Smelling coffee can cleanse your palate ?

[Jimmy2]

I have read sometime ago that smelling ground coffee or beans help cleanse your taste buds and sense of smell.

If this is true what is in the coffee that helps this along .

Would love to hear from others that have some knowledge on this topic .

I have read many times that a lot of people say there cigar has no flavor or is very bland and i think sometimes its just blended not so good .

Or maybe there taste buds are just not picking up certain flavors they one did because they are just burnt out.

I must say i have had this happen many times to me also.

I was thinking next time if one of us have this while smoking a cigar to smell some coffee and see if it makes a difference .

Would love to know if this article i read sometime ago holds true.

Thank You

[Colt45]

If this is true what is in the coffee that helps this along .

J, the only time I've heard of this is coffee being used when smelling perfume samples - why it is supposed to work, I don't know. But as you mentioned, it is supposed to simply cleanse / neutralize the olfactory senses to be ready for the next sample - not enhance the ability to detect aromas / flavors.

[marper331]

Similar to cleansing your pallet when tasting wine. Coffee beans are used when smelling different fragrances to help clear the olfactory nerves so the perfumes don't end up all smelling the same after a while.

[Bclass1]

I've never heard of coffee beans to cleanse the palate..I usually just sip on a glass of water with fresh lemon squeezed in it, in between my smokes if I have more than one.. I like to have a fresh palate if I'm going to switch marcas..

[merc]

Most perfume departments will have a jar of coffee beans under the counter.

When you are smelling perfumes, eventually you will get "olfactory fatigue", where you can't distinguish between scents anymore or they all have the same bland smell. Smelling coffee beans refreshes the palate, and you can once again pick up the different notes.

Never tried it with cigars, worth giving it a shot.

[Maplepie]

Think of it this way:

Are you in your home right now? What can you smell? Nothing!

Go on vacation for 3 days. Nice cuban resort. Come back and what do you smell? Things!

Your smell receptors needs a base 'cleaning' every time you smell something. Or else it'll be like your home's natural odour: so used to it, you won't even realise it's there anymore.

Naturally, you can taste smoke mainly because it's glaring at your sensations telling you to taste it. Also because the fresh air serves to clear your receptors. But sometimes, in a dark smokey room, it's hard to get a fresh breath of air so you can enjoy the cigar.

This is why i sometimes do enjoy 7UP and or coke with my smokes. So it gives a contradictory taste that doesn't seem right with the smoke. But i'll sip it and smell it so that the smoke taste much better and fresher after that. Mind you, i always have water with the soft drink when i do have it.

[Ken Gargett]

never heard of coffee performing this task. with wine, you'd avoid coffee like the plague.

also, i can't see how smelling something is going to cleanse your palate. perhaps freshens your sense of smell??

with wine, water or dry biscuits or probably the best, slivers of fresh green apple.

[Maplepie]

also, i can't see how smelling something is going to cleanse your palate. perhaps freshens your sense of smell??

i thought this initially.

but keep in mind, your palate STRONGLY relies on your sense of smell. that can be proved easily when you're sick or when you plug your nose when eating. your ability to taste is killed significantly when your sense of smell is altered.

[Munts]

WIKIPEDIA is your friend.......

Olfactory fatigue, also known as odor fatigue or olfactory adaptation, is the temporary, normal inability to distinguish a particular odor after a prolonged exposure to that airborne compound. For example, when entering a restaurant initially the odor of food is often perceived as being very strong, but after time the awareness of the odor normally fades to the point where the smell is not perceptible or is much weaker. After leaving the area of high odor, the sensitivity is restored with time. Perfume counters will often have containers of coffee beans which tend to "reset" olfaction. Anosmia is the permanent loss of the sense of smell, and is different from olfactory fatigue.

It is a term commonly used in wine tasting, where one loses the ability to smell and distinguish wine bouquet after sniffing at wine(s) continuously for an extended period of time. The term is also used in the study of indoor air quality, for example, in the perception of odors from people, tobacco, and cleaning agents.

Olfactory fatigue is an example of neural adaptation or sensory adaptation. The body becomes desensitized to stimuli to prevent the overloading of the nervous system, thus allowing it to respond to new stimuli that are ‘out of the ordinary’.

One solution put forth to rejuvenate the olfactory sense from olfactory fatigue is the use of coffee beans. In their research, Yaser Dorri, Maryam Sabeghi and Biji T. Kurien hypothesized “that smelling coffee not only refreshes olfactory sensory receptors but also stimulates appetite. Our effort to smell coffee beans for about 3–4 min after cooking enabled our sensory smell to be refreshed and thereby increasing our appetite greatly”. Current theories of smell suggest that molecules which look identical may tend to smell different, which can be due to the chemical makeup of the molecules and potential aromas packed within the minute particles. Yaser Dorri, suggest that unique molecular structure of the coffee odorants could be the reason of detachment of these potent aromas from food and attachment of these strong odorants to the olfactory senses.

[Ken Gargett]

absolutely agree re the importance of smell - and its dominance. most feel taste only covers salt, sweet, bitter, umami and sour - plus possibly astringency. so it is really cleaning out those.

but i still feel that coffee, if it works, is going to be cleaning out flavours etc. not the aspects of taste.

but if palate is extended to smell - and i am not certain i'd agree with that - then it could perhaps work.

[Ken Gargett]

WIKIPEDIA is your friend.......

