NEW FRAGRANCE: Nicolaï Parfumeur-Createur Caravansérail Intense (Patricia de Nicolaï) 2023

Nicolaï Parfumeur Createur Caravansérail Intense

Nicolaï Parfumeur-Createur Caravansérail Intense (photo courtesy of the brand)

In 2014 I had the great honor of interviewing Patricia de Nicolaï as she celebrated the 25th anniversary of Nicolaï Parfumeur Createur as an independent niche perfumery brand, her remarkable career as a perfumer and the First Woman President of the Osmotheque. Today, nine years later, ÇaFleureBon has the pleasure of announcing the official launch of Nicolaï Parfumeur-Createur Caravansérail Intense which will debut in the Nicolaï Parfumeur-Createur Boutiques, online and stockists worldwide on February 6, 2023.

It is the house’s first woody gourmand and inspired by the history and hospitality of the Levant. Since we don’t post press releases and want to give our readers behind the scenes insights, I asked Madame de Nicolaï about the new Cologne Intense. She graciously shared her creative process.

Patricia de Nicolai

Patricia de Nicolaï has been an independent perfumer and founded her own brand in 1989 (Photo Credit: Madame Patricia de Nicolaï) ©

I visited the Middle East many times and I’m always surprised by the very warm and welcoming Arabic sense of hospitality. Especially when they offer you coffee! The Arabic coffee is so unique, it’s a wonderful mixture of Arabica beans and spices such as cardamom and Tonka beans. I really appreciate that smell and it was time for me to create a fragrance inspired by these notes.  It’s a path I really wanted to go through as I realize that I did not really have a woody gourmand in my collection of fragrances.

When I started to work on the new Nicolaï Parfumeur Createur Caravansérail Intense,  the challenge for me was to transform this typical spicy coffee flavor into a perfume. To do so, I built a top note using coffee absolute, cardamom essence and some fruity plum facets. Then I decided to support this first impression by a woody patchouli and sandalwood heart all completed by dry amber base notes like Ambrocenide and Ambroxan. The name Caravansérail came at the end and it was so obvious! During the Middle-Ages a caravanserai was an inn developed throughout the Middle-East where travelers of the Silk and Spices routes used to rest after long and hard journeys. It was a safe place on which they also used to trade and get information of the world. It was a place of hospitality and this is really the characteristic of that fragrance”Patricia de Nicolaï, January 13, 2023, exclusively for ÇaFleureBon.

Top: Coffee absolue, plum, raspberry; Middle: Cardamom Essence, Clove Essence, Cinnamon Essence, Patchouli heart essence, Sandalwood essence; Base: Vanilla absolute, tonka absolute, immortelle absolute

Nicolaï Parfumeur Createur-Caravansérail Intense will be in the “Intense Collection” and has Eau de Parfum concentration

Caravansérail Intense Nicolaï Parfumeur Createur

(photo courtesy of the brand)

Suggested Retail:

250 ml: 357 EUR ($407 USD)

100 ml: 204 EUR ($233USD)

30 ml: 68 EUR ($78 USD)

Michelyn Camen, Editor in Chief

ÇaFleureBon has announced the launches of Nicolaï Parfumeur-Createur’s new fragrances since 2014, including Cuir Cuba Intense 2014, Musc Monoi also in 2014, 2015 L’eau Corail, Patchouli Sublime in 2017, Neroli Intense 2018, Cap Neroli 2018, 2019’s Nicolaï Parfumeur-Createur Baïkal Leather Intense and Angelys Pear, 2020’s  Eau de Yuzu, 2021’s Poudre de Musc, and 2022’s Riviera Verbena.

2024 will mark Nicolaï Parfumeur-Createur’s 35th year as an independent brand.

“A note from the brand: ”A link between several lands, Caravansérail Intense is a stopover at the crossing of the coffee and spice roads. A historic site of hospitality not far from arid deserts, pioneer explorers and traveling souls are welcomed by a hot, addictive traditional coffee whose swirls reveal the fresh facets of cardamom seeds. Fruity, sweet notes enhance this divine mixture delicately sprinkled with cinnamon and cloves, while a duo of patchouli heart and sandalwood provides a woody intensity. Finally, the powerful sandstorm of dry amber notes highlights immortelle, vanilla and tonka bean.” 

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34 comments

  • Levant is a place of complexity, shades, nuances, warmth, vastly horizons yet intimate human connections. And coffee is a ritual that delights all the senses. And when someone so creative as Patricia de Nicolaï consider this ritual the starting point of an olfactory experience, the result must be masterpiece.
    Also the name, so inspiring.
    Thank you for this great review!
    Hugs from Romania

  • lavienrose13 says:

    I have been lucky enough to see beautiful caravenserail in Azerbaidjan and the name evoques immediately some pictures and lunch I had there. Looking forward to discover it. The review is truely inspiring, Thanks for the journey ! from France

  • Sorohan Adriana says:

    Caravansérail perfume captures exactly the mix of aromas released during the ritual of preparing and serving coffee in a caravanserai.

  • How unique from Nicolaï Parfumeur to come up with a gourmand scent, especially one which revolves around coffee, cardamom and plum! French perfumery entwined with oriental influences at its best!

  • This sounds lovely and a woody gourmand is very much in my favorites wheelhouse! Excited to try this!

