Jasmine Sambac

Absolute from the night-opening flowers of Arabian jasmine, grown in southern India. Green, fruity, and honeyed with a tea-like undertone: heavier and headier than grandiflorum jasmine.

Absolute obtained by solvent extraction of the flowers of Jasminum sambac (Arabian jasmine), an evergreen climber of the olive family (Oleaceae) cultivated across South and Southeast Asia, above all in southern India, where this grade is produced. The flowers are gathered as buds and open at night. They are first extracted into a waxy concrete, which is then washed with ethanol to leave the absolute. Its principal constituents are benzyl acetate, indole, (E,E)-α-farnesene, benzyl alcohol, linalool, and methyl anthranilate, in proportions that vary with where the flowers are grown. Compared with the more common Jasminum grandiflorum, sambac is greener, fruitier, and more honeyed, with a tea-like undertone and a heady, indolic sweetness that deepens in the drydown. It is the national flower of the Philippines, where it is called sampaguita, and the jasmine used to scent jasmine tea.