Why our batches stay the size of a saucepan

Twice a year someone writes to ask why their new bottle smells slightly different from the last one. It’s our favourite email to answer.

Plants don’t standardize. A dry June gives rosemary that’s sharper and more camphorous; a wet one, softer and greener. Industrial skincare corrects this drift with isolated compounds until every batch is identical. We don’t — the drift is the ingredient.

Forty litres is our ceiling. Not for romance: it’s the largest volume where one person can still watch the whole pour, catch a maceration that’s gone too long, and write the date on every base by hand. Past that, you’re managing a process instead of making a thing.

The date is a promise. When a batch is poured, its date goes on the bottle before anything else. It tells you the oil is fresh — and tells us exactly which harvest to trace if something’s off. One number, both directions of trust.

What this costs you: occasional restock waits, and a scent that drifts with the seasons. What it buys: skincare that was a plant recently enough to remember it.