Copaiba Essential Oil: the Ancient Amazonian Secret

Welcome back to Harvesters' Corner! Today we will be taking a look at an oil harvested deep in the Amazon Basin. Copaiba, pronounced either “ko-PIE-ee-ba,” “koh-PIE-bah,” and even “co-PAY-bah” depending on who you talk to, comes from a broad spectrum of trees belonging to the Copaifera genus, found in the Amazonian rainforests and other tropical regions. The sap from these trees has been harvested for centuries to aid the local villagers in Brazil, and has finally made its way to the attention of the rest of the world.

Take a moment and imagine a broad azure-colored river stately flowing in front of verdant emerald foliage. High overhead, the light blue of a cloudless sky arches over the scene. Assorted bird calls and animal noises cut through the air, against the ever-present whining of mosquitos. Suddenly a high-pitched buzz is heard, announcing the approach of a long, narrow wooden boat. Minutes pass, and the boat appears from around a bend on the river, straining against the force of the current. Onboard is Jocimar and his son, on their way to harvest Copaiba sap. Their family controls a section of jungle in which they harvest sap from close to one hundred Copaiba trees, many of which were tapped decades earlier by Jocimar’s father.

Soon Jocimar angles the boat’s bow towards the bank, and he and his son disembark after securing the boat. Both men hoist a large woven basket onto their backs. Inside are the drills, metal spouts, and bottles needed for tapping the trees. Armed with machetes, they enter the thick forest. After hiking several miles they reach the trees from which they will be harvesting. Large manual hand drills are pulled out, and a section of bark is chopped away. Nearly a half-hour later, the drilling is done, and a metal spout is wedged into the soft bark, allowing the amber sap to drip out of the hole, down the spout, and into the bottle placed below.

“I've been working with Copaiba since I was 14,” Jocimar relates. “I tap trees every month. Sometimes it gives about a half a liter. If more time passes, sometimes it gives more.” (1) As the sap is collected from the first tree, he sets about preparing another tree. All too soon the sap slows to an intermittent drip. Jocimar shaves down a cut branch to fashion a plug, which he taps into the hole. Then he removes the spout, and uses the machete to cut the plug off. As is typical, the result is approximately a half-liter (roughly two cups) of light amber sap. The bottle is capped, and Jocimar moves on to tap more trees

A Multi-generational Labor of Love

Harvesting Copaiba is a time-consuming task, truly a labor of love, if the tree is to continue to produce sap in the future. Jocimar is a second-generation harvester, with his son being the third generation. The sap is harvested from four primary Copaifera tree species: Copaifera reticulata, C. officinalis, C. coriacea, and C. langsdorffii. Once harvested, individuals like Jocimar take their product to the larger cities for purchase, where they would often be forced to settle for a lesser price in order to ensure a purchase. Prices would vary from month to month, making life difficult for harvesters working to support a family.

The harvesting season is six months long, from January to June, which is the rainy season in Brazil. With the river at flood stage, tributaries and the river rise an average of twenty feet (six meters) or more, and time for travel to harvesting sites is greatly reduced, as is the distance needed to hike to the groves where the trees grow. Mature trees stand between ninety to one hundred twenty feet tall (30 to 40 meters), with branches angling off about a third to half-way up the trunk. While the Copaifera trees are common to tropical regions, Brazil produces approximately ninety-five percent of the oil on the market, which equates to more than five hundred tons per year. (2)  Copaifera trees can live for close to four hundred years, and a well-cared for tree can produce sap for many generations, as evidenced by Jocimar and his son.

Welcome to Amazonas

The arrival of dōTERRA in Brazil is resulting in changes for many lives. The communities out in the Amazonian basin are among some of the poorest in Brazil. The region, known as the state of Amazonas, is Brazil’s fourth poorest state, with roughly one in five people living below the world poverty level. (3) Given that Brazil’s population is 3.6 million people, that equates to approximately 720,000 people living in poverty. Co-Impact Sourcing has already made a significant impact, with offering a fair market value to the harvesters. When Copaiba oil was introduced at dōTERRA’s 2017 Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah, the anecdote was shared that the harvesters in Brazil laughed when they heard what doTERRA was offering for compensation, and told the sourcing specialists that they were paying way too much for the product that they, the harvesters, produced!

