- Latin name
- Citrus bergamia
- Family
- Rue family (Rutaceae)
- Origin
- Calabria (southern Italy) — most of the world's harvest
- Parts used
- fruit peel
- Raw materials
- essential oil; bergapten-free oil (FCF)
- Extraction
- cold pressing of the peel
- Olfactory group
- citrus
- Position in the pyramid
- top note
- Synthetic substitutes
- linalyl acetate, linalool, limonene (bergamot bases)
Bergamot is an orange-sized citrus fruit with bumpy green-yellow skin. It is almost impossible to eat: the flesh is sour and bitter. Its value lies in the peel, which is cold-pressed to obtain the essential oil. Nearly all of the world's bergamot grows on a narrow strip of the Calabrian coast in southern Italy.
How it smells: fresh, bright, bittersweet citrus with a floral, almost lavender-like shade and a light tea nuance — it is bergamot that gives Earl Grey tea its aroma. It opens a composition and makes it bright and airy.
Bergamot is the backbone of the classic eighteenth-century colognes and of chypre fragrances (bergamot, labdanum, oakmoss). The natural oil contains bergapten, which makes skin more sensitive to the sun, so perfumery uses purified bergapten-free oil (marked FCF).
What it pairs with: bergamot gets along with almost everything. With lemon, neroli and lavender it gives classic cologne freshness, with jasmine and rose — radiant floral openings, with patchouli and oakmoss — chypre elegance, with tea and spices — cosy tea compositions. Even in heavy amber-woody fragrances a touch of bergamot at the start adds air.
Good to know: bergamot does not last long on skin — it is one of the lightest, most volatile notes, and it is what creates the first impression of a fragrance in the first minutes. That is why bergamot is almost always listed first in fragrance pyramids.
Fragrances with Bergamot
