Organo Gold News has posted a new item, 'Wake up and smell the coffee?'
Wake Up and Smell the Coffee
Its morning. You trudge over to the kitchen and as you grind your fresh coffee,
the beautiful aroma entices you with the promise of a wake up and smell the
coffee moment. Coffee almost always smells better than it tastes. There is a
reason the phrase is wake up and smell the coffee and not wake up and taste the
coffee.
Why is it so rare for it to taste as good as it smells? Conversely, why does
horrible smelling cheese often taste glorious?
Recently, scientists have done significant research and think they have found
the answer to this conundrum. It all has to do with the link between taste and
smell, and the fact that we smell in more ways than one
The Tongue, Overrated?
Taste, which we perceive as coming from our tongue is actually largely down to
receptors in our nose. The tongue can only give us so much information. It tells
us whether food or drink is sweet or sour, salty or bitter but its the nose that
gives us a much more complex set of taste indicators. You dont believe me? Try
eating your next meal whilst pinching your nose and you might realise just how
important it is!
Smell is a pretty amazing sense, in that it is the only dual sensory modality.
What exactly does this mean? How can we smell in two ways?
The receptors in our nose can move two different ways, depending on whether we
are inhaling things from the environment into us, or whether air comes up
through the nasal passage and is breathed out of us. The dual sense of smell has
a huge impact on the taste of both coffee and cheese and how we perceive
flavours.
When we smell the lovely scent of freshly ground coffee, it is the result of our
receptors that are directed towards the outside of the nose, that send that
message to the brain. This is a different message to that sent when we taste
coffee. When the drink is swallowed, the aroma travels up through the throat and
encounters the receptors facing towards the throat, that send a different
message to the brain, resulting in a much less satisfying sensation.
Unless you have a penchant for smelly cheese, most people would agree that
certain cheeses have a pretty unpleasant aroma. However, often, the nasty aromas
that are emitted from cheese are very different from the delicious taste we
experience when we consume it. Just like coffee, our dual sense of smell plays a
role in this. With cheese, it is the reverse. The odour is more pleasant when it
is in your mouth and passes out of the nose than when it passes in.
This phenomenon does not just relate coffee and cheese, mind you. Ive never
tried Durian fruit but apparently the contrast between taste and smell is even
bigger in this case! Banning a fruit on certain modes of public transport must
signify that it smells pretty bad!
Interestingly lavender and chocolate appear to have a consistent aroma,
whichever way they are smelt.
Next time you smell that beautiful coffee aroma, just remember that it might not
taste as good as it smells. Its another reason to be happy when you have a
really awesome tasting cup of coffee!
cheese photo by ulterior epicure
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Author information
Henry Clifford
Founder at Lyndon's Coffee
Henry
is a coffee enthusiast intent on sharing useful information about coffee and
exploring the best independent coffee shops London has to offer! Aside from my
love for coffee I also love running, art, football & jazz (in no particular
order).
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