Golden Dallah

Golden Dallah takes its name from the ornate Arabic coffee pot, and XerJoff has distilled that ritual into liquid form with unapologetic richness. This is cardamom-laced coffee brewed over frankincense resins, served in a vessel lined with Damascus rose petals and aged oud shavings. The coffee absolute here isn't your sanitised café accord—it's thick, almost syrupy, with that slightly bitter edge of overextracted espresso meeting the austere, pine-like facets of Cambodian oud. Frankincense weaves through everything, lending its cool, cathedral-like quality that prevents the composition from collapsing into pure gourmandise. The rose absolute adds a jammy, slightly indolic depth rather than traditional florality, playing beautifully against amber's warmth and the cocoa-tonka base that emerges like the dregs of Turkish coffee grounds mixed with vanilla-touched tobacco.

This is for the fragrance obsessive who finds Tobacco Vanille too polite, who wants their orientals to smell like actual souks rather than sanitised interpretations. It's decidedly evening, decidedly cooler weather, decidedly *much*. The spice accord in the opening—likely cardamom, possibly cinnamon or clove—provides an almost medicinal sharpness that cuts through the sweetness, keeping Golden Dallah from becoming cloying despite its obvious richness. This isn't a fragrance that whispers; it announces, but with the confidence of someone who needn't shout. Wear it when you want your scent to precede you into the room and linger long after you've departed.