Orgeat Syrup

Note Profile

Prepared

About

Orgeat is the almond syrup used in tiki drinks. It smells of bitter almond and marzipan over boiled sugar, with orange flower water lifting the top. The almond is the note. The sugar is the carrier it arrives on.

Scent Profile

nutty is the note, and all three sources lead with it. Giffard's own product sheet gives the scent as 'gourmet notes of bitter almond, frangipane and crushed almonds'. Difford's Guide opens its tasting note on 'marzipan' and finds 'toasted almond' behind it. The home source agrees it is 'really just an almond syrup'. It is bitter almond, the benzaldehyde kind, not the toasted-skin kind. sweet_vanillic is the syrup itself. Giffard calls the product a 'pure sugar syrup', and Difford's finds 'macaroon' in the nose and 'icing sugar emerging' in the aftertaste. It is high but clearly second, because the manufacturer's own scent line names almond and not sugar. white_floral is orange flower water, and two of the three sources name it independently: 'heady orange blossom' from Difford's, and 'a verrry small amount of orange flower water gives it a haunting complexity' from the home source. Its spread is the widest in the vector at 0.20, because Giffard does not mention it at all and the home source warns the dose swings from 'lovely to mouthful-of-old-lady-perfume'. lactonic is the milkiness. Giffard describes the liquid as 'milky syrup', Difford's finds a 'creamy mouth-feel' and an aftertaste that fades 'to a gentle almond milk'. Below the line sit powdery for the icing sugar and marzipan dust, floral for the rose one source reports, fruity for that source's fig and maraschino cherry, honeyed and a small creamy_woody.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeHeart · ~6h lasting

Family Sweet & Gourmand, Floral

Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.

Origin

A prepared food, not an extracted material. Giffard lists the whole of it as sugar, water and natural almond flavouring. The bitter-almond character comes from benzaldehyde, and the strongest boutique versions get it by adding apricot kernels to the sweet almonds. Most recipes finish with a small dose of orange flower water, and some add rosewater. It is non-alcoholic, which is what separates it from amaretto.

Usage in Perfumery

Used as a gourmand heart note when a composition wants almond that is wet and sweetened rather than toasted or dry. It differs from marzipan by the orange flower on top, and that floral lift is what makes it read as a drink and not a confection. It sits under vanilla, rum and citrus accords, which is where the Mai Tai puts it.