Which Anise Oil Size Should You Start With?
Most people shopping for anise oil assume the bigger bottle is the smarter buy. With a material this concentrated, it usually isn't. Anise oil is mostly one aromatic molecule, a few drops fill a room, and the oil is happiest when it is used within a couple of years, so the right first bottle is usually the small one.
Anise Essential Oil
Our own Anise Essential Oil, in sizes from 0.5 oz to bulk.
From $8.99
Shop Now →What is actually in each bottle
We sell our steam-distilled anise oil neat in ten sizes. The Certificate of Analysis we publish for one batch lists a relative density of 0.979, so a millilitre weighs about 0.98 g. Assuming roughly 20 drops to the millilitre (a rule of thumb that shifts with the dropper), the retail sizes work out like this:
| Size | Volume | Weight | Approx. drops |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.5 oz | 14.8 ml | 14.5 g | about 300 |
| 1 oz | 29.6 ml | 29.0 g | about 590 |
| 2 oz | 59.1 ml | 57.9 g | about 1,180 |
| 4 oz | 118.3 ml | 115.8 g | about 2,370 |
| 8 oz | 236.6 ml | 231.6 g | about 4,730 |
| 16 oz | 473.2 ml | 463.2 g | about 9,460 |
The 5, 25, 100 and 400 lb sizes are sold by weight (2.27, 11.34, 45.4 and 181.4 kg) and have their own write-up in our bulk buying guide.
Matching a size to what you make
If you have never smelled it, start with 0.5 oz. Anise reads as sweet, warm and licorice-like with a faint spiced edge, and a drop on a blotter will tell you in a day whether it is your scent. Our scent profile describes what to expect.
For diffuser blends or the odd perfume accord, 0.5 or 1 oz is plenty. A single oz holds about 590 drops, and a blend usually calls for one or two. That bottle will likely outlast its own shelf life, which we give as typically two to three years, tightly capped, in a cool, dark place.
For regular small batches of soap, candles or lotion bars, 2 to 4 oz is a comfortable range. The useful sum is simple: oil per batch, times batches per year. Anise limits in finished products are set by the estragole it contains, and those ceilings are low enough that most makers use far less than they expect. The candle guide shows how to work out a load.
If you sell what you make, 8 or 16 oz is the step up, and it is also where we would start asking us in writing for the lot figures you need for your own paperwork. Past that, the bulk guide is the place to go.
Think about how you will actually use it
It helps to picture the project, not the bottle. Are you scenting a few candles for the holidays, or making soap every month? Do you just want to know what anise smells like? Write down the one thing you want to make first and the amount of oil it will need. Most people are surprised by how short that list is.
Why bigger is not always better value
Every time a bottle is opened, air gets in, and heat, light and oxygen are what slowly age an essential oil, a point the Tisserand Institute makes about oils in general. A half-empty large bottle spends more of its life exposed than a small one that is opened once and used. So we would buy about a year of use at a time, and if you do buy more, decant a working amount into a smaller airtight bottle and keep the rest sealed. Our bottles are amber glass in every size, which helps with the light.
Temperature matters too. The main aroma compound in anise oil, anethole, melts at about 21 degrees Celsius (PubChem), so a bottle that has sat in a cold room or arrived on a winter doorstep can look cloudy or set solid. That is ordinary behaviour for an anethole-rich oil. Let it come back to room temperature and give it a gentle shake; our post on why anise oil turns solid or cloudy covers the details.
A small first order that tells you a lot
If you are unsure, buy 0.5 oz, smell it, and make one small batch of the thing you actually want. Weigh the oil rather than counting drops, because drops vary with the bottle and the temperature while percentages are what safety limits are written in. A week later you will know whether you want a reorder, and in which size. Some of our storage advice is worth reading before you stock up.
If you plan to buy for resale, get in touch and we can talk through sample bottles and lot documents first. Our oil is for aromatic and cosmetic use only, so anything you want to flavour food with belongs with a food-grade extract from a baking supplier.
Start small, grow later
Anise is the kind of oil that sneaks up on you. A little bottle on the shelf invites a second project and then a third, and you will know when it is time for more because the bottle will be nearly empty and you will already have a feel for the scent. Starting small is not timid. It just lets you learn the oil at its own pace.
Anise Essential Oil
Anise Essential Oil from our own shop, in sizes from 0.5 oz to bulk.
From $8.99
Shop Now →Sources & Further Reading
- Tisserand Institute. Oxidation and shelf life of essential oils. tisserandinstitute.org
- PubChem. Anethole, compound 637563 (melting point from the CRC Handbook). pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
