Aroma molecule · pyrazine
3-methylpyrazine
Smells ofbutter, chocolate, coffee
Found in 2 ingredients. We hold no measured concentration for it in any of them yet, so we cannot say where it is strong enough to smell.
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01How little it takes
- in water 5
- retronasal / in-mouth 79
- other matrix 57
ppb, log scale · tick = median of published values, bar = full range
02Where it turns up
- Meat & fish1
- Drinks1
of the 2 ingredients that contain it, by food group
03What it travels with
Too few ingredients to say what it travels with.
What does 3-methylpyrazine smell like?
Sources describe it as butter, chocolate, coffee.
It is a key food odorant (individualist): identified in the meta-analysis of 227 food samples as one of 151 individualist odorants, which appear in under 5% of foods and carry the signature of specific ingredients. Source: Dunkel et al. 2014, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 53, 7124–7143
How this molecule is described
Also filed as: 3-methyl-pyrazine — same molecule, unified here.
- butter, chocolate, coffee shown above FlavorDB 2.0
- coffee Flavordb Odor Column
- chocolate Flavordb Odor Column
- butter Flavordb Odor Column
Ordered by how many independent descriptor streams give each wording, then by how often it appears. The bar is replication (one source copied onto many ingredients scores high), not corroboration.
Which foods contain 3-methylpyrazine?
We list 2 ingredients that contain it, but presence is not the same as smell. What matters is how much is there compared with how little it takes to notice it. That ratio is the odour activity value (OAV): above 1, you can smell it.
Found in
Measured foods first, then real food profiles, then thin or composite records (marked). The figure beside each is how many compounds that ingredient has in total, not the amount of 3-methylpyrazine in it. ✓n = sources that recorded the link.
Measured concentrations
| Food | Concentration (ppb) | OAV | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| flour | 20,000.0 | 4,000 | DOI |
| peanut | 7,160.0 | 1,432 | DOI |
| bread | 3,500.0 | 700 | PMID 38840722 |
| sunflower seed | 1,300.0 | 260 | PMID 31383910 |
| coffee | 239.0 | 47.8 | Corpus paper |
OAV = measured concentration ÷ odour threshold (5.0 ppb, the engine’s working value — see the 5 published values). OAV ≥ 1 = perceptible. Concentrations from open-access papers; a row whose food is not one of the ingredients above is listed here but not placed on the ruler.
How strong is 3-methylpyrazine?
Orthonasal, in clean water: 5.0 ppb, from 1 published value.
Published thresholds
5 measured values from the literature, grouped by what was measured: a threshold smelled in clean water, tasted, or measured in a real food are different quantities and are not pooled.
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.0 ppb SIDA | water | Rychlik 1998 · 3 studies | — |
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 79.0 ppb SIDA | oil_retronasal | Rychlik 1998 · 1 studies | — |
| Threshold | Matrix | Source | Paper |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40.5 ppb SIDA | oil_orthonasal | Rychlik 1998 · 2 studies | — |
| 57.0 ppb | oil (sunflower oil) (food: cocoa beans) | Literature corpus | — |
| 57.0 ppb | oil (sunflower oil) (food: cocoa powder) | Literature corpus | — |
Only values we can attribute are listed. Where a compendium’s licence does not permit public attribution its figures are omitted, so every number here traces to a citable source.
Is 3-methylpyrazine safe to eat?
A substance matching this name is listed by FEMA as generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for use as a flavoring: FEMA number 3133, published in GRAS 4. Check current FDA and EFSA guidance for your market and use level.
- FEMA number
- 3133 ? partial match
- Publication
- GRAS 4
- FEMA name
- 2-iso-BUTYL-3-METHYLPYRAZINEΣ
Use-level matrix not extracted for this substance; check the source publication for current ppm guidance.
Source: FEMA GRAS publications 1–33. 3 related FEMA records for this name; verify the exact substance for regulatory use.
3-methylpyrazine questions
What does 3-methylpyrazine smell like?
Sources describe 3-methylpyrazine as butter, chocolate and coffee. It is one of the key food odorants identified by Dunkel et al. (2014).
Which foods contain 3-methylpyrazine?
We list 2 ingredients that contain 3-methylpyrazine.
How strong is 3-methylpyrazine?
The median of 1 published odour thresholds in water is 5.0 ppb.
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Cite this analysis
Compound Kitchen (2026). 3-methylpyrazine compound data sheet. https://compkitchen.com/compound/3-methylpyrazine. Accessed 2026-11-03.
@misc{compkitchen_compound_3_methylpyrazine_compound_data_sheet_2026,
title = {3-methylpyrazine compound data sheet},
author = {{Compound Kitchen}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://compkitchen.com/compound/3-methylpyrazine},
note = {Accessed: 2026-11-03}
}
Methodology DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.19719459 · CC BY 4.0 · Citations are a request, not a requirement.