Many people around the world consume coffee each day. About 2/3 of the adult population (220 million) in the United States consume over 3 cups of coffee per day. Clearly the US leads the world in coffee consumption. However, this blog is not about consumption, health benefits, brewing preferences, gender consumption ratios, types of coffee, seasonality, workplace versus home use, economic impact, fair trade, or a host of other metrics in the rapidly expanding acceptance of coffee drinking around the world.
Now that we can put away the drinking of coffee let’s discuss how our bodies send signals to the brain about coffee and its aroma.
Sensors on the tongue are quite limited in describing the coffee world to our brain. Remember we have 5 types of sensors ( sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami) ) and only about 2,000 - 10,000 total buds on our tongues. A good article summarizing our taste buds can be found here.
Yet again, this blog is really not about the part that the tongue plays in our sensation of coffee drinking. The real ‘taste’ comes from the aroma.
There are 800-1000 chemicals in coffee, many of which appear in the vapor phase, presenting the consumer of coffee a more than pleasing experience. The ‘taste’ of coffee continues.
Inside our nasal passages, sometimes referred to as our sinuses (which means cavities) are approximately 5-6 million olfactory sensors. (Just for comparison, take this link that compares a human’s sensory capacity to 4 other animals - Bears Rule!)
The BIG POINT is that what ‘tastes great’ is not because of our tongue’s taste buds. As the molecules of a scent attach to our various millions of olfactory sensors electrical signals are generated. These signals are transmitted to various collection points in our brain. Our brain sums up these signals, compares them to previous sums of signals, and says “Great coffee”. If we had held our nose closed with our fingers (or had our nose stopped with sinus blockage) and taken the same sip we would say “Not Great Coffee”.
You’ve probably seen wine connoisseurs swirling and sniffing their wine in a large open top glass. This is done to detect a wine’s aromas. Approximately 80% of our ‘taste’ is from the accompanying aroma. What is not so well known is that one can increase our ability to determine the ingredients in an aroma by practice sniffing, waiting a bit, imagining, thinking, remembering, and doing this over and over. Great coffee experts are a lot like wine experts in this manner. The nose of wine can be a nose of food, just give it some practice.
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Is it possible that in a fast paced world we have lost our ability to sense great vegetables, breads, meats, desserts from lesser ones? Deep tastes than linger allowing the body to feedback it’s approval?
Something in this restaurant smells delicious - good sign that a successful meal awaits.
Do we sometimes not take the time to understand another’s viewpoints? We don’t swirl their thoughts around in our head long enough to separate the premise and the conclusion? the journey that our friend has undertaken.
Hopefully we listen more and speak less, allowing the aroma of our fellow journeyers to enhance our own.
Now that we can put away the drinking of coffee let’s discuss how our bodies send signals to the brain about coffee and its aroma.
Sensors on the tongue are quite limited in describing the coffee world to our brain. Remember we have 5 types of sensors ( sweet, salty, bitter, sour, umami) ) and only about 2,000 - 10,000 total buds on our tongues. A good article summarizing our taste buds can be found here.
Yet again, this blog is really not about the part that the tongue plays in our sensation of coffee drinking. The real ‘taste’ comes from the aroma.
There are 800-1000 chemicals in coffee, many of which appear in the vapor phase, presenting the consumer of coffee a more than pleasing experience. The ‘taste’ of coffee continues.
Inside our nasal passages, sometimes referred to as our sinuses (which means cavities) are approximately 5-6 million olfactory sensors. (Just for comparison, take this link that compares a human’s sensory capacity to 4 other animals - Bears Rule!)
The BIG POINT is that what ‘tastes great’ is not because of our tongue’s taste buds. As the molecules of a scent attach to our various millions of olfactory sensors electrical signals are generated. These signals are transmitted to various collection points in our brain. Our brain sums up these signals, compares them to previous sums of signals, and says “Great coffee”. If we had held our nose closed with our fingers (or had our nose stopped with sinus blockage) and taken the same sip we would say “Not Great Coffee”.
You’ve probably seen wine connoisseurs swirling and sniffing their wine in a large open top glass. This is done to detect a wine’s aromas. Approximately 80% of our ‘taste’ is from the accompanying aroma. What is not so well known is that one can increase our ability to determine the ingredients in an aroma by practice sniffing, waiting a bit, imagining, thinking, remembering, and doing this over and over. Great coffee experts are a lot like wine experts in this manner. The nose of wine can be a nose of food, just give it some practice.
====================
Is it possible that in a fast paced world we have lost our ability to sense great vegetables, breads, meats, desserts from lesser ones? Deep tastes than linger allowing the body to feedback it’s approval?
Something in this restaurant smells delicious - good sign that a successful meal awaits.
Do we sometimes not take the time to understand another’s viewpoints? We don’t swirl their thoughts around in our head long enough to separate the premise and the conclusion? the journey that our friend has undertaken.
Hopefully we listen more and speak less, allowing the aroma of our fellow journeyers to enhance our own.