If you happen to be in Taif between March and April during the rose blossom harvest, a visit to a rose oil distillery is a wonderful experience that you won’t forget. There are several of these, particularly in the area surrounding the city. The rose blossoms are picked early at the dawn or shortly after sunrise, as this is when the plant yields the highest concentration of essential oil. After picking the blossoms, the farmers transport them in sacks or baskets by pickup truck to the distilleries, where they are weighed and invoiced before being immediately subjected to the traditional distillation process, so that the flowers’ volatile fragrance molecules are not lost. Even after undergoing a second distillation process, only around 12 grams of high-quality attar (rose oil) are obtained from up to 30,000 hand-picked rose petals, which explains the enormous price paid for it.
The distilleries naturally also have shops where they sell products made from the processed rose petals. Rose water for the cuisine, for example. Or long-lasting perfume. For gentlemen, too, by the way. In any case, you’ll find a ‘slightly different, more special’ souvenir there.
