Tea Tree Essential Oil

Tea Tree oil is one of the most popular essential oils and is extracted from the 20-foot evergreen Melaleuca alternifolia. This tree, commonly known as the Tea Tree plant, thrives in its native range’s swampy conditions, around New South Wales, Australia. With cypress-like needles for leaves, its bark is papery, and its blooms are creamy white, yellow, or purple.

Today, this essential oil is produced not only in Australia but New Zealand and India as well. The quality of Australian Tea Tree essential oil is highly variable but the best selections nonetheless come from this country and the oils from New Zealand and India are not, in our opinion, as good as the best selections from Australia.  Both of our Tea Tree essential oil selections are sourced from Australia and we believe them to be among the best choices available on the market.

Tea Tree oil has a fresh, pungent, somewhat camphoraceous aroma with notes of spice and lemon. Some people describe the aroma as “medicinal”. Aromatically, it can blend well with lavender, clary sage, rosemary, pine, marjoram, and many spice oils. Tea Tree essential oil does not blend well with some florals, however, and it’s always advisable when blending for the aroma to add it in small amounts.

Indigenous Australians have used medicinal tea made from the leaves and blossoms of the tea tree plant for centuries and this is how the plant got its common name of Tea Tree.