Table of Contents
Why does coffee smell so good but taste so bad? Typically, people like the coffee smell. Even those who don’t like the strong coffee flavor, enjoy the aroma. It is all about chemistry!
It is weird to enjoy a scent but not a taste, and there aren’t many things in the world that have this quality, even though everyone can agree that the smell of freshly roasted coffee is genuinely awesome.
While your tongue doesn’t detect much of the pleasant fragrances of coffee, your nose does. When you sip coffee, your tongue can get a great big dosage of the flavor. It turns out that coffee may taste somewhat bitter.
This led me to investigate why people may like the smell but hate the taste. It turns out to be all about chemistry.
Why Does Coffee Smell So good But Taste So Bad?
Yes, for many people the smell is remarkably good, but the taste is surprisingly bad.
Why?
Let’s start by answering the first question: why does coffee smell good?
In the subsequent sections, we will answer the second question (i.e., why does coffee taste bad?) and will provide tips to reduce coffee bitterness.
Why does coffee smell so good?
More than 1,000 chemical constituents, many of which considerably contribute to coffee’s scent, are present in roasted coffee.
Over 500 of these chemical compounds are produced by the Maillard Reaction. This is a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars that gives browned coffee its distinctive flavor and synthesizes new aromatic compounds.
These flavorful aromatic molecules are so sensitive that when they are exposed to air, they easily dissipate. That’s why coffee smells so good!
Why does coffee taste so bad?
Have you ever tasted unpleasant sour flavors in freshly prepared coffee?
This relates to extraction.
Simply said, sour coffee is a result of inadequate extraction during brewing.
Not all coffee tastes so bad, though. With the right method of brewing, your cup of coffee will smell good and taste awesome.
And if you end up with a bitter flavor, don’t worry. There is a way to fix the bitterness. Fantastic news, isn’t it?
First, let us discuss coffee extraction a little bit before demonstrating how to fix the sour flavor.
Coffee extraction
We make coffee by extracting the flavor compounds using hot water.
The three principal phases of extraction are as follows:
- In the initial stage, acids and fats are extracted to create a flavor that is sour and greasy.
- Then, the extraction of sugars follows to make the drink sweeter.
- Lastly, if you extract too long, you get the plant fibers that give the bitter flavor.
The bottom line is the following:
If you steep your coffee too quickly, not enough sugars will be extracted from the beans. However, if you steep it too long, you will over-extract it, which will result in sour coffee.
How to reduce coffee bitterness
To reduce coffee bitterness, it is important to talk about the factors that influence coffee extraction.
There are 4 major factors affecting how your coffee is extracted:
- The degree of grinding:
Generally speaking, finer grinding releases more tastes than coarse grinding. Yes, including that unpleasant taste. - The brew time:
A longer brewing period typically has an impact on the extraction process – the longer coffee is brewed, the sourer it is. - The ratio of coffee to water:
For various types of infusions, the degree of bitter flavors can be influenced by the amount of water you add to your coffee grinds. The key to a successful brew ratio is striking the right balance between the amount of ground coffee and water used. Without enough water, the coffee becomes sour and under-extracted, and with too much water, the coffee becomes bitter and over-extracted. - The temperature of the water:
While waiting too long might result in over-extracting the coffee beans and producing sour coffee, using too hot water may also run the danger of over-extracting the coffee making it bitter to taste.
Taking into consideration all the above factors, making the perfect cup of coffee that smells good AND tastes fantastic necessitates striking a balance between these factors.
Using the right gear and finding the sweet spot between the type of coffee grind, the brew time, the ratio between coffee and water, and the right temperature of the water may be the direction to take if you want to make a good cup of coffee.
Other things to take into consideration to reduce coffee bitterness
With that being said, if you have tried the above tips and still get an undrinkable coffee, other factors may affect the flavor:
- If your cup of coffee tastes very bad, your coffee is probably of bad quality. Look for a good type of arabica coffee.
- Besides using terrible coffee, you are also probably relying on bad gear to brew coffee. Although Melittas and percolators, remarkably can also brew a really great cup of coffee, using a French Press instead of a drip helps transmit far more of the flavor from the beans to the water.
- If you visit a coffee shop, find out how recently the coffee was brewed; if it has been more than 90 minutes, avoid drinking it.
- At home, never reheat your coffee in the microwave. It makes more bitterness.
Conclusion
Coffee smells so good thanks to chemical reactions. Over 500 chemical compounds are produced by the Maillard Reaction. These reactions are responsible for good smell. Coffee bitterness, however, is the result of bad coffee quality or bad brewing methods.