Cafe Tonka Les Senteurs Gourmandes for women and men

So...
I wanted this fragrance to work so badly, but it turns out, everything about it on this page is a lie.
Reading the notes and comments I was completely sold and blind bought it, it arrived today, I sprayed it and BOOM my expectations collapsed.
The perfume is called Cafe Tonka, and yes, I can smell the coffee, but the Tonka did not catch the flight today. Instead, a bunch of florals jumped in to accompany the black coffee note. Floral, black coffee, that's it. No Tonka, no vanilla, no sweetness, no cappuccino, no latte, no nothing.
I went on the site of the brand, and the notes listed there, are nothing like the ones listed here. So I guess most people writing a review, haven't actually smelled this, they blindly reviewed the notes listed here. Unless there has been some reformulation which changed the perfume to the core.

If I could describe this scent as colours, it is black and green, with splashes of white - if that makes sense.
I love coffee, but I drink it with some sugar and milk, so this black coffee here is unfortunately a pass.

I had this perfume. I bought it to try something completely different from what I usually go for (chypre, sour, vintage). I have to say it's an interesting smell, very gourmand. I was expecting a coffee scent but it smells more like a cup of cappuccino, definitely sweeter and creamer. The bitterness and burnt sting of coffee is missing and that's why I decided to resell it. The sillage and longevity aren't the best, it's more of a comforting skin scent that you can wear during winter to feel warmer and cozier. Overall the price is affordable and the bottle is beautiful in its simplicity: I suggest you try it if you're a lover of warm, gourmand scents with a hint of boozy

My friend gifted this perfume for me today and wow, I am very happy! It’s strong, spicy, warm scent with noticeable coffee note, great perfume for gourmand lovers.

m00nlights is right - there is a plummy fruit in the mix. I bought this unsniffed, and was hesitant to open it and smell it, afraid that I'd made a bad blind buy, but I'm enjoying it and I think it's versatile enough to be worn in three seasons (i.e. not the heat of summer). Thankfully this isn't a vanillic coffee. I would have liked a little more Tonka, but I'm pleased with the overall scent.

This type of smell is not something I ever go for, so I don't think I will be wearing it, but I wanted to test this and try something completely different. So I don't have experience with perfumes with similar profiles.

For me it smells like you have spilled a cup of strong espresso mixed with sweet dark chocolate and vanilla syrups on old leather in a whiskey room. I also had the weird association of a friend I had in highschool wearing a cheap unlasting knock-off of Hypnotic Poison and spilling a coffee on herself.

It starts big and harsh, but settles down fairly quickly, lasts for a few hours, not too long

Wow wow wow. I usually go for perfumes that has a one note dominants so other notes is not that important to me. This was a good blind buy.
I wanted a coffee fragrance and I got just that. However, i might be tripping but it has a fruity undertone to it, almost plum. So the coffee is like 80% and the fruity, plum note is maybe 10% and the rest is lactonic, so a latte with coffee beans roasted with fruits maybe. Anyways, it’s really good!

Tried it on at a store. Usually I'm not into this brand - I think most of their scents smell very synthetic. However, this one was a surprise to me - it opener with real, warm coffee scent, smelling exactly like a cup of dark coffee with a few teaspoons of sugar. If only it stayed like that, I would have purchased... but the note lasted about five minutes, then turning into something sweet and a little bit synthetic - my guess is that I'm smelling tonka and possibly saffron. For the price range, whick is close to 30 € where I live, I don't expect anything extraordinary, but, at the same time, these smell like they should sell for 10-15 € to me. The scent is not bad, just smells like it's not worth much.

Kahlua 🥃😃
Freshly ground coffee beans with tonca is what I get, plus hints of saffron that make it more interesting.
As someone who hates to sweet perfumed, i sm happy this is a balanced one, the coffe is a good contrast to its sweetness.
Strongest in the beginning as it fades wonderfully and not so slowly. Feels like all natural ingrediens which might also be the case!

sweet sweet sweet vanilla latte with a lingering fragrance of the barista who just handed it to you.

any resemblance to coffee, dead or alive, is purely coincidental. no coffee beans were harmed in the making of this product.

this scent is the sugar plum fairy doing a pirouette in a lavish production of the nutcracker. perfectly acceptable for what it is.

rich deep coffee, it ain't.

Finally a fragrance with a decent coffee note!

Cafe Tonka starts with that from the beginning: coffee & tonka.

The tonka here is player #1. It smells like a sweet & fruity vanilla. It dominates with ~70% of the perceivable smell.

The coffee note is player #2. It smells more like a cappuccino than an espresso; soft & mild but still a coffee. Unfortunately, it is at its strongest in the opening & dials down with time quickly but luckily it doesn't disappear completely.

There is also a hint of rose in the combo, sweet & mild. That's possibly the saffron/amber mix.

The final smell is: sweet & fruity vanilla with a hint of coffee. The coffee fades with time leaving you with the first part dominating: sweet & fruity vanilla with a hint of rose & dash of coffee that's barely noticeable.

A very good scent. I just wish the coffee note lasted & projected more.

Big "Like" but pass on buying because, still, not enough coffee. Don't be deceived by the votes above.

