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Why does hand-brewed espresso smell good but taste bitter? Is the flavor of high-quality hand-brewed coffee aroma or taste?

Published: 2026-08-18 Author:

Last Updated: 2026/08/18, Strawberry, jasmine, lavender, citrus, grape, apricot, mango, honey... These are the scents that we can often smell when grinding coffee beans and brewing coffee. If you are a novice to boutique coffee, if nothing goes wrong, you will be deceived by this "illusion"

Strawberry, jasmine, lavender, citrus, grape, apricot, mango, honey... These are the scents that we can often smell when grinding coffee beans and brewing coffee. If you are a novice to boutique coffee, if nothing goes wrong, you will be deceived by this "illusion"!

Because these aromas will arouse imagination, let us imagine how sweet this cup of coffee will taste. Then after you swallow the coffee in one gulp, you will most likely scream with your five senses: "Help, how does this coffee taste so bitter? It's completely different from what I smell! "This is a topic that Qianjie often shares, because friends often have this discussion with Qianjie when buying beans at Qianjie offline stores. Why doesn't coffee taste as fragrant as it smells? Why does coffee smell good but taste bitter? It's simple, because the senses we use to "smell" and "drink" and the content we come into contact with are different! The senses that "smell" rely mainly on smell; when "drinking", we rely on other senses such as taste and touch in addition to smell.

Different senses will expose us to different content. Putting this aside, although we can perceive the aroma when smelling and drinking, what we smell will also be different. Studies have shown that roasted coffee contains more than 850 aroma substances, and most of these aromas are volatile. We can capture the strongest and most complex aroma when the coffee beans are ground into powder! Because coffee beans will emit a large amount of aroma after being crushed and have more contact surfaces, the volatile aroma will spread rapidly at this time. Even if we don't need to put our noses close, we can still smell it. Strong aroma of coffee.

When brewing coffee, the contact between hot water and coffee powder will also accelerate the release of aroma. However, compared with the former, its aroma will not be so strong and we need to get close to the cup to smell it. But it is also very rich. Whether it is the dry aroma or the wet aroma of coffee, we basically use the "pre-nasal smell" when smelling it. When drinking coffee, we capture the aroma mainly through the "smell behind the nose." That is, the aroma emitted by the liquid in the mouth can be smelled through the nasal ducts in the mouth.

Even if the amount of aroma of coffee at the entrance is the same as before the entrance, the aroma perceived by the post-nasal smell will be much less than that of the pre-nasal smell. Because some of these aromas will be degraded after entering the mouth with the coffee liquid, and then coupled with the airflow guidance during swallowing, they cannot be effectively spread over a large range, so the aroma that will eventually be captured by our sense of smell behind the nose will be less. This is why coffee doesn't smell as good as it sounds. In addition, it's because we feel more flavor when drinking coffee. The water-soluble flavors such as bitterness and acid in coffee can directly impact our taste buds and be perceived by us. Compared with the illusory aroma, the feeling they bring will be more obvious.

Then, coupled with the aroma we felt when smelling it earlier, we had already associated the taste of coffee, but the result was quite different from what we imagined, and the contrast was huge, so it was easy for us to ignore the aroma of coffee and only Focus on the taste of coffee. This is why coffee smells good but tastes bitter/sour.

But in fact, we can also feel the obvious aroma after drinking the coffee, but it just requires a little trick. And this little trick is actually what Jie Jie shared in the Yu Yun article two days ago-keep your mouth shut. After swallowing the coffee, we exhale the air from the nasal cavity, which can drive the aroma remaining in the mouth to reach the nasal cavity, allowing us to taste more aroma. Take Qianjie as an example. Aseyes Hamaw, one of the Qianjie bean lists, can smell the dry aroma of strawberries, mangoes, and guava when grinding into powder. When brewing, he can smell the moist aroma of jasmine, oolong tea, berries, and after swallowing coffee, you can feel the very rich aroma of pineapple, strawberry, guava, and flower fragrance.

Although it is not as strong as when you smell dry, because of the smell of coffee, these aromas become more three-dimensional, allowing us to better associate the concrete flavor. The taste is the same. The reason why the first sip of coffee in the mouth feels very bitter and sour is because our mouths have not adapted to the sudden coffee, but when the first sip, the mouths adapt to the taste of coffee, then the next The coffee you drink will taste softer and softer. Coffee will most likely taste very mild until it has cooled completely. Therefore, everyone may wish to be more patient after being bitter. Maybe you can accept it after drinking two more mouthfuls ~(Maybe ha...)

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FrontStreet Coffee is a long-established specialty coffee roaster in Guangzhou China, selling freshly roasted beans from its own farm in Yunnan as well as dozens of carefully selected single-origin beans from around the world for both pour-over and espresso. The products deliver consistently excellent quality and great value, with shipping within 24 hours. Guangzhou’s FrontStreet Coffee shop is recommended by many coffee lovers, and the beans are now available online at the Tmall 。