Xerjoff Golden Dallah, photo via Eden Square
It is said that in ancient Ethiopia a goat herder named Kaldi became the very first caffeine fiend. Apparently, Kaldi came upon a coffee tree, helped himself to some of its berries, and subsequently found he couldn’t get a wink. While this strange bean was clearly not going to work as a sleep aid, it occurred to him that its energizing properties might catch on. He told the local abbot, who made a drink of the berries and discovered it kept him lively from evensong to matins. Before long, everyone in the monastery wanted their morning joe. Within the next few centuries, coffee cultivation spread throughout Arabia and its neighbours, and made its way to Europe during the Renaissance. Coffee houses sprang up in cities, the Vatican decried it as the Devil’s drink, and Bach set its addictive bliss to music: a worldwide obsession had begun.
Interior of a London Coffee House by an unknown artist, Trustees of the British Museum
It is to this storied history that Xerjoff Golden Dallah, part of the brand’s Coffee Break collection, pays tribute. With cheeky hits of ganja and an oud center, ambery Golden Dallah could be the voluptuous sibling to Parfumerie Generale’s splendid Coze. While heated, patchouli-rooted Coze is busy getting up to some free-spirited no good in the big city, buxom little sis Golden Dallah swans about the family country house flirting with the local lads and smoking weed with the stable boy.
At first spray, Xerjoff Golden Dallah pours a steaming cup of black coffee and lights up a joint. The toasty, burnished notes of a classic dark roast filter up through a haze of bitter herbal notes that smell like artemisia and oud when separated out, but which give the overall effect of hemp. Amber arrives quickly to add some resinous sweetness and body, and I start to smell cocoa powder. As both perfumes head towards their middle sections, they depart from each other in style noticeably. Where Coze stays dry and heads into woody territory, Golden Dallah incorporates gourmand notes of cocoa and a distinctive crunchy hazelnut, like a posh Nutella accord. But then the spices come to play.
The Coffee Bearer by John Frederick Lewis, 1857
Cardamom, black pepper and a pinch of clove percolate with the coffee, and the ganja smell picks up again. While it takes some hide-and-seek, I finally find the rose hiding coquettishly behind and ephemeral tendril of incense. As minutes tick by, the rose becomes almost girlish, satiny, fresh and uncomplicated. The lactonic smell of tonka is clearly present now, and the coffee, cocoa, spice aromas intensify to the point where they almost seem like flavours. Right now, Golden Dallah smells like a well-made mochaccino sipped in an Amsterdam coffee house, with jangly indie music playing softly in the background. I can almost taste it.
Golden Dallah’s careful interplay between the bitter notes of the top and the milky, ambery notes that swirl in like stirred cream in the middle keep it elegantly centered between feminine and masculine. It is a delectably dark, off-sweet concoction that mixes up the most delicious aspects of cocoa, cardamom chai and French roast, perfect for days when you just want to jump back under the covers. If you love a good café au lait but want to keep the sugar on the downlow, Golden Dallah might just be your brew.
Notes: Coffee absolute, fresh exotic spices, rose absolute, incense, Cambodian oud, amber, hazelnut, cocoa, tonka hyperessence.
Disclaimer: Tester of Xerjoff Golden Dallah generously provided by Eden Square/Euro Perfumes, U.S. distributors of Xerjoff perfumes. My opinions are my own.
Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor
Xerjoff Golden Dallah, photo by Michelyn
Thanks to the generosity of Euro Perfumes the U.S. Distributor, we have a (50 ml) tester bottle of Xerjoff Golden Dallah for one registered reader in the U.S ONLY. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what appeals to you about Xerjoff Golden Dallah based on Lauryn’s review, if you have a favourite Xerjoff fragrance. Draw closes 1/21/2021.
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