- Origin
- an accord composed by the perfumer
- Raw materials
- caramel, molasses and vanilla notes
- Extraction
- synthesis
- Olfactory group
- gourmand
- Position in the pyramid
- heart and base
- Synthetic substitutes
- furaneol, maltol, vanillin
Brown sugar is cane sugar that retains some of its molasses. The molasses gives it its brown colour, moisture and characteristic taste — and in perfume a separate note, warmer and deeper than white sugar.
How it smells: warm, dense and caramelised: dark molasses, slightly burnt caramel, a light rum and spicy shade. Brown sugar sounds cosier and more grown-up than white — not just sweet, but like baked caramel.
White sugar in perfume is a pure light sweetness, while brown sugar is sweetness with flavour: it has shades of rum, liquorice and dried fruit. That is why it pairs so well with dark gourmand and amber notes.
What it pairs with: with rum and vanilla — “rum caramel”, with cinnamon and ginger — spicy winter desserts, with coffee — “coffee with sugar”, with tobacco — warm sweet tobacco, with benzoin and amber — dense amber compositions.
Good to know: rum is made from cane molasses — the very “brown” component that gives brown sugar its colour and flavour.
