Tayberry
| Category | FRUITS, VEGETABLES AND NUTS |
| Subcategory | berry · tart · fruity |
| Origin | |
| Volatility | Top to heart note |
| Botanical | Rubus fruticosus × R. idaeus |
| Producing Countries | Scotland (origin), UK, Pacific Northwest USA, New Zealand — as fruit crop. Not cultivated for perfumery. |
A raspberry-blackberry hybrid bred in 1962 at the Scottish Crop Research Institute, named after the River Tay. In perfumery, tayberry is a fantasy accord — no extract exists — built from berry aldehydes, damascenone, gamma-decalactone, and furaneol to capture its tart, jammy sweetness.
- Scent
- The Full Story
- Extraction & Chemistry
- In Perfumery
Scent
The Full Story
The tayberry (Rubus fruticosus × R. idaeus) is a hybrid between blackberry and red raspberry, developed by Derek Jennings at the Scottish Crop Research Institute (now the James Hutton Institute) near Dundee. Cross-breeding began in 1962; the variety was released commercially in 1979 after seventeen years of development. The name commemorates the River Tay. The fruit is elongated, dark purple-red when fully ripe, 4 to 5 centimetres long — its flavour combines raspberry tartness with blackberry depth plus a faint aromatic spice that neither parent carries alone [A].
This note in Première Peau. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.
In perfumery
There is no commercial tayberry extract — the fruit is too rare and too perishable for industrial fragrance use. Any 'tayberry' in perfumery is a reconstructed accord, built around raspberry ketone (CAS 5471-51-2), β-damascenone, α-ionone and a small ester palette [B]. The reconstruction sits between raspberry and blackberry, sometimes pushed slightly into rose territory via the damascenone.
Sources & Notes
[A] James Hutton Institute (formerly Scottish Crop Research Institute), Dundee — breeding history of Rubus hybrids. hutton.ac.uk.
[B] PubChem CID 16345 — raspberry ketone, CAS 5471-51-2, C₁₀H₁₂O₂. The defining berry ketone of raspberry/tayberry reconstruction. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/16345.
Extraction method: N/A — reconstructed fantasy accord. No commercial extraction exists.
| Molecular Formula | N/A — multi-component aroma |
| CAS Number | N/A — no commercial extract |
| Botanical Name | Rubus fruticosus × R. idaeus |
| Synonyms | TAYBERRY FRUIT · SCOTTISH BERRY HYBRID |
| Physical Properties |
In Perfumery
Tayberry functions as a bright, tart fruity top-to-heart note — juicier than raspberry, darker than strawberry. It pairs with rose, white musks, and citrus. The Discovery Set (/products/premiere-peau-discovery-set) spans all seven compositions.
