Tonka Bean Absolute

Latin name :

Dipterix odorata

Botanical profile :

The cumaru is a tree belonging to the Fabaceae family, and to the genus Dipterix.

Geographic origin :

Tonka beans are harvested from the tropical forests of Venezuela, Guyana and Brazil.

Chemotypes :

There are several species belonging to the genus Dipterix. Nevertheless, the only specie used in perfumery is the coumarou Dipterix odorata, for its fruits and its bean.
It includes the Dipterix alata tree for the cultivation of almonds in Peru and Brazil among others. This tree is also called barou.

Extraction process :

The tree called coumarou grows mainly in the dense and humid forests of Central America (Amazonia). It gives an ovoid fruit that contains a bean. The fruits of the coumarou are collected between February and April by the local producers and the indigenous populations. They are opened by hand with a knife or by tapping them with a hammer against a stone to remove the bean. The beans are dried in the shade first, then in the sun, to make them reach a darker colour.
At the extraction plant, a maceration in alcohol is performed. Once the alcohol has evaporated, coumarin crystals appear on the surface of the beans: it is called glazing. This glazing step is essential because it gives all the olfactory characteristics to the absolute. After an extraction with hexane by maceration, a resinoid is obtained with a yield of 30 to 50%. The resinoid is very little used as is. A dilution of the resinoid is made in alcohol in order to obtain the absolute (yield of 15% in comparison to the bean), by precipitating the resinoid waxes with a glazing process (temperature gradient from 140 °F to 32 °F). After filtration and evaporation of the solvent, the absolute is collected. Sometimes, the tonka bean absolute can be distilled to be bleached, without a great olfactory impact.

Major Components :

Coumarin (50-70%)
Fatty Acids
Plotter(s) : Phenolide