Green

Cilantro

Note Profile

Botanical 8 perfumes

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Also Known As

Coriander Leaf

About

Cilantro in perfumery refers to the fresh leaves of the coriander plant, Coriandrum sativum, rather than the dried seeds. It has a distinctive bright, green, and slightly metallic character that many people perceive as soapy or sharply herbaceous. Used carefully, it brings a vivid, modern green edge to compositions.

Scent Profile

Perfumery descriptions of cilantro highlight a smell akin to crushed leaf stems with a metallic-aldehydic bite, bright, herbaceous, and very green. The bite comes from fatty, waxy aldehydes, decenal and dodecenal, which give the note its soapy brightness and a light lipid weight beneath the green. The note can come across as intensely soapy or even pungent to some, due to genetic differences in odour perception, while others experience it as clean, fresh, and slightly citrusy. It carries a mineral, stony edge, cool like metal, under the green.

ScentWheel

Breadthfocused

EnvelopeTop · ~2h lasting

Family Green & Aromatic

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Materials That Can Make This Note

Perfumers can build Cilantro from materials such as:

Natural extract Coriander herb oil
Trans-2-decenal mushroom · tallow · coriander

Smell words come from published sources.

A given perfume with this note may use some of these, or something else.

Origin

Cilantro is obtained from the foliage of Coriandrum sativum, the same plant that yields coriander seeds. In a fragrance context, its scent can be captured via essential oil from leafy material. The plant is cultivated widely in Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, Asian, and Latin American regions, and its familiar culinary association supports its recognition as a distinctive aromatic material.

Usage in Perfumery

Perfumers use cilantro leaf notes to introduce a strikingly green, almost wet-herbal brightness in the top or early heart of a fragrance. It is particularly suited to modern aromatic, green, and fresh compositions, where it can sharpen citrus openings or contrast with softer florals and musks. Because of its polarising, soapy-metallic edge, it is dosed with restraint and blended with other herbs, aldehydes, and ozonic or watery notes to control its intensity.