Tonka Bean in Perfumery

It is a multifaceted, magical seed with a gourmand and vanilla note. You will discover everything there is to know about this seed and its primary ingredient, coumarin, which is a tonka bean-derived substance that has been synthesised and used extensively in perfumery since ancient times.

Tonka Bean in Perfumery

Little magic seed of the tonka bean

South America is home to tonka beans, especially in Brazil, Mexico, Guyana, and Venezuela. It is derived from the fruit of the Dipteryx odorata, a tropical tree. Other names for it include sarrapia, Cayenne guaiac, coumarouna, and coumaru.
The bean is actually the stone of the tree known by the same name, coumarou, which yields the fruit.

Along the banks of the Amazonian rivers, it grows. It is 20 to 30 meters tall, with a red trunk that resembles teak, 50 to 70 centimetres in diameter, big leaves that resemble those of the walnut tree, and fragrant blooms that release their smell when the fruits are ready. Each of its big almond-shaped fruits has a single, lustrous, black, oval, or oblong seed that wrinkles when it dries. It will start to smell at that point, and its scent will intensify.

Tonka bean harvest

The papilionaceous flowers turn from white to pink and give way to fruits that when ripe for the most part fall to the ground.

The harvest takes place in May. The fruits that fall to the ground when ripe are collected. After a year of drying, the seeds are removed by breaking the shell with a hammer or stone. After being gathered, the beans are sun-dried and then submerged for 24 hours at 65° in vessels filled with powerful alcohol. After that, they are allowed to air dry, which produces a lovely white frosting as a result of the coumarin crystals appearing. The annual fruit production of a tree ranges from 15 to 75 kilogramme. A sappapiero is the person who gathers tonka beans. Production ranges from 60 to 100 tonnes per year, depending mostly on the environment.

The scent of tonka bean

It has a complex aroma that includes notes of hay, gingerbread, pistachio, vanilla, tobacco, gourmand, almond, and woody.

Tonka beans contain coumarin.
This raw material's primary molecule is known as coumarin. 46% of tonka beans contain coumarin, which has an almondy scent and reminds us of the tiny pots of Cleopatra glue we used to use as kids. Unfortunately, because school glue now smells extremely different, the younger generation is unaware of this scent.

Coumarin is a very persistent base note that has a warm, gourmand aroma with hints of hay, tobacco, and pistachio.

The scientists Justus Von Liebig and Friedrich Wöhler identified coumarin in tonka bean seeds in 1856.
It was successfully synthesised in 1868 by William H. Perkin, an English chemist.

Coumarin makes up 46% of Tonka beans, although it is also present in smaller amounts in Liatris plants (25%), sweet vernal grass (8%), and cinnamon (0.45%).
In accordance with IFRA laws, it is classified as an allergy. Its share of the final product is restricted to 1.5%.

Coumarin is a powder that is white in colour. A lactone and an ester group make up coumarin.

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The first use of coumarin

Coumarin was used by perfumer Paul Parquet in Houbigant's Fougère Royale in 1882. The fougère family, a new perfume family, would have its start with this scent.

In 1868, coumarin was synthesised and added to Guerlain's perfume Jicky, together with linalool and ethyl vanillin. The latter is a member of the fougère family as well.

Tonka bean, which is delicious, is also well suited to oriental or floriental notes.

Properties of tonka bean

Locals use it to treat certain infections; it is a product with tonic properties and also an anticoagulant.

The multi-use of tonka bean

These seeds were first marketed in sachets to be kept in cabinets between laundry loads after being pulverised into a powder.

In perfumery, it is the bean which is treated by extraction with volatile solvents to produce tonka bean absolute.

Similar to nutmeg, the bean itself can be grated for use in baking and cooking and used with coffee, chocolate (for example, in a dark chocolate ganache), cakes, and sweets (panna cotta). Its flavours and scents can also be released by combining it with salty overtones. Like nutmeg, tonka bean can be a little harmful in big doses, so use it sparingly in moderation.

To flavor snuff and also pipe tobacco, Amsterdamer, a practice now banned in France and the United States.

I like to slip some tonka beans into my car near the heater, it's delicious.

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Perfumes containing tonka bean

The list of fragrances that contain tonka bean is as follows:

• Guerlinade by Guerlain
• Jicky by Guerlain
• Guerlain Imperial Tonka
• Guerlain Shalimar
• Guerlain Blue Hour
• Samsara by Guerlain
• My Guerlain by Guerlain
• Hermès Tonka Vetiver
• Tonka from Le Labo
• Armani Code
• Chanel Lion
• Gaultier's Male
• Hypnosis by Lancôme
• Hypnotic Poison by Dior
• Dior Delicious Bean
• Allure for Men by Chanel
• Tonka of Reminiscence
• Vahina by Bahisht Aroma Paris
• Ozkan by Bahisht Aroma Paris

Bahisht Aroma Perfumes

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