Osmanthus: the Chinese blossom that smells of apricot
Osmanthus (Osmanthus fragrans) is an evergreen shrub from East Asia whose tiny white, yellow or orange flowers carry the scent of ripe peaches and apricots. Perfumers use its absolute for a fruity floral note shaped by carotenoid-derived molecules such as ionones.
Where does osmanthus come from?
Sweet osmanthus, also called tea olive or fragrant olive, is native to a wide arc running from the Himalayas and Assam through China to Japan, Taiwan and mainland Southeast Asia. It is the city flower of Hangzhou, Suzhou and Guilin. As the botanical profile of Osmanthus fragrans notes, its flowers are infused with green or black tea to make osmanthus tea, and the shrub is closely tied to the Mid-Autumn Festival.
What does osmanthus smell like?
Osmanthus flowers carry the scent of ripe peaches or apricots. Much of that character comes from carotenoids breaking down into fragrant molecules. The chemistry entry on ionones cites a 2010 study in which osmanthus essential oil showed the highest diversity of carotenoid-derived volatiles among the flowering plants investigated, with enzymes from the flower producing alpha- and beta-ionone. That is the same family of molecules that gives violet its scent.
How is osmanthus turned into a perfume material?
Osmanthus is processed into a concrete and then an absolute. The flowers wilt so fast that their scent has to be extracted within 24 hours of picking, and producers keep part of the harvest in brine to spread the work beyond the very short flowering. French perfumery glossaries describe the absolute as apricot-like, honeyed and leathery. The Class on how fragrance is extracted explains concretes and absolutes.
What does osmanthus do in a fragrance?
Osmanthus belongs to the florals family and is used mainly in fine fragrance, where it adds a fruity floral facet. Its leathery edge brings it close to leather notes, and some noses compare it with jasmine. To train your nose, smell it next to a cup of flower-scented tea, the way osmanthus is drunk in China.
Often paired with
Further reading
- Osmanthus fragrans en.wikipedia.org
- Ionone en.wikipedia.org
- Olivier odorant fr.wikipedia.org
- Glossaire de la parfumerie fr.wikipedia.org
Osmanthus in the feed
hana.neroliin Florals & Bouquets · Vancouver ·
Discovery
Osmanthus outside a Vancouver tea shop smells of apricot
On my walk there's an osmanthus shrub flowering beside a little tea shop, tiny pale orange flowers you'd never notice, and the whole block smells of ripe apricot. My grandmother in Japan called it kinmokusei and for her it meant autumn. The osmanthus page…
joon.yuzu TL;DR: hunting for one in Seattle this weekend. Apricot plus tea is my whole personality. That's my two cents.