Full of beans: the tonka edit

Introducing the delicious tonka bean, renowned for its rich warming exotic fragrance and a symbol of luck and happiness. Harvested from the dipteryx odorata tree in South America and the Caribbean, its fragrant flowers attract bees and pollinating insects. Cherished for its vanilla-like sweetness, especially in Colombian tonka beans, it gained popularity in 19th-century Europe, particularly among French perfume houses like Houbigant and Guerlain. Over the last few decades, it has become one the most popular spices in perfumery, and no wonder as it lends its bewitching character to many perfumes.

The harvesting process often involves breaking the pods, extracting seeds, and drying them in the sun for weeks before macerating them in rum. The resulting tonka bean absolute happens through solvent treatment and alcohol rinsing. Interestingly it is the coumarin, the natural aromatic found in both tonka beans and tobacco leaves, that gives that woody depth to many fragrances.

Initially used as a vanilla substitute, tonka was prized for enhancing fragrances' longevity by binding other materials together. With advances in perfumery we can now experience its brilliant versatility. As a sharp note in verdant diffusions, a creamy dry tone in ambers, woody and sweet when married to florals; the diverse olfactory profile seems endless.

As you explore this edit, and immerse yourself in the tantalizing world of tonka, we hope you come to know tonka as much more than a simple sweet vanilla-like note, but a complex material in its own right.