasted coffee. Then slowly comes the creamy, warm, full fat milk to round out the edges. Being a macchiato, the milk is restrained rather than heavy-handed. Unmistakably present is the buttery scent of lightly caramelised roasted nuts, adding depth and dimension. This all comes enveloped in a generous woody base. Not pencil shavings or wet twigs or logs but dry, robust and dark wood. The oud is clean and substantial, giving a rich body to the whole composition. To put an image to the scent, imagine you are in an artisanal roastery with heavy wooden hand-crafted furniture. You are sipping a cup of warm and soothing macchiato by the fireplace. The best thing? This experience lasts for a long time so you can indulge in it.

***This is The BEST COFFE FRAGRANCE IN THE MARKET RIGHT NOW*** If you are a coffee lover or you want a coffee perfume in your collection this one takes the CAKE. This just beats kerosene follow in all aspect. People just get your hands on it if you are a coffee fan . People have just started to hate ROJA for no reason but roja is the only brands that's delivering now even Amouage has dropped the ball.If you are a roja fan and have you used enigma than just remove cognac accord and put coffee beans in that place. ***DONT LET THIS BRAND DIE*** Performance:4/5 Silage: 4 hours extreme longevity : 10+ hours Blend: Coffe beans+vanillic =excellent blend Compliment factor: Very high

Espresso Aoud is a great addition to the Aoud collection. If you enjoy a strong nutty black coffee with a touch of sweetness in the morning. You may just love ❤️ this. As soon as it hits your skin. The warmth of the coffee and caramelised nuts hits you. It is incredibly smooth and comforting. I love it!!!! A gorgeous gourmand of my favourite morning drink!!!

I really like the blending in this fragrance. I love that it is not sugary sweet. It’s a classy coffee scent. I wouldn’t consider this an easy reach or an everyday scent but it will nice for winter and fall holiday occasions.

Everyone who loves oud and coffee should try that masterpiece. Obviously the mindless drones will bash it but you need to check it out

I have had this for about a week and at first I was a little shocked, because these influencers are pushing this like it's a sweet frappe coffee drink. When it goes on it is dusty and bitter. The woods are there, but it's not like cedar pencil shavings. It's dry, but for sure has a roasted bean edge. It's not really super coffee forward. It does settle down into the blend after 20 minutes and it becomes a little sweeter. It's really smooth and I would say it has good blending. Very french in that way. If it was just coffee with musks it would be more Italian, but its blended and refined. I do get the sweet hard candy, or whatever they use to flavor coffee ice cream. For sure it's like that, but dusty. I can imagine it took him a while to get this right. It's not a sweet sugary juvenile fragrance. This is more 35+. The atomizer is super dispersed and I would suggest not concentrating the spray too close to your arm. Just do 2 or 3 sprays. I could see someone being overwhelmed by this. A woody, earthy, subtly sweet offering. I got it for 400, but maybe it will come down in price. It's way better than a lot of stuff people have said are great, but I thought they were mid.

Feminine Take on Espresso Aoud I adore coffee perfumes, but truly don’t need more than 1-2 in my collection due to wearability. But, as a Roja Addict, I had to have his coffee perfume and just decided to blind buy it after months of contemplation. Roja Espresso Aoud carries the quintessential Roja Aoud DNA, but in a softer, more approachable way. The coffee note leans toward dark, freshly roasted espresso beans rather than a milky, sweet, frothy café latte. One of the things I enjoy most is how much more wearable it feels, compared to my holy grail Coffee Addict by Theodoris Kalotinis, which is a straight up latte. Espresso Aoud is a perfumed espresso with a touch of Oud. Women, we can absolutely wear this! There’s just enough sweetness without taking it to gourmand territory. As both a coffee drinker and coffee-fragrance lover, I can see it layering beautifully with Blanche Bête for a creamier, latte-like effect, or with VP21 for a richer, ambery espresso experience. Once that fall chill hits, I’ll be ready ☕️!!

Espresso Aoud by Roja Parfums finally feels like a release worthy of the brand name. The last few Roja releases have been average at best in my opinion. As the name suggests, this is a very coffee-heavy fragrance. The opening is extremely espresso-forward. It is dark, rich, and bold. If you enjoy strong coffee scents, you’ll love this. The dry down still keeps that heavy coffee presence but becomes smoother and more refined, which is where the fragrance really improves for me. Personally, I’m not the biggest fan of coffee fragrances, but I can still appreciate the quality of the perfumery here. It’s quite strong with good longevity. I rate this 7/10.

From The Roja Site Key Notes: CARAMELISED NUTS, ROASTED COFFEE BEANS, AND AOUD Top Notes: N/A Heart Notes: Orange Blossom, Rose, Violet Base Notes: Cinnamon, Roasted Coffee Beans, Pistachio, Caramelised Nuts, Patchouli, Mosses, Saffron, Coconut, Cedar Wood, Sandal Wood, Aoud Wood, Dry Woods, Cypriol, Tonka Bean, Vanilla, Milk, Benzoin, Cashmeran, Leather, Birch, Musks

Meh. Definitely one of the better Roja offerings in the past year: pleasant but not revelatory, by any means. Bitter coffee impression, paired with toasted nuts and caramel. Wish it felt brighter in the opening...to my nose, there is no citrus at all. Leans quite linear and simple in construction. Oud isn't very prominent throughout the wear. An ethyl maltol/caramelised sugar note, as well as the tonka, becomes more noticeable in the dry down. A touch of an almond facet remains too.