Founding executives Dr. David Hill and Emily Wright traveled to Brazil in 2018 to meet some of the harvesters, including Jocimar. After Dr. Hill and Emily arrived in Santa Maria, the small village where Jocimar and his family live, along with six to seven other families, Dr. Hill learned that Jocimar’s wife, Maria, was suffering from a toothache. A quick exam revealed the cause: an impacted tooth along the bottom of her jaw. Lacking the proper tools to extract the tooth, Dr. Hill pulled a bottle of Clove oil out and gently applied it to Maria’s inflamed gum. “It won’t taste good at the start,” he advised Maria, “but this will help with the pain.” (4) Weeks later, the sourcing specialists raised enough money to send Maria to a city, where she had the tooth extracted.

The Healing Hands Foundation learned what was happening with Maria, and in 2019, started a traveling dental clinic that visited the villages working with Co-Impact Sourcing and cared for several people, who like Maria, were experiencing dental issues. In all, over one hundred people in eleven different communities received care. Healing Hands continued to help the harvesters with supplies and medical equipment throughout the COVID-19 Pandemic, as well as a food security initiative, providing basic food supplies like dried milk and beans, as well as hygienic supplies like soap and detergent, to four hundred fifty families throughout seven harvesting areas in the Amazon. (5)

Silver Bullet or Snake Oil?

One of the sources quoted earlier was an article written a couple of months prior to dōTERRA’s release of Copaiba oil. The title caught my eye as I was researching this article: “Copaiba: Silver Bullet or Snake Oil?”, by Gisele Galoustian, from Florida Atlantic University.  There are many claims being tossed around online, from historic uses such as indigenous people in Panama mixing Copaiba sap with honey to give to newborns, to impart knowledge and ward off evil hexes, to modern-day claims concerning pain relief. Over the past seven years, much research has been performed to further our understanding of how Copaiba affects the human body. While I have a passable understanding of chemistry and physiology, I do not have the ability to take what the experts are saying and easily spell out the details here in this space. I encourage you to click here to read Dr. Cody Beaumont’s article for a fascinating look at some of the chemistry of the endocannabinoid system (6) and click to read “Endocannabinoids Explained,” (7) and here to read “Copaiba: More Than Just Caryophllene,” (8) to get a better understanding of what Beta-caryophyllene is, and why Copaiba is a healthier alternative to either THC and CBD.

The impact doTERRA is having on the people of Brazil is impressive. As of 2023, one hundred eight-five people were harvesting sap for the company, with over six hundred lives supported. In addition, over 9,500 people have been impacted through programs such as the dental clinic and food security initiative. Many people, including Jocimar’s wife, Maria, are able to eat without irritating impacted or decayed teeth, while Jocimar’s son has a better future to look towards as he labors alongside his father to draw sap from trees initially tapped by his grandfather. The skills he is learning today will likely be passed on to his son, when the time comes. A brighter future is dawning in the Amazon, thanks to Copaiba oil.

Thank you for joining us today! As always, click here to purchase Copaiba oil and experience  for yourself the benefits of this wonderful oil. Please click here to learn more about Co-Impact Sourcing and the Healing Hands Foundation, and click here to donate to the Healing Hands Foundation. A single dollar from many donors impacts thousands of lives.

Join us next time here at Harvesters’ Corner, as we travel south from Brazil to the country of Paraguay, and learn about Guaiac Wood and the oil produced from the Guaiac tree. Until next time, keep sharing oils, and stay safe.

1. dōTERRA. “Copaiba Essential Oil.” Video, YouTube online. 2018. Accessed 30 April 2024.

2. Galoustian, Gisele. “Copaiba: Silver Bullet or Snake Oil?” Florida Atlantic University, 6 June 2017. Online. <https://www.fau.edu/newsdesk/articles/copaiba-oil.php> Accessed 29 April 2024.

3. dōTERRA. “Source to You: Copaiba.” Online. <https://sourcetoyou.com/en/stories/ story/copaiba> Accessed 29 April 2024.

4. dōTERRA. “Copaiba Oil: Day 2 Sourcing of Copaiba Essential Oil.” 2018. Youtube. Accessed 30 April 2024.

5. dōTERRA. “Source to You: Copaiba.” Online. <https://sourcetoyou.com/en/stories/ story/copaiba> Accessed 29 April 2024.

6. Beaumont, Cody, PhD. “A Chemist's Perspective: Cannabinoids, Cannabis, and Caryophyllene.” Online. <https://www.doterra.com/US/en/blog/science- research-news-a-chemists-perspective> Accessed 29 April 2024.

7. dōTERRA Blog. “Endocannabinoids Explained.” Online. <https://www.doterra.com/ US/zh/blog/science-research-news-endocannabinoids-explained>  Accessed 29 April 2024.

8. dōTERRA. “Copaiba: More than Just Caryophyllene.” Online. <https://www.doterra.com/US/zh/blog/product-spotlight-copaiba-more-than-caryophyllene> Accessed 29 April 2024.