LANA & HADI PARFUMS
CAFE ALPHA

2025

cardamom
rehan
loban
elemi

violet
jasmine
vintage pineapple
turkish rose

papuan oud
coffee
davana
vintage coffee
fir needle

‘I’m a coffee enthusiast, though not a purist. I say that because while I love my coffee bold and bitter, I nearly always pair it with something sweet — honey, caramel, and sometimes even both. I often make it with mostly milk, to the point that my friends tease me, saying I’m drinking a coffee-flavoured milkshake. One evening, while browsing for a new bag of beans, I was completely taken aback by the sheer variety of options and flavour profiles available. Did you know you can buy strawberry-infused coffee beans with notes of rose? One even claimed to taste like gummy bears — gummy bears! That moment of wonder (not the gummy bear itself) is what inspired Café Alpha: a fragrance crafted for Generation Alpha — bold, experimental, and unapologetically unique. They don’t just follow trends; they redefine them. Café Alpha isn’t your conventional coffee fragrance. There’s no vanilla, no caramel or hazelnut — nothing overly gourmand or typical. Even the aged coffee extract at its heart is far from ordinary. Left to macerate over time, it’s developed a layered profile: earthy, woody, camphorous, and distinctly hemp-like — with that green, aromatic facet taking center stage. To complement the green tone of the coffee oil, I built the opening with Cardamom, Rehan, and Loban oils. Each comes from the SQ collection, aged and of exceptional quality, delivering a sharp, spicy, and refreshing top that instantly commands attention. At the heart, a blend of SQ Jasmine, Violet, and Turkish Rose introduces a delicate floral sweetness, nuanced with a fresh green brightness. But the true wildcard is the Vintage Indian Pineapple. It’s bold — fruity, sharp, even metallic — a sweetness that’s raw and vibrant rather than sugary or candy-like. In the base, I introduced an Arabica coffee extract to add dimension and depth to the aged coffee note. To ground the composition, I used Papuan Oud Resin, with its rich, woody, smoky warmth, almost reminiscent of Labdanum. Siberian Fir Needle prolongs the spiced woodiness of the opening, while Davana brings a final touch of ripe fruit. The result? A bold reimagining of coffee in perfumery — green and fresh, with a hemp-like twist, subtle metallic undertones, warm resins, and an unexpectedly juicy pineapple note that lingers long after the first spray.’ – LHParfums

I’d smelled some Lana & Hadi before via a friend and the brand kindly sent over samples to try the entire collection. Usually I don’t share thoughts after testing on paper, but given the rare nature of these releases, I figured sharing my initial response off a teststrip could be helpful (I wore the 5 that stood out for my taste after the initial impression, but this wasn’t one of those).

Cafe Alpha is a fresh take, but one has that dry, cardboard-like coffee backbone from the start. It feels like having a solid coffee roast outside on a colder day. It has that green-lemonade with a tiny dank twist from davana, but it’s not as hefty or earthy as most coffee-vetiver fragrances when it comes to a ‘greener coffee’. Rose is subtle, but the rose-coffee combination is always one of my favorites. Overall, probably a touch too green for my taste, but it’s a classy take on coffee that smells rather different from most options. I lean more towards the more gourmand and heavier Celeste Coffee myself.