Introduction:After contracting COVID-19, many baristas reported a noticeable dulling of their sense of smell and taste, making it difficult to accurately discern the layers and details in coffee. This article delves into how the human body perceives coffee flavors, starting with the physiological mechanisms of smell and taste. It also provides practical sensory training methods, including making flavor-infused water, aroma stimulation exercises, and sharing how to gradually restore or even enhance sensitivity and descriptive ability for coffee flavors through comparative tasting and flavor memory building.
In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, many people have experienced a decline in their sense of smell and taste. For baristas, whose profession relies on sensory evaluation, this is undoubtedly a major challenge. Upon returning to work, some baristas found that they could only distinguish between the acidity and bitterness of coffee, with other nuanced flavors almost entirely gone, severely affecting their job performance and personal standards.
So, how can one gradually recover and strengthen their sense of smell and taste, and regain the rich aromas and flavors in coffee? Starting from the mechanisms of human senses, this article helps you understand how flavors are formed and offers a set of scientifically grounded and practical training methods to help you rediscover your keen perception of coffee.
What we commonly refer to as “coffee flavor” is actually the result of the combined effects of smell, taste, and mouthfeel, encompassing dry and wet aromas, basic tastes such as sourness, sweetness, bitterness, saltiness, and umami, as well as texture. Among these, taste buds are mainly responsible for identifying the five basic tastes: sour, sweet, bitter, salty, and umami. However, coffee contains almost no umami, and saltiness is often masked by other flavors. Therefore, it is actually the sense of smell that plays the leading role in discerning coffee flavors.
When we sip coffee, some volatile aromatic molecules enter the olfactory receptors at the back of the nasal cavity through the oral mucosa. This is called “retronasal olfaction.” At the same time, we can also directly smell the “orthonasal olfaction” of coffee through our nose. These two types of olfaction, along with feedback from the taste buds, together form our complete perception of a cup of coffee’s flavor.
If you are experiencing a weakened sense of smell or taste, the first priority is to remain patient and get adequate rest. In most cases, these sensory functions will gradually recover within a few days to two weeks. At this time, it is advised not to put too much pressure on yourself and to ensure you consume enough nutrients, which aids in the repair of the nervous and sensory systems.
For taste training, you can try making DIY “flavor water” at home to simulate the “devil’s water” exercise from sensory courses. You can use food-grade citric acid (sour), white sugar (sweet), table salt (salty), monosodium glutamate (umami, i.e., sodium glutamate), and bitter tincture (bitter), adding them to pure water or spring water at varying concentrations. Initially, you may prepare higher concentrations for easier identification, recording your sensations for each basic taste at different intensities. Then gradually lower the concentration to train your taste buds’ sensitivity.
Once you can clearly distinguish individual flavors, you can further challenge yourself by identifying mixed flavors. Ask a friend or family member to blend two or three different flavors in varying proportions, and try to determine the dominant and secondary tastes. This helps improve sensitivity to complex flavors.
As for restoring your sense of smell, the most effective method is continuous and diverse olfactory stimulation. If you have access to professional scent bottles, that’s ideal, but they can be expensive and their aromas might slightly differ from those in actual coffee. In reality, you can start with common household items that have strong scents, such as citrus fruits like oranges and lemons, or natural materials with potent aromas like cloves, eucalyptus leaves, roasted garlic, and roses. It is recommended to take deep sniffs for about 15 seconds each time, twice a day, which can help gradually restore your olfactory nerves’ ability to identify scents.
To further enhance your ability to describe and remember coffee flavors, it’s advisable to build a “flavor memory bank” from daily life. For example, when tasting an apple, don’t just drink the juice—also separately smell the skin and flesh of the apple, and compare the changes in aroma before chewing, after chewing, and after swallowing, to establish a more three-dimensional impression of smell and taste.
Another effective method is training your senses through “comparative tasting.” You can select coffee beans from different regions of the same country, different processing methods from the same region, or different roast levels of the same processing method. By tasting them side by side, compare differences in acidity, sweetness, body, and aroma, which helps you more quickly grasp subtle changes in flavor.
It is particularly important to note that the speed of sensory recovery varies from person to person. If you do not see significant improvement after a period of time, it is recommended to seek a professional assessment from an otolaryngologist to rule out other potential health issues.
The above content is compiled by CoffeeHunters, a coffee news website.
