Cacao

What it is

Cocoa absolute, extracted from roasted beans before any sugar or milk is involved.

What it smells like

Dry dark chocolate, more bitter than sweet, with a dusty edge like opening a tin of cocoa powder. It is markedly less sweet than most people expect from a chocolate note, and it pairs with earthy and woody accords more comfortably than with fruit.

How strongly it is worn

The average strength this accord is listed at, where 100 means it dominates the fragrance.

67 / 100

What builds it

How much more often than the catalogue average. 1.0x would be chance, so these are the things that genuinely travel with it rather than the things that are simply common.

Accords it sits beside

Same measure, with its own family filtered out. Saying woody turns up with oud is a restatement, not a finding.

When it is worn

Against the average fragrance here. The line marks that average, so a bar past it means this is worn in that season or setting more than most.

Houses that use it most

Counted across the fragrances here, which reflects what we cover as much as what a house makes.

Carolina Herrera (10), Givenchy (3), Al Haramain (1), Amouage (1), Azzaro (1), Burberry (1).