Daily Smart Fact #29: Why Coffee Always Smells Better Than It Tastes

Key Takeaway: Humans have two senses of smell. One sense is when we inhale and the other is when “the air comes out of you up the nasal passage and is breathed out through the nose.” The receptors in our nose react to odors differently depending on which direction they are moving in.

I’m a coffee lover. More for the morning routine and warm fuzzies I associate coffee with than the actual taste (or the much-needed jolt of caffeine to avoid the afternoon slump).  But I have always found it odd that coffee smells so much better than the actual, somewhat bitter, taste.  I recently learned that we have two senses of smell (source).  “One sense is when you inhale things from the environment into you, and the other is when the air comes out of you up the nasal passage and is breathed out through the nose.”