Supplier and Distributor

Citrus Oils

Brothers International is your source for fruit ingredients and citrus oils for your production needs. Oranges, Tangerines, Mandarins, Lemons, Limes and Grapefruits – all cold pressed or mechanically extracted to produce the highest quality citrus oils on the market, with volatile aromas and flavors.

Food & Beverage Formulation

Our Citrus Oils are used by leading food and beverage manufacturers around the world in formulations that require a robust flavor profile that pops – particularly within soft drinks and flavored waters.

Chemical and Cleaning Applications

Citrus Oils are an active ingredient (D-Limonene) in industrial degreasers, engine cleaners, paint strippers, and high-strength adhesive removers as well as household dish soaps and floor cleaners.

Fragrances

Citrus oils provide the bright, immediate “top notes” for a vast majority of commercial perfumes and colognes. The smell of citrus is synonymous with many body washes, shampoos, lotions, and deodorants.

Using Citrus Oils to Enhance

Enhancing Flavor and Fragrance

When developing flavored beverages, relying solely on fruit juice concentrates often leaves a gap in the sensory experience. While concentrated juice can reduce or remove some volatile aroma compounds, cold-pressed citrus oils can help restore fresh peel character and top-note intensity.

Cold-pressed citrus oils also act as the ultimate formulation complement to standard juice solutions. By understanding the distinct physical property differences between water-based juices and peel-derived oils, R&D teams can unlock superior product performance an achieve a “whole citrus” flavor.

  • True-to-Fruit Flavor: Juice concentrates frequently lose their “freshly picked” character due to heat pasteurization. Because our citrus oils are mechanically expressed directly from the peel, they preserve the high-aldehyde volatile compounds that give beverages an authentic citrus flavor that juice alone cannot replicate.

  • Micro-Dosage Cost Efficiency: On a per-kilo basis, citrus oils carry a higher upfront cost than juice concentrates. However, because they are highly concentrated flavor powerhouses, they are used at micro-dosage levels. A fraction of a percent of a high-aldehyde orange or mandarin hybrid oil can drastically enhance a juice concentrate, or act as a singular flavor solution in soft drinks, flavored waters and other beverages – all of which significantly optimizes the cost-per-liter.

The most successful beverage formulations use citrus oils to complement juice concentrate. The juice concentrate establishes the foundational base and acidity, while a micro-injection of cold-pressed oil delivers the premium aroma, enhanced flavor, and shelf-stable top notes that drive consumer repurchases.

For over 25 years, Brothers International has been a global powerhouse in the fruit ingredient import business, supplying our customers with everything from NFC Juice to Citrus Oils.
With strategic partnerships across the US, manufacturers across the earth's prime growing region, Brothers International is positioned as your premium citrus oils supplier.
Decades of Experience in

Fit For Purpose Sourcing

Not every application requires the exact same chemical footprint; a ultra-clear RTD seltzer, a high-volume carbonated beverage, and a personal care line each demand distinct technical tolerances, volatile profiles, and cost-in-use parameters. Rather than offering a one-size-fits-all solution, our global sourcing network carefully aligns the origin with your product’s specific functional requirements. This targeted approach ensures you never compromise on production or overpay for specifications your formulation doesn’t need.

Brazilian cold-pressed orange oils are globally renowned for their tight analytical consistency and elevated, predictable aldehyde profiles, making them the ideal fit-for-purpose choice for high-volume commercial beverage compounders who require absolute batch-to-batch uniformity and uninterrupted supply chain security. Conversely, when an R&D team requires a highly specific aromatic top-note or a boutique hybrid profile, we tap specialized micro-climates across North and South America. By matching the origin to the objective, we deliver citrus oils that precisely match your production needs.

  • Zero Thermal Degradation: Heat can alter molecular structures in some citrus fruits, which means the right distillation process is required for the right fruits. Cold-pressing preserves the highly volatile aldehydes, esters, and terpenes that provide the uplifting, vibrant “freshly peeled” top notes.

  • A True-to-Nature Profile: Because the oil is extracted in a natural state, the resulting extraction is an exact aromatic mirror of the ripe fruit. This allows consumer brands to bring in the flavors and aromas they recognize from their favorite citrus fruits, signifying a natural quality to consumers and buyers.

