Litsea cubeba

Litsea cubeba solves a problem every perfumer knows. Lemon is glorious and gone in minutes. Litsea smells like lemon and stays for an hour. It is not a citrus fruit at all, but a berry from a laurel tree, and it is one of the most useful materials I own.

What litsea cubeba is

Litsea cubeba, also called may chang, is a small tree of the laurel family. The oil is steam distilled from its pepper sized berries and is one of the richest natural sources of citral, the molecule that gives lemon and lemongrass their signature. Because the citral in litsea is supported by a green, grassy body rather than the light terpenes of citrus peel, it holds on the skin far longer than lemon oil does.

Where our litsea cubeba comes from

Our litsea cubeba comes from China, where the tree grows across the hills of the southern provinces and where the oil has been distilled for generations. The warm, wet summers of the region push the berries to a very high citral content, and Chinese litsea is the standard for this material worldwide. The berries are harvested in late summer when they are fully ripe, and the freshly distilled oil has a brightness that fades if the fruit is stored too long, so speed matters as much as place.

How litsea cubeba smells

Fresh, strong, sweet lemon with a green and grassy undertone. It is more intense than lemon peel, less sharp, and it has a faint fruity roundness that reads as lemon drop rather than lemon zest.

Litsea cubeba in our chapter

• VIImpériale OudThe First Root · in the opening

  In Impériale Oud it is the lemon light of the opening, bright enough to cut through cinnamon, thyme and pink pepper before the rose and the oud arrive.

A note from the atelier

Impériale Oud needed an opening that could hold its own against cinnamon and oud without vanishing in the first minute. Lemon would have been gone before the rose appeared. Litsea stays long enough to introduce her.

Questions about litsea cubeba