Aroma of Coffee

Wake up and smell the coffee. This expression generally means to pay attention to what is going on around you. However, it also can bring to mind an early summer morning in your youth with birds singing in the trees, dew on the lawn, and the hope and promise of the day. Just what is responsible for the aroma of coffee? The scientific explanation is that roasted coffee contains more than eight hundred different chemicals of which many contribute to the aroma of coffee.

What Gives Coffee Its Aroma?

The chemicals in coffee that give it aroma include heterocyclic compounds like thiophenones, thiophens, quinolines, pyridines, pyrroles, hydrofurans, thiazoles, indoles, oxazoles, quinoxalines, pyrazines, and furans. There are more than three hundred of these in coffee beans. Other chemicals include aliphatic compounds like dimethyl sulfide, propanal, isopentanal, methanol, n-hexane, acetaldehyde, isopentane, isobutanal, and 2-methylfuran. There are as many as one hundred-fifty of these. Phenols like chlorogenic acids not only provide coffee with its aroma but also provide antioxidant properties when absorbed.

What We Smell When We Smell the Coffee

The names of all of the specific chemicals that result in coffee aroma can only be loved by a chemist. What we coffee drinkers love is when the aroma is fruity, honey-like, earthy, spicy, catty, and more. While chemicals called furans are the ones most likely to pass the “olfactory threshold” the combination of many often combines to provide a pleasant background aroma that often cannot be immediately identified. While the furans are important so is the breakdown of sugars in coffee with roasting. Pyrroles also give a caramel aroma. Walnut-like aromas come from pyrazines. A meaty aroma arises from sufficient amounts of thiophens.

Aromatic Compounds in Green Coffee and After Roasting

While there are aromatic compounds in green coffee beans, nobody smells green beans and says what a nice aroma they have. The majority of aromatic compounds come from roasting. This is also where many of the health oxidants come from. The degree of roast also affects the aroma so that a full roast is going to have more caramelization than a light roast. One of the chemicals that is created during roasting is methylpyridium. This chemical not only contributes to the great smell of coffee but also increases phase II enzymes in the body. These enzymes do things like protect the body against colon cancer.

Aroma of Coffee

Where To Get the Coffee With the Best Aroma

There are two factors that affect coffee aroma, the type of coffee and freshness. Arabica coffee has more flavor and better aroma than Robusta coffee. Arabica coffee from Colombia reliably has the best aroma and flavor of the Arabicas. Green coffee retains its freshness for up to three years if property stored. Roasted coffee retains its freshness for up to six months. Roasted and ground coffee starts to lose its freshness, taste, and aroma as soon as the grounds are exposed to air. For the best coffee aroma buy Coffee from Colombia, grind only enough for the day’s use and never store right above the stove!

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