# Olfactive Studio — Chypre Shot

> Chypre Shot is Bertrand Duchaufour's dark modern chypre extrait: cardamom, saffron, coffee, black tea, peony, amber, patchouli, labdanum, and oakmoss over volcanic earth.

## Essence
Chypre Shot is Bertrand Duchaufour's dark modern chypre extrait: cardamom, saffron, coffee, black tea, peony, amber, patchouli, labdanum, and oakmoss over volcanic earth.
## Scent Profile
The opening is a forceful gust of cardamom, saffron, and bergamot. It feels fizzy, spicy, and bright before the darker materials rise. The heart is the signature: coffee and black tea joined by black pepper and peony. The coffee gives bitterness and texture; the peony supplies lift and space.
The base is dense patchouli, labdanum, amber, and oakmoss. Rather than a mossy vintage chypre, Chypre Shot often reads as ambered spice and coffee hovering over earth. The true mossy character appears most strongly deep into the drydown. That tension is the point: a chypre rebuilt with modern materials, gourmand bitterness, and Duchaufour's aromatic touch.
## Performance
This is a potent extrait. Expect strong opening projection, long wear, and a heavy spicy-mossy base that can last through an evening. It rewards restraint; overapplication can make the coffee, cardamom, and amber feel dense.
## Wearing Context
Chypre Shot is best in autumn, winter, evenings, dinners, formal wear, and deliberate statement contexts. It is unisex but not casual-fresh. Hot weather and quiet offices are less natural settings because the scent is concentrated, dark, and persistent.
## Comparisons & DNA
Critics place it in Duchaufour's chypre lineage, with Chypre Palatin invoked as a quality benchmark rather than a direct twin. It also sits in conversation with classics such as Mitsouko, Diorella, and Aliage because it shows how far a modern chypre can move from those templates. The useful shorthand is coffee-spiced patchouli-oakmoss chypre.
## Reception
Critical response is exceptionally strong. Named critics praised its complexity and its argument that the chypre form can survive modern material constraints. Wearer response is positive but less unanimous. The split is over definition and taste: classic-chypre purists may hear too much amber and coffee, while others love the updated structure. Coffee, cardamom, and dense amber are the pressure points.
## Versions & Reformulation
Chypre Shot is a 2018 extrait de parfum and part of the Sepia Collection's first trilogy. No reformulation is documented. It has appeared in 15 ml, 100 ml, and refill formats.
## Acquisition Notes
This is upper-tier niche extrait pricing, with smaller formats and samples making more sense than a blind full bottle. Distribution includes Olfactive Studio and major niche stockists. The main caution is taste and price, not counterfeit risk.
## Notable Facts & Lore
- Chypre Shot was inspired by Martin Hill's photograph of volcanic stones arranged on moss at Mount Taranaki.
- Celine Verleure has said she loved Duchaufour's submission immediately and requested no changes.
- The scent is often discussed as evidence that chypres did not disappear under modern material restrictions.
- Its base uses patchouli and modern oakmoss material to suggest the classic chypre foundation.
- The Sepia line later expanded beyond Duchaufour's first trio.