Clove smells hot, sweet and intensely spicy, with a medicinal edge and a carnation-like floral heart. It is one of the strongest spices in perfumery and a historically central ingredient of the oriental family.
The raw material is the dried unopened flower bud of Syzygium aromaticum, an evergreen tree native to the Maluku islands of Indonesia (the original Spice Islands), now grown also in Madagascar, Tanzania and Sri Lanka. Steam distillation of bud, leaf or stem yields three different oils, all dominated by eugenol, which is responsible for the signature hot-medicinal heart. Clove has been traded globally since Roman times and sparked colonial wars in the sixteenth century.
Clove is a heart note with good persistence. Perfumers use it as the defining spice of carnation accords, to warm oriental compositions (Opium, Egoiste), and to give bite to amber and tobacco bases. It pairs brilliantly with vanilla, rose, sandalwood and leather.
Clove performs best in autumn, winter and evening wear, and suits opulent oriental signatures.
