If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve probably noticed more and more products with terpenes. But why are terpenes so important? Read on and discover the top three benefits of terpenes.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you probably know that customers love mouthwatering flavors and toe-curling aromas. So, whether you’re creating food & beverage, skincare, or even vape products, taste and smell are pretty important. Relying on the natural ingredients for this can, unfortunately, create inconsistencies in your products. On the other hand, resorting to chemical flavoring agents can create synthetic experiences that are poor imitations of the real thing. This is where terpenes come in handy.

Not only do terpenes allow you to create a consistent experience for your customer, but they also let you accurately mimic the natural flavors from your ingredients. That’s not all though. Keep reading to discover the top three benefits of terpenes.

Top 3 Benefits of Terpenes

Don’t sweat it if you’re in a rush. Here’s the breakdown of what we’re covering today…

1. Terpenes are organic hydrocarbons found in most plants. They’re the building blocks of scent and flavor.
2. Terpenes are also functional flavors that allow you to mimic specific scents and flavors OR create your own boutique flavors that no one has ever experienced before.
3. On top of that, terpenes have the ability to temporarily influence our moods by interacting with receptors in our brains.
4. Cannabis products in particular benefit from terpenes because of the Entourage Effect. Plus, now non-cannabis products can use the scents and flavors of specific strains without having to use cannabis at all.

What Are Terpenes and Why Do They Matter

For a more detailed explanation, click here. However, if you’re wondering what terpenes are and why they matter, here’s the short version. A terpene is an organic hydrocarbon, produced by a plant. Most plants produce their own unique blend of terpenes which is what gives them their scent and flavor.

Basically, terpenes are the building blocks of flavor and scent. In the past, people thought essential oils held this title. However, essential oils are actually made up of their own blend of terpenes (we call this a terpene profile). By refining these oils down further, we can isolate specific terpenes. This technology allows us to mimic the natural flavor and aroma of the plants around us. 

While this is especially helpful for anyone in the food and beverage industry, terpenes do more than just create specific scents and flavors. Terpenes interact with us. Have you ever wondered why that lavender pillow spray helps you drift off to sleep? That’s from the terpene linalool. Do you notice less joint pain after using an all-natural muscle rub? Check the ingredients and it’s likely you’ll see camphor in it.

These hydrocarbons influence different receptors in the brain which can affect different neurotransmitters. Each terpene has its own unique list of properties, but most of these effects are beneficial to the human body in some way. Whether or not you realize it, terpenes are all around us and they’ve been interacting with us for a long time. 

So, what does that mean for your products?

Top 3 Benefits of Terpenes

While some might try to rely on the plants themselves to impart scent and flavor into their products, this isn’t always an option. Terpenes are sensitive and easily damaged. Things like weather, soil quality, and even farming techniques can all have a big impact on the end terpene profile of a plant. That means two identical plants may have slightly different terpene expressions. 

So, if you want your products to have a consistent experience every single time, utilizing specific terpenes will give you that control. However, if you’re still somehow on the fence about using terpenes in your products, here are three specific benefits that might just change your mind.

Terpenes are Functional Flavors

To some extent, we’ve already covered this. However, we can’t stress enough just how big of an impact these functional flavors will have on the food and beverage industry. As more brands look for natural flavoring methods, terpenes are easily the go-to option to enhance the taste and fragrance of products. 

With both water-soluble and oil-soluble terpene blends, finding the right flavor and aroma for your products isn’t the headache it used to be. Our purified, food-grade terpene isolates and blends come from herbs, fruits, and spices you’re probably already familiar with. While you might not think the terpenes from oranges, basil, and even lavender would enable us to create such a wide variety of other flavors, you’d be wrong.

Being able to isolate specific terpenes means we can curate unique blends as well as mimic specific aromas. Now your citrus-flavored beverages will have that perfect mouthwatering pucker. You can even add flavor and aroma to carbonated water products without adding calories or synthetic flavors.

 With terpenes, you can curate your own boutique flavor blend that no one else has ever experienced before! Seriously, the possibilities are endless.

Terpenes Can Temporarily Influence Our Mood

If the taste of Key Lime Pie always puts a pep in your step, it might be more than just the sugar rush. That’s because terpenes have the ability to temporarily influence our moods. While we wouldn’t go so far as to say that terpenes are the key to happiness, certain terpenes have been used for centuries to promote a sense of calm and relaxation, focus, and some have even been called uplifting or euphoric.

Myrcene, for example, has sedative effects that make it particularly helpful for promoting relaxation and sleep. Citrus oils are often used in aromatherapy to help reduce stress and promote energy. Not surprisingly, these oils often contain high amounts of D-Limonene which has anti-stress properties. Like we said before, terpenes interact with us! They influence certain brain receptors to promote or inhibit neurotransmitters. That’s what enables them to have such varied responses. 

Being able to blend certain terpenes together means you can even create a unique experience that your customers might not get anywhere else. Gelato, for example, has been known to help people get more in tune with their creative side. On the other hand, terpene blends like Coma are particularly calming and relaxing. People have been using flavor and aroma to create a “mood” for a long time, but terpene science is now helping us understand why that actually works.

Terpenes Influence the Experience of Cannabis Products

While you can use our terpenes in any of your products, cannabis products benefit from them in some very specific ways. 

Cannabis is a particularly terpene-dense plant. Honestly, one of the big reasons why terpene science is so successful today is because of the legalization of cannabis in some states. What’s even more interesting, however, is the impact that terpenes have on the overall cannabis experience. 

If you’ve ever wondered why certain cannabis strains put you to sleep while others seem to give you a burst of energy, it’s all because of terpenes! Terpenes themselves aren’t psychoactive (they don’t get you high). When you combine them with THC, however, they influence the type of effects you’ll experience. Terpenes and cannabinoids work synergistically together to create effects they might not have been able to create on their own. This is what’s known as the Entourage Effect.

For example, Indica-dominant strains are associated with more calming and relaxing effects. A huge part of these effects actually comes from the high Myrcene content of these strains. Sativa-dominant strains, on the other hand, are more associated with uplifting, energizing effects. Again, these effects are due to the particular blend of terpenes and their unique properties. 

This means you can now ensure the exact flavor and effects you’re looking for in your cannabis products. Now, you can ensure your vape products have the taste and effects of OG Kush, Chemdawg, or whichever strain you’d like to highlight. If you’re struggling to get that perfect Blue Dream or Gelato flavor into your edibles, terpenes can help there too! Terpenes are the calorie-free way to add flavor, aroma, and effects without any synthetic tasting compounds.

What’s even more interesting is that non-cannabis products can now benefit from the terpene profiles of specific cannabis strains without actually having to use cannabis. Without cannabis, they won’t benefit from the entourage effect and they won’t have the same psychoactive experience. However, they can still use botanically-derived terpenes to mimic the scent and flavor of specific cannabis strains. 

Consider Adding Terpenes To Your Products Today

If you’re interested in creating consistent flavors, aromas, and experiences in your products, then terpenes are the only way to go. We want to remind everyone that our terpenes are cannabis free and 100% legal. However, we do work very hard to isolate the specific terpene profiles of popular strains so both cannabis consumers and non-cannabis consumers can enjoy and benefit from them.