the Smell of Coffee

“Mmmm... There's absolutely nothing better than first thing in the morning, waking up to the smell of freshly brewed coffee....” said my friend. I too love the smell of coffee. I've never been able to drink it though, but I love the smell just too much! Over the years, I have tried drinking coffee from various establishments. I have bought and tried all brands of coffee powder, but it just does not agree with me. I am envious of all those who can enjoy coffee. I know what I will do if I can drink and enjoy coffee; I will buy one of the best coffee machines and brew myself gourmet coffee everyday. Alas, I can only do it in my dreams. But even though I don’t drink coffee I love to sit at a café, sip Earl Grey tea and inhale other people’s coffee. The smell itself is addictive.
Do you know that a number of perfume counters have coffee beans for people to smell in between smelling different perfumes? Do you know why smelling coffee beans enhance our ability to smell different perfumes?
Well perfumes are a mix of many different molecules of smell and that's why the smell of a good perfume "unfolds" over many hours, as the various molecules gradually evaporate.
Repeated exposure to a particular smell causes "adaptation". Do you remember all the bad smells in your environment you are so used to that you no longer think “this is awful” and hold your nose? Coffee beans are a pungent olfactory stimulus that is quite different from the components of most perfumes. Therefore, smelling coffee beans is a way of cleaning your "olfactory palate." This process is something like eating crackers or sipping water in between samples at a wine tasting. Olfactory adaptation is diminished by smelling coffee, so you can sample more perfumes.
The husband used to say that I should have been born a dog as I am constantly smelling and sniffing the air for smells of food. Perhaps I can smell better because I am forever smelling coffee!!