An absinthe glossary
Absinthe carries a specialised vocabulary, most of it French and most of it older than a century. These are the terms that recur across the rest of this site.
The drink
- Absinthe
- A high-proof anise-flavoured spirit built on grande wormwood, green anise and fennel. The French spelling denotes the traditional distilled product.
- Absinth
- The Czech and German spelling. Frequently attached, since the 1990s, to products that are neither distilled nor anised and cannot louche.
- Blanche
- An absinthe left uncoloured after distillation, clear rather than green. In Switzerland, la Bleue.
- Verte
- An absinthe given its green colour by a second steep in green herbs after distillation.
- Feuille morte
- “Dead leaf”. The amber-brown a naturally coloured verte becomes as its chlorophyll degrades with age — a mark of authenticity, not of spoilage.
- Oil mix
- A product made by stirring essential oils and colouring into neutral spirit without botanical contact. Not absinthe in any meaningful sense.
The plants and chemistry
- Artemisia absinthium
- Grande wormwood. The defining botanical, and the source of the drink's name.
- Artemisia pontica
- Petite or Roman wormwood. Softer and less bitter; used in the colouring steep, not the main charge.
- Absinthin
- The sesquiterpene lactone responsible for wormwood's extreme bitterness. Not volatile, so distillation leaves it behind.
- Anethole
- The aromatic compound from anise and fennel that produces the louche. Soluble in alcohol, insoluble in water.
- Thujone
- A monoterpene ketone present in wormwood, sage, tansy and thuja. The compound the twentieth century blamed for everything. See the full account.
- Holy Trinity
- Grande wormwood, green anise and sweet fennel — the three botanicals common to every traditional recipe.
Service and objects
- Louche
- The clouding of absinthe as water is added, caused by anethole precipitating out of solution. Also used as a verb.
- Brouilleuse
- An absinthe fountain: a footed iced-water reservoir with small taps, set on the table so each drinker can dilute at their own pace.
- Pontarlier glass
- The classic absinthe glass, with a heavy reservoir in the base holding exactly one measure.
- Slotted spoon
- A flat perforated spoon laid across the rim of the glass to hold a sugar cube while water is poured through.
- Dose
- The measure of neat absinthe before dilution, historically judged against the glass's own reservoir or etched line.
History
- L'heure verte
- “The green hour”. The late-afternoon aperitif hour on the French cafe terraces, from roughly five o'clock, at the height of absinthe's popularity.
- La Fée Verte
- The Green Fairy. The drink's affectionate personification, and the figure on a great many period posters.
- Pre-ban
- Absinthe produced before the national prohibitions of 1905–1915. Surviving sealed bottles provided the analytical evidence that finally settled the thujone question.
- Val-de-Travers
- The Swiss valley, in the canton of Neuchâtel, where absinthe originated and where clandestine production continued throughout the ban.
- Pontarlier
- The town in the French Jura that became the capital of the industry, and the home of Pernod Fils.
Terms are used consistently across the timeline, the botanicals and the ritual.
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