TEONE REINTHAL
Bitter Sweet Negroni

2022

PERFUMER
Teone Reinthal

bitter orange
orange blossom
cardamon
vanilla planifolia
myrrh
amber accord
coffee absolute

‘This fragrance was so popular it completely sold out last year. I have reformulated Negroni to intensify the cafe noir, and I have removed the cacao. The new edition’s scent profile is more akin to an Old-Fashioned, or a Negroni cocktail than the previous version. The dark bitterness and the golden sweetness are more clearly defined, and, as partners, they dance through the fragrance, creating a far more balanced brew. – Teone Reinthal

This is perhaps my favorite of the 3 TRNP that I own at the time of writing (Embers Renaissance, Blue Lotus Tahitensis and I’ve smelled maybe a dozen others), to my own surprise. This Negroni version has more coffee instead of the cacao of its previous Bitter Sweet version (which I haven’t tried). And the coffee is the star of the show.

Opening more like a lemonade, with bitter orange and a hint of coffee mixed, it dries down into a stronger coffee quickly. I was a bit weary of how the opening would smell, and it’s not my favorite part, but I was pleasantly surprised with how gourmand this turned out to be.

Bitter still, with dry ambery facets. Very vanillic as well, but it has a roasted, burnt caramel-ish quality to it. Even reminiscent of a coffee-flavored cookie at times, but constantly with a creamy thick coffee-ish cocktail underneath.

The way the coffee kept on revealing itself somewhat unexpectedly after the brighter opening made this one particularly great for me. This combination reminds me most of Balint Balcafé. I can see this being a bit out of the norm for what people who are into this type of perfumery/perfume brand are often into, but for me, it worked like a charm.