Flavorful and Fragrant

Essential Oils

The unadulterated purity of our oils makes them essential for the wellness and personal care industries – serving as the main ingredient for consumer essential oil products. Our mechanical expression process maintains volatile top notes responsible for the therapeutic, uplifting aromas of orange, lemon, and grapefruit. Our oils deliver the vibrant, true-to-nature sensory experience that discerning consumers demand in their essential oil products.

  • True-to-Fruit Botanical Integrity: We provide single-origin citrus oils (e.g., Citrus sinensis for Sweet Orange, Citrus reticulata for Mandarin) – that deliver the potent aromas consumers crave.

  • 100% Solvent-Free & Clean-Label Ready: Modern beauty and wellness consumers are well educated on natural products. Our mechanical expression utilizes zero chemical solvents, hexane, or synthetic additives, giving your brand a flawless “clean-label” advantage.

As international fruit experts, we’ve spent the last 25 years supplying our customers with everything from NFC Juices to Individual Quick Frozen parts. As citrus oil suppliers, we can supply oils from (but not limited to) the following fruits

This list of fruits is, by no means, exhaustive. As a global importer of fruit in every form, we have access to one of the largest networks of growers, shippers and importers in the country. If you’re looking for something specific, we can help.

Brothers International is our citrus oils supplier for various applications, including beverage production, household cleaners, fragrances and more.
Premium Citrus Oils Used to Enhance

Aroma and Flavor in Production

In terms of purity, they are the same thing. However, the terminology depends on the industry. The beverage and flavor industries typically use citrus fruit oil to describe technical-grade, peel-extracted flavor fractions. The wellness, cosmetics, and aromatherapy industries use essential oil to describe the exact same botanical extraction. Both are 100% pure, cold-pressed extractions from the fruit’s rind.

Citrus oils are rich in delicate terpenes (like limonene), making them highly sensitive to light, heat, and oxygen. To maintain their vibrant flavor and aromatic profile, store them in airtight, light-resistant containers (such as amber glass or lined steel drums) in a cool, temperature-controlled environment. For long-term bulk storage, blanket them with an inert gas like nitrogen to prevent oxidation.

Yes, but formulations must account for phototoxicity. Certain cold-pressed citrus oils contain naturally occurring compounds called furanocoumarins, which can cause skin sensitivity when exposed to UV light. While sweet orange and mandarin oils have negligible to zero phototoxic risks, others require strict dermal limit compliance. If you are formulating for topical skincare, our team can guide you toward the safest citrus hybrid options.

Absolutely not. We supply 100% pure, single-origin botanical feedstock. Every batch is strictly mechanically expressed from the fruit peel, with zero added synthetic fragrances, chemical solvents (like hexane), or cheap carrier oils. You receive the pure, unadulterated volatile chemistry of the fruit.

Because citrus oils are cold-pressed rather than steam-distilled, they retain their natural, lightweight monoterpenes. These specific molecules are highly volatile and oxidize faster than the heavier compounds found in wood, root, or herbal oils. Typically, a properly stored cold-pressed citrus oil maintains its peak freshness for 12 to 18 months.

We manage the supply chain complexities so your quality assurance teams don’t have to. Every batch of citrus oil distributed across our specialized divisions is fully traceable back to the source and arrives with a comprehensive documentation packet, including:

  • Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) / SQF certification

  • FDA and USDA regulatory compliance papers

  • Kosher and Halal certifications

  • NOP Organic Certification (available upon request)

  • TTB (Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau) Drawback eligibility data for spirit and alcoholic beverage formulators.

 

  • Brown Oil Extractor (BOE): Operates on a pre-extraction scarification principle. Whole citrus fruits roll across spinning, needle-toothed cylinders that gently prick the outer skin (flavedo) under a fine water spray to release oil glands before the fruit is cut or juice is reamed.

  • JBT (John Bean Technologies / FMC) In-Line Extractor: Operates on an instantaneous simultaneous squeeze principle. Interlocking cups compress the whole fruit in a single mechanical motion. Juice is forced downward through a central strainer tube while the peel is simultaneously squeezed against the cups, bursting the oil glands onto the exterior surface where water sprays capture the oil emulsion.