  • Glad to hear that Patricia took on the woody gourmand! Sounds like it’s going to appeal to a lot of people. Hope that coffee really comes out along with the fruity spices. I’ve honestly had it up to here with designers copping out on the genre by overdosing their concoctions with woody ambers and trying to cover up the reek with cheap spices and sugar. This one literally sounds like a breath of fresh, middle eastern air. Well done to Patricia!

  • A woody gourmand sounds delicious, with its coffee, raspberry, plum and clove notes. I’m looking forward to sniffing Caravansérail Intense. And yes, I am a fan of Patricia de Nicolaï. Mich USA

  • Dubaiscents says:

    Ohhh, this sounds wonderful! I love the smell of Arabic coffee and cardamom. I can’t wait to see what Patricia has created for this one!

  • Nicolai Parfumeur has come out with a couple perfumes that I really love – Odalisque and Figue Tea. I’m betting this one will be another hit with me. Yum!

  • Love everything Patricia de Nicolai does. She is such an outstanding perfumer ! Very much looking forward to this one 🙂 Many thanks for the announcement and review
    Salutations from the EU

  • It’s rather brave to identify those dry amber base notes from the public list as Ambrocenide and Ambroxan. I’d say here at Ça Fleure Bon we’re quite skeptical against this family – but no doubt Patricia de Nicolaï brought this to live in careful manner. I like coffee scents anyway and I’d be curious to try this.

  • Nikolina_84 says:

    OMG the notes! Coffee absolue, plum, raspberry, Cardamom, Clove, Cinnamon, Patchouli, Sandalwood, vanilla, tonka beans… This is insane! I have to get my hands on it!!

  • There is something about coffee in the Levant! That fresh ground cardamon, the fast flash boil over the fire, the omnipresent demitasse day or night for every guest. And a little sweet too. From a simple but scrumptious country cake of turmeric and rosewater (sfouf) to the time intensive hand pressed and individually filled mahmoul. Coffee, visiting and the Levant are intertwined forever.
    I trust Nicolai to capture this! If the base is anything like her incredible Tonka Vanille I’m already reaching for it. I’m so in love with this house… and now I’m off to go get this neroli I’ve been missing…
    In California… just in case.

  • I’ve seen Levant in other perfume names, but didn’t understand the meaning. Thanks for the explanation. Love the name of the fragrance as well and the meaning. I love seeing that it is going to come in the 30 ml size which is so tempting for a blind buy. This line has so many good scents!! Thanks for the chance. USA.

  • I love this house and especially her gourmands (Kiss Me is a very favorite) so I am so excited to smell this spiced coffee. Cardamom! Yes please! Also have to note how much I appreciate the small sizes. So considerate of the fans. Thank you from the US! <3

  • True to its name, Caravaserail seems to promise a warm and welcoming refuge to the users. Lovely notes. I enjoyed the review and especially the interview with the perfumer Patricia. Not sure if there is a draw but if there is, please consider me as it is such a lovely perfume. From USA.

  • Sounds exciting! I haven’t found “my” Nicolai fragrance yet. I can’t wait to try Caravanserail, it might just be the one.

  • I have tried several Parfums de Nicolai and found them to be exceptionally well blended and complex. This Middle Eastern gourmand with notes of coffee, plum, spice and tonka/vanilla sounds heavenly. Would love to try it at some point. In the US

  • Bakail Leather is one of my favorites.
    The gourmand notes in those scent sound amazing.
    I love that this house offers 30 ml sizes as well as bigger ones as well.
    Oklahoma USA

  • Coffee and cardamom are a wonderful combination. This woody take on that combination sounds wonderful.

  • FragranceIsMe says:

    The notes in this creation have me waiting for release with the utmost of anticipation. Looking forward to it 🙂

  • Cristina Mariani says:

    Cant wait to smell it. Coffee is a difficult note and Im curious to see how it has been mixed with other notes!

  • This is gorgeous sounding… yall have got me interested in coffee now, after reading the new maison tahiti review! Ive heard mixed reviews on this house, but i always find her work interesting, i need to give her a try. This specific fragrance is interesting to me, as indicated in another comment i wrote on the tahiti article, coffee is a business that impacts my personal life moreso than most folks. Would be fun to sample, ill add it to my list. I really want to try her fig as well. Love from bellingham wa! Thank you for such a beautiful blog.

  • Wow! How cool! What a dynamic story and house! I really need to smell more! Thank you for the exciting news & reminder!!! ❤️❤️❤️

  • Nicolai parfumeur was one of the first places I visited in Paris to discover fragrances. This newest one sounds amazing and can’t wait to see if this will be my first 2023 purchase!

  • I am so excited about this launch – woods, coffee, spice, all my favorites. I think she is incredibly creative and talented – I loveso many of her fragrances.

  • Caravanserail sounds absolutely gorgeous / I love NY Intense by this house , you can tell that everything they do is so thought out, elegant, and high quality

  • Patricia de Nicolai is an inspiring perfumer! Each of her perfumes is a masterpiece. I am very interested in her interpretation of Arabic hospitality, coffee, spices, the feeling of a hot desert. I was curious to know that this is Patricia’s first woody gourmand fragrance. I know her Bois Bélize Intense, which more leans towards floral-woody. But this is something new. Thank you for the article!

  • Michael Prince says:

    What a great announcement. I love coffee based fragrances and this also has that warm spicy and ambery feel to it that I would truly love. I can’t wait to try it.