Olfactory fatigue, also known as odor fatigue or olfactory adaptation, is the temporary, normal inability to distinguish a particular odor after a prolonged exposure to that airborne compound. For example, when entering a restaurant initially the odor of food is often perceived as being very strong, but after time the awareness of the odor normally fades to the point where the smell is not perceptible or is much weaker. After leaving the area of high odor, the sensitivity is restored with time. Perfume counters will often have containers of coffee beans which tend to "reset" olfaction. Anosmia is the permanent loss of the sense of smell, and is different from olfactory fatigue.

It is a term commonly used in wine tasting, where one loses the ability to smell and distinguish wine bouquet after sniffing at wine(s) continuously for an extended period of time. The term is also used in the study of indoor air quality, for example, in the perception of odors from people, tobacco, and cleaning agents.

Olfactory fatigue is an example of neural adaptation or sensory adaptation. The body becomes desensitized to stimuli to prevent the overloading of the nervous system, thus allowing it to respond to new stimuli that are ‘out of the ordinary’.

One solution put forth to rejuvenate the olfactory sense from olfactory fatigue is the use of coffee beans. In their research, Yaser Dorri, Maryam Sabeghi and Biji T. Kurien hypothesized “that smelling coffee not only refreshes olfactory sensory receptors but also stimulates appetite. Our effort to smell coffee beans for about 3–4 min after cooking enabled our sensory smell to be refreshed and thereby increasing our appetite greatly”. Current theories of smell suggest that molecules which look identical may tend to smell different, which can be due to the chemical makeup of the molecules and potential aromas packed within the minute particles. Yaser Dorri, suggest that unique molecular structure of the coffee odorants could be the reason of detachment of these potent aromas from food and attachment of these strong odorants to the olfactory senses.

all fine but that is "olfactory"- smell.

not palate, which was what was first raised. but i may be taking too narrow a view of the original proposition.

[merc]

You may be right Ken.

I know about perfume, but am a novice when it comes to cigars/wine. Perhaps "refreshing the palate" is completely off, I used the phrase simply for lack of a better description. Aplologies if I am spreading misinformation

Regardless, when smelling perfumes, eventually you hit a point where you can't smell anymore. This could be as little as three different perfumes for some people, but with experience you can smell many more in a row before olfactory fatigue sets in.

Sniffing coffee beans will let you smell a handful more before you are done for the session.

I will try smoking half a cigar, then sniffing coffee beans, and seeing if it makes any difference.

[Ken Gargett]

You may be right Ken.

I know about perfume, but am a novice when it comes to cigars/wine. Perhaps "refreshing the palate" is completely off, I used the phrase simply for lack of a better description. Aplologies if I am spreading misinformation

Regardless, when smelling perfumes, eventually you hit a point where you can't smell anymore. This could be as little as three different perfumes for some people, but with experience you can smell many more in a row before olfactory fatigue sets in.

Sniffing coffee beans will let you smell a handful more before you are done for the session.

I will try smoking half a cigar, then sniffing coffee beans, and seeing if it makes any difference.

certainly worth a go.

i suspect that all of this is of some use, even if a little blurry.

i often hear about people talking palate fatigue when judging/assessing wines, and there is undoubtedly something to it, but i have long believed it is not so simple. i think that more often it is the mind/concentration that gives out before the palate. people simply are not used to assessing a large number of wines - in shows, especially in past days, we can be asked to look at 200 or more.

now, after time, they get used to it. i doubt that your palate changes to accommodate the extra wines but rather you get used to concentrating on greater number of wines.

but thaat is largely speculation.

[Maplepie]

absolutely agree re the importance of smell - and its dominance. most feel taste only covers salt, sweet, bitter, umami and sour - plus possibly astringency. so it is really cleaning out those.

but i still feel that coffee, if it works, is going to be cleaning out flavours etc. not the aspects of taste.

but if palate is extended to smell - and i am not certain i'd agree with that - then it could perhaps work.

Aye. Defo not the taste. No way in hell a wiff of coffee will clear the dissolved odour in your saliva and buccal cavity.

However, keep in mind that your mouth doesn't experience the same thing your nose does (in respect to the fatigue).

This is why holding foul tasting items in your mouth doesn't make the taste go away. But maintaining a smell in a room will make it appear to "go away"

Sent from my BlackBerry Q10 using Tapatalk for Android.

[Maplepie]

Note: also keep in mind this fatigue in no way influences your long term smell fatigue.

I call it "jaded from Montecristos"

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[fingerburner]

Funny. Never heard of coffee use but have had sniffing a tea bag recommended to me for this purpose.

[jangoman88]

ive heard citrus, or fruits will cleanse the palate. I was at this fancy dinner one time and they served sherbert ice cream prior to the main course which i thought was odd and the waiter said it was to cleanse the palate for the main plate.

The coffee beans ive used to clear out your sense of smell , cologne's/perfumes not sure if it would help with a cigar.

[Maplepie]

ive heard citrus, or fruits will cleanse the palate. I was at this fancy dinner one time and they served sherbert ice cream prior to the main course which i thought was odd and the waiter said it was to cleanse the palate for the main plate.

aye. nail on the head there.

it's more of a sherbert a la creme (or whatever the bleeding hell that is... where's SmallClub when you need him? )

[Smallclub]

If it's a sherbert (sorbet) it's not an ice cream, there's no cream or milk in it.

The traditionnal "trou normand" was a small glass of Calvados, now replaced by a green apple sorbet, or a calvados sorbet. The idea is to facilitate the digestion and restore the appetite after a large first course such as a tray of sea food, not to cleanse the palate.

btw it has nothing fancy here, it's just old fashioned and reserved for festive meals. And it's delicious!

[lipher]

I've used fresh basil or mint for an instant palate cleanser. I found flush immediately after with water helps in detecting the minor details and flavors of the next smoke on change or relights