Trends: Coffee Essence

The distinct smell of freshly ground coffee beans instantly brings the senses to life. Whether you’re walking through the streets of Italy or brewing a pot at home, the rich aromas encourage us to breathe deeply and savour every moment. So it’s only natural for coffee to make an appearance in some of the most popular perfumes available today.  

A little background into coffee

The humble coffee bean has existed for centuries, making its way from the African continent to the Middle East and onto Europe, Asia and the Americas over the last 1300 years. A highly social beverage, coffee was a staple in many communities, bringing people together in coffee houses for stimulating conversation. Today, coffee is one of the UK’s favourite hot drinks, second only to the iconic English breakfast tea.

So where does perfume come into it?

Before we start looking at coffee as an ingredient, it also has another use in the world of perfume. Fresh beans are often used in perfume shops to help shoppers cleanse the palate before testing new fragrances. By refreshing the senses with the smell of fresh coffee beans, you’re able to experience the unwinding scents within a new fragrance, uninterrupted.

However, we’re here to talk about coffee as a fragrance

Perfumers have been experimenting with the rich aroma of coffee for years, finding new ways to extract the best qualities from the coffee bean to enhance their perfume creations. Although the natural roasted bean is a scent all on its own, when designing a perfume, we must think about the layers that create a long-lasting luxury fragrance. Coffee must play a part in the final performance and therefore it’s essential the right blend of ingredients are used.

The result is a range of different coffee notes from rich to bitter, sweet to spicy, which combine seamlessly with complementary notes including white florals, vanilla, black pepper or blackcurrant. By choosing to replicate only specific features of the coffee bean, perfumers can create a fragrance that smells great on the skin for hours.

Perfumes enhanced by coffee essence

At Milton-Lloyd, our perfumers have developed iconic fragrances that hold coffee in their hearts. If you’re looking for a sparkling women’s fragrance, Night Sky combines coffee with white florals and black pepper. Similarly, Colour Me Violet has fresh top notes of citrus and blackcurrant complemented by a coffee heart or choose No.8 Valerie, a gourmand fragrance for women with hints of orange flower. Essentials No.4 also infuses coffee essence with sweet vanilla and cedar for a warm, rich fragrance for her.