Buchu

When South Africa lends its scents to mint and fruity accords Buchu is a small wild shrub that has grown for centuries on the plains around Cape Town, the famous capital of South Africa. While the essential oil has long been used by Africans for its medicinal and olfactory properties, perfumery is now discovering this original fragrance, at once minty and bearing delicate resemblances to the note of blackcurrant bud. Once again, men's fragrances are treating themselves to touches of novelty while elevating the great woody and fresh classics among their favorite compositions.

The origins of buchu

Buchu (or bucco) is a small shrub of the heather family that grows particularly on the rocky plains of the Cape massifs in South Africa. Belonging to the same botanical family as the lemon tree, the orange tree or the bitter orange tree, buchu has the distinctive trait of having adapted especially well to harsh climatic conditions, notably thanks to its roots, which literally cling to the rock, as if to avoid falling into the void!
The scents given off by buchu are absolutely divine. Between blackcurrant bud and minty freshness, the small pockets clinging beneath buchu's leaves make it an ideal raw material to transform into essential oil, whether for its medicinal or olfactory properties.
The women of the Hottentot tribe in Africa were, moreover, the first, 400 years ago, to use buchu to coat their bodies with this scent, so sweet and fresh.

Buchu, an original raw material in men's perfumery

Men's fragrances of recent years play on green, minty freshness to create top-note accords that offer men fragrances with original notes while remaining relatively classic. Indeed, men are absolutely loyal… to their fragrance and to their consumption habits! The great challenge facing perfumers today is therefore to offer new men's fragrances that draw on the great classic olfactory families while incorporating new raw materials that create more original accords.
Buchu, whose essential oil is extracted from the shining glands barely hidden beneath its leaves, produces scents that are at once herbaceous and minty but also sulfurous. It is therefore relatively easy to incorporate buchu notes into woody or citrus olfactory families, which are currently very much in vogue.
The famous Ck Free by Calvin Klein offered in 2009 a bold blend of spicy top notes mixed with famous heart notes of coffee, tobacco and animalic notes. Buchu and jackfruit bring a delicately fruity note to a base that is, by contrast, very woody. This fragrance aims to offer men a relaxed and chic allure through an aromatic, woody and fruity blend that frees both the senses and the mind!

Buchu, with its fresh and minty properties, seems destined to become one of the future components of the tonic, fresh men's fragrances that are driving the success of major brands today. However, buchu's striking resemblance to the blackcurrant bud note may open the doors of women's perfumery, particularly fruity and eager for sweetness, to this African raw material. Although this venture is still tentative, Tom Ford's mixed, aromatic citrus fragrance Azure Lime offers a new facet of buchu, this time in a more glamorous and more luxurious form.