Koya’s: Rasta, Nirvana
These are the last two sticks from Steve (Incense in the Wind) out of our first 2023 sample exchange. He himself received them as samples from Koya’s.
Rasta and Nirvana are available at the Koya’s webshop in 25 g and 100 g packs, priced at 60 and 225 Indian rupees – roughly €0.60 for the small box and €2.30 for the large one. The price has gone up since I last checked; the 100 g pack used to be 180 rupees.
I’m becoming reluctant to write reviews based on single sticks, but I’m making an exception for these two. I’m hoping a retailer in Germany – or at least somewhere in the EU – will become interested in the brand and start importing their incense, as Koya’s are basically impossible to find here at the time of publication.
Rasta
The moment I light the stick, I immediately smell a now‑familiar floral note I’ve encountered in many incense sticks but still can’t name. I find it in incenses like Balaji – RED, in various Green Tree varieties and in what feels like two dozen other varieties I can’t recall right now.
It’s a slightly piercing note that reminds me of citrus fruits such as grapefruit, but without their bitterness. I’ve always found this smell rather obtrusive; here, though, it’s so discreet and well woven into the blend that it doesn’t bother me at all – it actually makes the fragrance more interesting, giving it a fresher, perkier feel.
In a way, I’m further reminded of Goloka – Lotus because Rasta has a pronounced floral softness that strongly resembles the sweet rose scent of those lotus sticks, without sharing their overload. This softness carries on into the after‑smell.
Once the stick has burnt down about a third, I start to notice a kind of minty freshness. At times, it blends with the floral‑fresh aspect mentioned above.
This overall rather heady bouquet is supported by a sweet, smooth sandalwood perfume that elegantly rounds off the composition.
Steve mentions lots of other notes in his review that I didn’t pick up, and he’s thrilled to keep discovering new facets in the fragrance. With just this one stick, Rasta felt more like a short trip than a journey to me, so it’s no surprise my impressions are far more limited.
Rasta is like a colourful bouquet of flowers in vibrant pastel shades – bright, cheerful and full of lightheartedness.
Nirvana
At first, I thought Nirvana was a little similar to Rasta, but the longer the stick burns, the clearer the differences become. Both have a floral aspect, yet in Nirvana it’s much less pronounced – vague and impossible for me to name.
Robuster notes take centre stage: the aroma is woody, dark and slightly animalic‑musky, with a faint indolic tinge.
In the first few minutes I found a fairly strong “chandan” note in Nirvana, but as the stick burns further, it’s replaced by deeper, aromatic-tart wood aromas. It’s not really an oud scent, though it’s hinting in that direction.
Nirvana is also sweet, with a hint of vanilla underneath. Unlike Rasta, however, the fragrance is hardly heady – it’s a deep, sensual aroma.
If Rasta is a bouquet of pastel spring flowers, Nirvana is a lavishly decorated harvest wreath in warm autumnal colours.
You can read Steve’s review of Nirvana here. At least in the after‑smell, I can relate with his comparison to tobacco.
Both samples were packed in parchment‑paper bags and have pulled a noticeable amount of oil from the sticks. Even so, I still found the fragrance good and didn’t feel they were weak. As I don’t know how the sticks smelled beforehand, I didn’t want to leave this unmentioned.
As indicated at the start, I’m quite fond of Koya’s and hope it’ll become easier to get hold of over here in the EU in the future.