Review of Café Gourmand by Olga Steinfeld

Maison Tahité is an Italian perfume brand specializing in gourmand fragrances. As of October 2026, the brand has four collections: Vanilla, Cocoa, Coffee, and Tonka Bean. However, I wouldn’t recommend blind-buying these perfumes, as they offer an unconventional take on gourmand perfumery. In my opinion, they are very realistic fragrances that not everyone would feel comfortable wearing. Café Gourmand doesn’t simply smell like coffee - it smells like actual roasted coffee beans ground into a powder: dry, bitter, powdery, slightly charred, and earthy. Despite the listed milky notes and creamy hazelnut, I don’t smell any softness, milky nuances, or creaminess in this fragrance. The hazelnut note is dry and oily, like nut husks. The patchouli is warm and chocolatey, like a moist chocolate cake, while the vetiver is dry and smoky. Together, they emphasize and intensify the bitter coffee scent. Throughout its development, the composition remains almost linear, with dominant notes of coffee, patchouli, and vetiver. The fragrance is very rich and deep, with high longevity, moderate projection (at arm’s length), and a moderate scent trail. My verdict: Café Gourmand reminds me of a workaholic you often see with a cup of strong coffee in hand. It is a challenging fragrance to wear, and despite its warmth, there is something aggressive and oppressive about it to me. I think this perfume might appeal to a true coffee lover who is fanatically in love with the smell of coffee and happy to be surrounded by it all day long.