Is Coffee Smell a Preview or a Promise?

I've been thinking a lot about smell — specifically, how much it really matters when it comes to coffee. In this episode, I take you through my relationship with coffee aroma, going all the way back to the first time I walked into a roastery and got hit with that wave of smell before I even stepped through the door. I knew right then I was addicted. But over the years, I've come to realize that smell — as intoxicating as it is — doesn't always tell the whole story. Sometimes it disappoints you. Sometimes it takes you somewhere completely different than where you thought you were going.

I walk through several coffee experiences that made me think hard about this — classic origins like Brazilian and Guatemalan with their chocolatey, nutty notes, the wildly aromatic but ultimately underwhelming geisha, and the co-ferment that genuinely shocked me because it delivered exactly what it promised. By listening to this episode, you'll gain a deeper understanding of how aroma and taste relate to each other in coffee, and you'll start to think about whether smell is a preview, a promise — or just really good icing on the cake.

Transcript

[00:00:10] I remember the first time I really smelled coffee. I'm not talking about grocery store coffee. I'm not talking about coffee that's been sitting in a cupboard for a very long time. I mean really smelled coffee — where the smell was just so intoxicating, just rushing right into your face.

[00:00:34] Years ago, it was at a coffee roastery. I went inside — well, even before I went inside — the smell was just right there, rushing into my nostrils. I knew I was addicted.

[00:00:58] That smell is the first thing we really get to experience with coffee. It truly is. And it's one of those things where it's like, man, I can't wait to drink my cup of coffee, to experience it, to see what it's going to be all about.

[00:01:35] I always say coffee smells better than it tastes. I don't know if that's the right terminology anymore. It smells similar to what it may taste like — it smells exactly like it tastes. Or it could just be something we know: the smell is going to be there, but that doesn't really tell the whole story.

[00:02:12] It took me years to realize this — to experience coffee long enough to know that sometimes the smell disappoints us. Sometimes that coffee goes in a totally different direction. It may be a byproduct or even a prelude of what that coffee may taste like, but that's not a guarantee.

[00:02:39] The thing about smell is that, although it's very important — it's critical — it's something we can't get away from. It's one of our senses, and it's a really cool one to have. But when we're actually drinking our cup of coffee, even though we have so many different opportunities to smell it — the dry beans, the whole beans, grinding it, putting it into our preferred brewer — if we're doing pour overs, soon as we pour that water on, that steam and smell just keeps coming. We have so many different opportunities to understand what that coffee is going to be.

[00:03:54] But the question I keep coming back to is: how critical is the smell of coffee, really? What does it mean to us? Is it an introduction to what we're probably going to taste, or is it something we kind of chase — and then once that sip is in our mouth, we're just focused on making that coffee more ideal to our palate?

[00:04:27] Those are the things I think about constantly. And the reason I've been thinking about it a lot lately is because I've been experiencing coffees that talk to me in a different way than I'm used to. For instance, when you get a classic coffee — a Brazilian or even a Guatemalan — chocolatey, nutty notes. That's what you smell initially. And then when you grind it and taste it, sometimes that works. Sometimes you actually get that chocolatey, nutty taste, and it translates from what you smelled.

[00:05:23] But it's been many times — especially with washed coffees — where you just don't really get that. It's more subtle in the cup. Sometimes it can be right in your face and excite you immediately. But do we really think about that correlation between the smell and the taste?

[00:05:53] Is that gap a big deal? Honestly, the way I am — and the way I'm sure a lot of people are — it's great that coffee smells amazing, but that's not the thing that got you out of bed. It's the taste. It's the adventure. It's the thing you crave. That's the 80%.

[00:06:43] Then we go to another coffee experience: the geisha. To me — maybe to you, maybe not — geishas are one of the most in-your-face, loud in a good way, intoxicating-smelling coffees out there. You get jumpy. You get happy. You get excited that you're about to experience something extremely magical.

[00:07:21] And it's not. It's just not. And it's incredibly expensive too. I wonder if that clouds my judgment. But to me, it doesn't really taste like what that smell represented. Something about it just doesn't do it for me. Most of the time, that's how it goes. I try to get into them, but at the end of the day, if I'm getting my excitement from the smell and not from the taste, I tend to not care much about that coffee. I enjoy it for one or two cups and I'm done.

[00:08:14] Now that I think about it, smell does have a bigger role to play in this whole thing — probably because of the sensory experience of anticipating something and then not having the taste follow through. It doesn't feel honest. And I think that's where it really comes down to: honesty and transparency. If you are what you are from the beginning all the way to the end — but I know it's not that simple. We're people. Life is not as black and white as it seems. We stay in that gray area, just like we do with coffee. So objective, so subjective, that we just realize: it is what it is.

[00:09:20] My most recent experience that was truly trippy — and still really is — was a co-ferment. It's a manufactured coffee. You taste it the way it was made, right? Coffee can taste that way. But a lot of times when you smell something and then actually drink it, it's not fully there — as I already explained. But the co-ferment? That co-ferment was something else. You smell that intensity — in my case, peach and green apple. Doesn't matter how you brew it. Whole beans, dry, wet — the intensity just keeps coming. It's like, okay, I'm going to give you the best experience possible.

[00:10:21] And then when you drink it, you're shocked — because it's exactly like you smelled it. Exactly. And you sit there realizing you got the experience you wanted. But then after a couple of brews, you start thinking: I kind of want that coffee to lie to me a little. I want some mystery.

[00:11:05] So what I'm really getting at here is: how much do we actually care about smell? Does it help paint and tell the story of that coffee? Or is it just something to enjoy in the moment? Because at the end of the day, we're drinking coffee. That's the majority of the experience. It's about the taste. It's about the adventure.

[00:11:42] For me, smell is icing on top of the cake. It's there to enhance the experience. And sometimes I forget it's even there — and I stop smelling altogether.

[00:12:10] So enjoy all the senses you get from coffee. See it for what it is. But do realize that smell is a critical part of the experience, because for the most part, no coffee really smells bad. But yeah — I'm about that taste. I'm sure you are too. Let's talk about it. Talk to you later. Bye.