Benzoin
Sweet, warm tree resin with vanilla-like softness, spice, and a faint smoky balsamic smell.
You may know it from Benzoin resin used in incense
Where it comes from
A fragrant resin tapped from styrax trees, mainly in Southeast Asia.
Worth knowing
Despite its vanilla-like smell, it is tree resin, not vanilla.
About benzoin
Benzoin is collected as droplets. A cut in the bark of a Styrax tree makes the resin seep out, and it hardens into "tears" that are scraped off by hand. Sources give a yield of 4 to 6 kg per tree per year. Two species dominate the trade: Styrax tonkinensis, which gives Siam benzoin, and Styrax benzoin, which gives Sumatra benzoin. Siam comes mainly from the northern uplands of Laos, especially Phongsaly province, and from northern Vietnam. Sumatra comes from North Sumatra.
In Laos the tapping sits next to rice farming. UEBT reports about 150 villages and 40,000 farmers harvesting it, with resin making up as much as 17% of a household's income. The same source lists France, Germany, India and the US as the main buyers, and describes trees grown among upland rice and replanted on rotations of 16 to 18 years.
The two types read differently. Siam is described as the sweeter and lighter one, with a vanilla facet alongside caramel, roasted almond, roasted coffee and honey. Sumatra is described as darker, spicier and sharper. Sumatran benzoin also contains cinnamic acid in addition to benzoic acid, which Siamese benzoin lacks. Analytical work on Sumatra balsam has found cinnamic acid, vanillin and benzoic acid among its main compounds, and notes that the balsam was often adulterated with synthetic flavours.
Perfumers get a resinoid by extracting the tears with hot ethanol or hexane and removing the solvent under vacuum. The result is very viscous, so suppliers commonly sell it diluted. It sits in the base of a composition, where it slows the dispersion of other materials into the air and adds warmth and roundness. Amber accords often pair it with vanilla, tonka or labdanum. Guerlain's Shalimar lists it in the base with vanilla, sandalwood and tonka.
Osmetheca writes that before vanilla reached Europe from Mexico, benzoin was the main vanilla-scented sweetness apothecaries had. Delacourte, a producer, mentions it in Eau de Botot, a mouthwash that Louis XV is said to have used.
Accords it shows up in
How many of the fragrances listing Benzoin in our catalogue also carry each accord. We counted this ourselves.
Often paired with
The notes that appear next to Benzoin most often in our catalogue.
Well-known fragrances with Benzoin
Fragrances that list it in their notes, most-rated first.
Houses that use it most
Ranked by how many of their well-known fragrances list Benzoin.