Calabrian bergamot
Bright tart citrus peel, lightly floral and bitter, like a lemon-orange with a green edge.
You may know it from Earl Grey tea
Where it comes from
Cold-pressed essential oil from the peel of Calabrian bergamot oranges.
Botanical name: Citrus ×bergamia
Worth knowing
Bergamot oil can increase sun sensitivity unless it is treated to remove bergapten.
About calabrian bergamot
The tree cannot be grown true from seed. Each one is grafted onto a related citrus, and research on the Fantastico cultivar used sour orange rootstock. Around 1,300 smallholder farmers cultivate it in Calabria and sell to processors and cooperatives, according to Givaudan, and two of Givaudan's three main suppliers belong to UEBT.
The groves sit on the Ionian side of the province of Reggio Calabria. The protected strip starts at Villa San Giovanni, and sources differ on where it ends, with one naming Gioiosa Ionica and another Monasterace. A study of the protected area describes an arid climate with rain concentrated in autumn and winter, and states that oil from elsewhere is not comparable to the designated area's. Fruit is picked when the peel turns from green to yellow, between roughly November and February, to keep the peel intact for extraction.
The oil is cold-pressed from the peel close to the groves, which one Calabrian producers' site gives as the way to avoid altering its characteristics. The Reggio Calabria tourism body dates oil extraction in the region to the end of the 18th century. Under the EU protection, registered as "Bergamotto di Reggio Calabria - olio essenziale", quality control of the oil belongs to the Stazione Sperimentale per le Industrie delle Essenze e dei Derivati dagli Agrumi.
Producers there sell more than the plain pressed oil. The same site lists an oil without furocoumarins and a deterpenated oil beside it.
Accords it shows up in
How many of the fragrances listing Calabrian bergamot in our catalogue also carry each accord. We counted this ourselves.
Often paired with
The notes that appear next to Calabrian bergamot most often in our catalogue.
Well-known fragrances with Calabrian bergamot
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 Calabrian bergamot.