It’s just a piece of industrial trash. I had gave it to several friends for try and some of them got threw out physically...smh

I tried this at Harvey Nicks yesterday and my man M there very kindly gave me a little decant to review it. The opening blast is the most eye-poppingly intense I've encountered since I got my nose on Oud Zarian by Creed. This comes flying out of the traps fast and loud at a devastating gallop. The espresso accord is as photorealistic a coffee note (fire-roasted Italian bitter espresso beans as they are ground up) as you'll ever find but it is fleetingly pure as it is joined in the charge after a few seconds by a very heavy leather and an equally heavy, quite raw oud, softened only a little by a soothing musk that smoothes but does not lighten. Honestly, as with Oud Zarian, for about five minutes I wasn't sure I liked it. Espresso Aoud takes a few minutes to calm down a bit and for the caffeine head rush to subside a little and for your clattering heart rate to return to base. Things start to work together better if you give it a few minutes. Normally in an opening this dynamic, distracting and dramatic you'd criticise a fragrance for a lack of finesse but in this case I feel sure it is Roja Dove's playfulness coming to the fore by introducing a realistic espresso accord in terms of its smell and taste but also how it feels, how it hits you in that hectic, pulsating way when you swallow the scalding, hyper-bitter dark liquid and feel it hit your nervous system. Waiting for this to calm down seems in keeping with the theme somehow. What we are left with is a dual layer fragrance. This has two faces. It is two distinct fragrances in a way I've not come across before. I'll try and explain as best I can. In fleeting passes, in passive wear, the smell is beguiling. It isn't burned or bitter at all. You get the patchouli, a myriad of melded florals, the sandalwood, the bitter and rich dried woods in a very refined way, softened with cashmeran and the musk, and sweetened with vanilla and benzoin. It works with the leather and oud very much there but in the background. This is how this projects. Not sweet but smooth and sheeny. Meanwhile, the coffee and the more stringent, bitter accords - the heavier oud accord and the slightly burned smell of the charred wood - only become apparent if you get in close to sniff your wrist. It gets richer and darker the closer you go. It smells profoundly different up close than it does in its sillage. I've never seen that before. The twin layers homogenise into something very, very beautiful after around three to four hours as this starts to settle. This undulates. If you like predictable, undramatic fragrances that are nice and linear, this one will not be for you. The oud and leather and the bitter coffee notes are monolithic and become difficult to separate after the drydown starts, which - strangely - adds a wearability you just do not expect when you get red hot espresso beans hurled at your face in the opening. The woody notes in the heart and base are beautifully textured. I think there are blackened, burned woods here. It isn't fresh, it isnt green; this is the wood working in tandem with the smokiness you get from the coffee and the leather, allowing the oud to be stronger here than I was expecting. Espresso Aoud is mature. It is very heavy and it is not for beginners, the faint of heart or those sensitive to caffeine. It is a divisive thing and I can imagine as many people hating it as love it. The house of Roja have many accessible, innocent and easy to wear fragrances to please many. This is whatever the opposite of that is. For me, I couldn't truly enjoy it until it started to work in unison and the true wonder of the blending and the very clever use of the same facets of the many different accords all working together really comes into the light from behind the cloud of burned coffee beans. As I said before, it is a fascinating bit of perfumery as it has a different feel and impression from two feet away than it has up close as a skin scent. Whatever your views on the luminary Roja Dove (and I do enjoy his work, almost everything I've got my nose on from him in fact) I would say this is amongst the most accomplished (and expensive) displays of his mastery of blending accords. It is typically arty and clever from him. A fragrance for sophisticated people who understand and appreciate fine perfumery and have enough experience and knowledge to "get" what is happening under their noses. I really, really like this. It gets better and better and better. It is exhilarating. It moves you in the same way a great oud fragrance should (and this absolutely is that) but also in the same way a really great espresso does. Three Word Summary: Smoky Coffee Cleverness Scent - 8/10 Sillage - 8/10 Drydown - 10/10 Bottle/packaging - 10/10 Performance - 8/10 44/50

I love Roja and his creations, but I think the previous bottles looked way more refined. This is an example of how this would look like with the old design: https://ibb.co/tfhrJR1 (A "mashup" between this fragrance and Amber Aoud, created with AI) *And here we go again with useless idiots downvoting fragrances they've never smelled before, and could ever afford to buy. they ruined this website.

Smells very Bath and body works. definitely not worth the price but as far as a coffee fragrance it's more hard candy than an espresso. sweet coffee candies is all and the drydown smells like burning pile of old tires

Hardly landed and 1/5 from 3 dribbling Fragranticunts. Tells you all you need to know about this burning dumpster of a platform. Have yourselves a great day.

I just don’t understand how you can hate a fragrance, claim which way it leans and say it’s overpriced before actually smelling the fragrance

Another reminder to always test perfumes for yourself and not base the fragrantica ratings on which ones you should smell/purchase.

Translating the pyramid into tiktokers & influenzas language: Grab my money❌ Moneygrab✅

Reminds me of Coffee Bomb Maison Tahité 85%-90%