A system and method for extracting essential oils from organic material is provided. One embodiment places organic material into an extraction chamber that is a cylindrical wall of rigid material, wherein a diameter and a height of the extraction chamber is sized to define an interior that accommodates a desired amount of an organic material having essential oils; fills the extraction chamber with a solvent after the organic matter has been placed into the extraction chamber; and moves a vortex plunger disposed over the surface of the organic material in a repeated upward and downward motion during an agitation process so that the vortex vanes generate a fluid vortex in the solvent, wherein the fluid vortex causes the solvent to be drawn upward into the organic material and then to be pushed downward through the organic material so that the solvent extracts essential oils from the organic material.