Here is a fun bit of kitchen science: you have been eating terpenes your whole life. The same class of aromatic compounds that gives cannabis strains their personality is sitting in your spice rack, your fruit bowl, and your six-pack right now. Meet seven of them.
1. Limonene, in your citrus
Peel an orange and that bright spray hitting the air is limonene. It is one of the most common terpenes in the plant world and a heavy hitter in citrus-forward cannabis strains. In candy terms, it is the zing. Our Terpene Library has the full profile.
2. Myrcene, in your mangoes and beer
Myrcene shows up in mangoes, hops, and lemongrass, earthy, a little musky, a little fruity. It is often the most abundant terpene in cannabis. Yes, it is the one behind the eat-a-mango legend, which we will fact-check in a couple of weeks.
3. Linalool, in your lavender (and basil)
The floral calm of lavender is linalool talking. It also turns up in basil and coriander, so you have eaten plenty of it in pesto without knowing its name.
4. Pinene, in your rosemary
The sharp forest note in rosemary and pine needles. Pinene is everywhere in the conifer world and adds that crisp, green edge to certain strains.
5. Caryophyllene, in your black pepper
Crack fresh pepper and the spicy bite in your nose is beta-caryophyllene. It is the terpene chemists find most interesting, and it gives gassier strains part of their kick.
6. Humulene, in your hops
Beer drinkers already know humulene by feel. It is the woody, bitter-earthy note in hops, and it shares billing with myrcene in plenty of cannabis profiles.
7. Terpinolene, in your nutmeg and apples
The hardest one to describe: floral, herbal, a little citrus, a little pine, all at once. It is rare as a dominant terpene in cannabis, which is why terpinolene-forward strains smell so distinctive.
The point
When we say MONDAYS is built on terpenes, this is what we mean: the exact family of compounds you already eat, used at the same food-flavoring levels, arranged to recreate the profile of a specific strain. Nothing exotic, nothing intoxicating, just very deliberate flavor chemistry. If you want the deeper science, start with what do terpenes do, or skip the reading and take the strain quiz to find your profile.
