Rice.
Coffee.
Mooncake.
Matcha.
Whiskey.
At first glance it reads like my shopping list of staples rather than a perfume house. Small pleasures, instantly recognisable. What struck me first was the storytelling. An East Asian perfume house building from its own references. This time, it is a travelogue through Vietnam, Japan and other East Asian destinations.
d’Annam was founded in 2023 by Nick Hoang, working closely with Vietnamese perfumer Anh Ngo and local creatives. Each collection is built around place and recollection. The name refers to the ancient term for central Vietnam.
D’Annam perfumes White Rice and Matcha Soft Serve
White Rice is soft. Gently steamed jasmine rice, almost milky warmth rising from the bowl before the first bite. The reference is distinctly Vietnamese and broader Southeast Asian, where rice is a base structure, a daily anchor, an identity.Vietnamese Coffee carries the sweetness of condensed milk beneath roasted Robusta beans. This is cà phê sữa đá, strong, slow-dripped, poured over ice, softened by milk. It feels like early morning in Hanoi, scooters passing, the rush of crossing busy traffic.
Mooncake. Golden syrup, salted egg yolk, lotus seed and honey. A contemporary interpretation of a classic gourmand. It brings me back to Mid-Autumn Festival, when the light shifts almost imperceptibly towards autumn. In my family we love to share the mooncakes, especially the ones with the salted yolks. This fragrance is connected to a special season, now translated into everyday presence. Then Pomelo Oolong Eau de Parfum. In Hong Kong we drink this tea during dim sum. Small cups, constantly refilled, cutting through the richness of all the small dishes, steamed, fried, sweet and savoury. It is my favourite. Here, oolong is paired with pomelo and white blossom. The citrus adds a gentle bitterness, fresh, lifting the tea fragrance.
From the Memories of Japan collection, Matcha Soft Serve balances green sharpness with cream. Matcha originated in China and later became refined within Japanese tea culture, from Zen practice to the codified tea ceremony. Traditionally this drink is associated with focus and discipline. In this fragrance it carries stillness and softness. Another with a Japanese reference is Japanese Whiskey, structured around Mizunara oak, chestnut and malted barley. The bottle resembles a small whisky bottle encased in a wooden box. It is the only flacon in the collection shaped differently from the others.
Something familiar runs through the way these scents are built. The references feel ancestral. I recognise the compositions immediately. These notes belong to my own cultural memory, now translated into fragrance. That sense of familiarity becomes the aha moment.
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Images courtesy of d’Annam and selected photographs by the author.