Edit:

Gavmister said it smelled like Coffee Liqueur - spot on!

My original review:

In my search for a nice Coffee scent I came across this. I tried all the usual suspects that people rave about and found them pretty lack lustre and unnatural.

Eventually I settled on Follow by House of Kerosene which is obscenely natural and good. This however made the cut and is still in my collection. This in itself is unusual because I have tried 2 other Les Senteurs Gourmandes and found them to be overrated, expensive and very poor longevity. My desire for a coffee scent won me over so I went for the hat trick...

Well this one made it because it has a natural feel.

If I were to describe it simply it reminds me more of dark chocolate covered in strong instant coffee powder. After 30 minutes the tonka peeps out and strengthens as if someone laid some tonka beans right next to the choc and coffee.

Its a delight for 30-60 minutes then it turns to a whisper - obviously a trait for LSG, so I won't be sampling any more from them.

None the less as a personal treat its lovely...

In my search for a nice Coffee scent I came across this. I tried all the usual suspects that people rave about and found them pretty lack lustre and unnatural.

Eventually I settled on Follow by House of Kerosene which is obscenely natural and good. This however made the cut and is still in my collection. This in itself is unusual because I have tried 2 other Les Senteurs Gourmandes and found them to be overrated, expensive and very poor longevity. My desire for a coffee scent won me over so I went for the hat trick...

Well this one made it because it has a natural feel.

If I were to describe it simply it reminds me more of dark chocolate covered in strong instant coffee powder. After 30 minutes the tonka peeps out and strengthens as if someone laid some tonka beans right next to the choc and coffee.

Its a delight for 30-60 minutes then it turns to a whisper - obviously a trait for LSG, so I won't be sampling any more from them.

None the less as a personal treat its lovely...

This is an interesting one. Yes I do smell the soft coffee note, but it’s very subtle. It’s more sugary than coffee in my opinion, and I want to say it smells like this coffee jelly Asian snack. However, since tonka adds a bit of creaminess to it, it might actually be coffee pudding? Anyhow, this is more of a playful dessert-ish fragrance than a pure coffee scent I would expect from reading the comments. I do like it but it isn’t a must-have

Soft on the coffee for me, more about vanilla and pepper, not feeling the saffron. Pretty fragrance but very short sillage :( Oh well it's cheap :)

What a beautiful discovery! I have long searched for a coffee fragrance that was pure coffee ... Often the coffee smells have too many other notes and the coffee note is barely there. This fragrance is exactly what it promises: coffee and tonka. The duration is really good even if the fragrance stays close to the skin. At the beginning the fragrance is more sharp and pungent but soon becomes a rich, enveloping and comfortable aroma of coffee with a little milky chocolaty tip. The base of the fragrance brings with it a soft scent of amber and sandalwood. I love it ... perfect for work and I can not wait to try it in autumn / winter.

Probably the most wearable coffee fragrance that I've tried which actually has a dominant coffee note. I think it smells like a soft, creamy, caramel, lightly spicy, tonka/vanilla coffee fragrance. Not quite as literal as some other coffee perfumes such as Espresso Royale which I have and is a completely literal boozy cup of coffee - when I wear that one people are literally asking me if I have coffee with me or if I was just in a coffee shop. Ganache Parfums also has some really literal coffee perfumes in their "Joe Project". Cafe Tonka is milder or better balanced by the other notes than all of those and the overall scent combination is more of a "perfume" than a just the "literal smell" of coffee if that makes any sense. I guess another way to say it would be that I don't personally want to wear a coffee "soliflore" I want to wear a perfume where one of the most noticeable components is coffee. Anyway, perfect in the winter and works well for the office.

When I first heard about YSL Black Opium I was expecting it to smell more like this. I think if you liked Black Opium but were bummed that you couldn't find the coffee note (some people say they can smell it but I can't) you might really like this one. It's not a dupe of Black Opium or anything like that but it's a vanilla sweet/coffee/warm spicy which IMHO is the same general scent genre as Black Opium.

Edit: I have literally used half of this bottle in less than 5 months...cray. I love this stuff so much I bought a back-up bottle! I will say the lasting power is not the greatest at 5-6 hours but the scent is so amazing I'm happy to respray midday.

Finally, a coffee dominated smell, that doesn't get lost in dozens of other notes, like what happens in most pop frags.

A bit sharp at first, must be the combo of coffee and tonka. Settles into a beautiful coffee fragrance, but also you don't feel like you just spilled a cup of coffee over yourself.

Beautiful on its own or layered with others frags for a nice coffee kick.

Lasts really well and the price is very affordable. Win win!

First it is a bit sharp, but when it settles down it has warmly sweet and elegant aroma that never can get enough. I get so many compliments! I do not smell coffee much though. Anyways, I got through my 100 ml bottle too fast!

It was a true love from the first time I smelled it. First it'comes the coffee - fresh baked, intensive and rich. Then the pepper and shafron. And they linger around for quite a long time. And I can't stop sniffing. Then it settles close to the skin but every time you turn around there is something classy, creamy, light sweet and gourmand and the ambra that follows you. Love. It stays the whole day, but since I love the sharp coffee notes I reapply in every two hours - just one spray is enough.