Scripture Scents

Cassia

Hebrew qiddah / qetsiah

Exodus 30:24 · Psalm 45:8

By Mario Andino, Founder and perfumer, Maranatha Parfums · November 6, 2026

Cassia is cinnamon’s louder cousin. It completes the four spices of the holy anointing oil, and in Psalm 45 it perfumes the robes of the king.

In Scripture

your robes are all fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia. From ivory palaces stringed instruments make you glad …

Psalm 45:8 (ESV)

Take the finest spices: of liquid myrrh 500 shekels, and of sweet-smelling cinnamon half as much, that is, 250, and 250 of aromatic cane, and 500 of cassia, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil. And you shall make of these a sacred anointing oil blended as by the perfumer; it shall be a holy anointing oil.

Exodus 30:23–25 (ESV)

Exodus 30:24 calls for 500 shekels of cassia (Hebrew qiddah), as much as the myrrh. Psalm 45:8 uses a different word, qetsiah, for the king’s robes “fragrant with myrrh and aloes and cassia.” Ezekiel 27:19 lists cassia among the goods traded in the markets of Tyre. Job names one of the daughters born after his restoration Keziah (Job 42:14), a name that echoes the word for cassia, as though the girl herself were a fragrance.

What it is today

Cassia is the bark of Cinnamomum cassia, grown mostly in southern China and Vietnam. Much of the “cinnamon” sold in American grocery stores is actually cassia. Its essential oil is distilled from the bark, leaves and twigs.

In the bottle

Hotter, sharper cinnamon with a red-candy edge.

First sniff: Sharper, hotter cinnamon with a red-candy edge. Once it settles: Warm, spicy-sweet. Reminds people of: Red cinnamon candies, cinnamon gum.

Cassia smells hotter, rougher and less delicate than true cinnamon, with a sweet, almost candy-like edge. Like cinnamon bark it is high in cinnamaldehyde and heavily restricted for skin use, so it belongs in blends at trace levels, if at all. In study blends it is better to let benzoin, clove or a little cardamom carry the warmth.

Safety: High in cinnamaldehyde — a strong sensitizer, heavily restricted.

Blends well with

Sweet Orange, Myrrh, Clove Bud, Vanilla, Benzoin.