Flavored Coffee: Smell > Taste

I love coffee and drink a lot of it. I very much like the taste of coffee. But what I love even more than the taste of coffee (and more than the pick-me up of coffee, and even more than the way it keeps me from getting mid-day headaches) is the smell of it. There's nothing like being in a coffee shop and catching a wave of fresh espresso in the air.

I recognize the slight superiority of the smell of coffee over the taste. But I'm not saddened by it. I accept it. What does disappoint me however, is how inferior the taste of flavored coffee is to the smell of it. When I walk down the bulk coffee section of Top Foods or Safeway and catch the scent of all the varieties of flavored coffee they have—hazelnut, chocolate, French vanilla, caramel, etc—I experience (if you’ll allow me some slight hyperbole) a little slice of heaven.

But I don't fall for the allure of the scent anymore, and usually don't bother buying flavored coffee, because I'm always disappointed by it. If you serve me flavored coffee, I'll drink it and enjoy it. I'm not completely rejecting it. I just lament the fact that it's such a great drop-off from smell to taste when it comes to flavored coffee.

I guess I've come to treat the coffee aisle much like I do the scented candle section of stores—a good source of free, momentary entertainment and pleasure, but not something I will invest more than a few moments in. Unless there's a sale on cheap candles, in which case I might buy one. But I won't consume it. Just burn it. And smell it whenever I desire, because it's in my home.

That's all I have to say at the moment. I'll likely a post a much less quirky, more lengthy and heartfelt blog in the coming days...