# What!? Can't stand the smell of coffee? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** coffee\ **Created:** [July 21, 2003, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900 "2003-07-21T13:37:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900/1 "2003-07-21T13:37:52Z")
After about two and a half years of having my own office, I’ve recently been sharing a larger office with one other person, and so far I’ve had two different “roommates”. Over the years I had developed the custom of grinding and brewing my own coffee rather than let the vile decoction offered by the office to pass my lips. As it turns out, both of these officemates hate the smell of coffee!! It’s as if I were smoking cigars or something; I didn’t think such a thing was possible. In my experience even people who don’t like to drink coffee like the smell of it. Accordingly I’ve started bringing a thermos from home, and it hasn’t been too hard to make the adjustment. It saves me all those hikes to the kitchen to fetch water and to wash out the coffeepot at day’s end, but I’m still a little amazed by the whole thing. Does anyone else out there also not like the smell of coffee, or have you run into this in other people? ---
**Author:** ![whistlepig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/73ab20/32.png) [@whistlepig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whistlepig)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900/2 "2003-07-21T13:43:46Z")
Brewing coffee smells incredibly noxious to me. I even bought my ex a one-cup brewer because it didn’t have as much smell. Whistlepig ---
**Author:** ![kris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@kris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kris)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900/3 "2003-07-21T13:48:25Z")
One time at school I had to walk through the teachers staff room. It stank of coffee. I still have very vivid nightmare’s!!! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900/4 "2003-07-21T14:05:46Z")
Well, it does smell slightly better than it tastes, but I don’t like the smell much, especially when it’s brewing as **whistlepig** has said. But I hate the smell of hazelnut 10 times more than any other type. ---
**Author:** ![Zenster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/cdc98d/32.png) [@Zenster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zenster)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900/5 "2003-07-21T14:55:43Z")
_ **Roasting** _ coffee actually gives off toxic fumes. Excerpts from a [fact sheet](http://www.weblakes.com/toxic/ACETALDEHYDE.HTML) > [@](#): > > - Acetaldehyde is ubiquitous in the ambient environment. It is an intermediate product of higher plant respiration and formed as a product of incomplete wood combustion in fireplaces and woodstoves, **coffee roasting** , burning of tobacco, vehicle exhaust fumes, and coal refining and waste processing. Hence, many individuals are exposed to acetaldehyde by breathing ambient air. It should be noted that residential fireplaces and woodstoves are the two highest sources of emissions, followed by various industrial emissions. (1) > > - In hamsters, chronic (long-term) inhalation exposure to acetaldehyde has produced changes in the nasal mucosa and trachea, growth retardation, slight anemia, and increased kidney weight. (1,4) [sup]BOLDING ADDED[/sup] ---
**Author:** ![Balance](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ccd318/32.png) [@Balance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balance)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900/6 "2003-07-21T15:38:51Z")
I hate the taste of coffee and dislike the odor, especially during brewing. It’s almost painfully bitter and reminds me of a mixture of dead skunk and burning ballast transformer. It’s not that strong, of course, but that’s the general idea. I’ve learned to tolerate it because nearly everyone I know has a strange addiction to the stuff (he typed, while taking a sip of his coke 😉 ). ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900/7 "2003-07-21T16:23:29Z")
I don’t mind the odor of coffee, but it’s one of the foulest concoctions I’ve ever tasted. ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Norse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/big_norse/32/9954_2.png) [@Big\_Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Norse)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900/8 "2003-07-21T16:26:46Z")
I too hate the smell of coffee. Hate, detest, despise, abhor, etc… It is for that reason, I’ve never tasted it. Although I don’t know anyone else (besides my sister) who doesn’t drink it on occasion, I could never bring myself to get past the smell and try it. It does make for uncomfortable meetings and “coffee breaks” where the assumption is that the pot of coffee will make everyone happy. Here in the mighty US of A I’ve learned not to ask for tea (you get funny looks–only tree hugging wiccan anarchists drink tea around here), so I always bring a soda or water so I don’t have to get into it with the rabid coffee types. ---
**Author:** ![jacquilynne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jacquilynne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacquilynne)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900/9 "2003-07-21T16:41:23Z")
The smell of coffee - especially hazelnut and french vanilla, and doubly especially if milk has been added to it - actually makes me physically ill. I get quite nauseated if people drink coffee too near me. Fortunately, the coffee available for sale in our building a) is considered quite good by most who drink it, so no one feels the need to brew their own and b) comes in paper cups with lids, which contain the smell fairly effectively. ---
**Author:** ![emarkp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/3be4f8/32.png) [@emarkp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emarkp)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900/10 "2003-07-21T16:48:33Z")
I’ve never had coffee either, and I can’t stand the smell of it. My old office mate would bring coffee in sometimes and it would have driven me nuts if it hadn’t been in one of those cups with a lid that has a slit to drink through. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900/11 "2003-07-21T16:59:39Z")
One of the reasons I despised my last job was the ever-present stench of coffee. I mean, it was pervasive; even when it wasn’t brewing, I could smell it. It’s always smelled like boiling sweatsocks, to me. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900/12 "2003-07-21T17:12:30Z")
Hmm… Those who dislike the smell of coffee, did your parents (or someone else in your household) drink it while you were going up? My mom never drank it, and as a result, I never got used to the smell. So now, I don’t like it. And **Big\_Norse** , make that “tree hugging wiccan anarchists and physicists”. At our weekly colloquia, there’s coffee and tea available (and even herbal tea, but by 4 PM Fridays I usually need the caffeine), and the coffee drinkers and tea drinkers seem to be about matched in number. ---
**Author:** ![AllShookDown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d9b06d/32.png) [@AllShookDown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllShookDown)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900/13 "2003-07-21T17:26:11Z")
I can handle the smell of regular coffee but the smell of the flavored ones, especially if they smell sweet, make me queasy. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900/14 "2003-07-21T17:34:45Z")
Both Pepper Mill and I _love_ the smell of coffee when we pass those upscale coffee shops. But we can’t stand the taste of it. My grandmother used to make cofee every Sunday for the whiole family, and I suspect she rarely washed out the pot – it filled the air with a metallic tang that I hated – that smell of coffee is awful – and that might have helped cause my dislike of the beverage. ---
**Author:** ![godzillatemple](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/49beb7/32.png) [@godzillatemple](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/godzillatemple)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900/15 "2003-07-21T17:35:09Z")
I’m not a coffee drinker, but never minded the smell of coffee. Until, that is, just recently when I moved to a new town and discovered that “The New England Coffee Company” is just down the road. When the wind is just right, the most putrid odor wafts onto our property. The first time I smelled it, I had just arrived home and was convinced my car engine was on fire. I have no doubt whatsoever that roasting coffee, as **zenster** points out, actually gives off toxic fumes. Nothing that smells so bad could be anything less than deadly. Barry ---
**Author:** ![Big\_Norse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/big_norse/32/9954_2.png) [@Big\_Norse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Big_Norse)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900/16 "2003-07-21T17:54:29Z")
> [@](#): > > _originally posted by Chronos_: > And Big\_Norse, make that “tree hugging wiccan anarchists and physicists”. At our weekly colloquia, there’s coffee and tea available… Damn! that’s where I went wrong, I should be hanging out with wicca and physicists instead of boring old consultants. But on the other hand, anarchist wicca physicists, that might get scary! > [@](#): > > _also from Chronos:_ > Those who dislike the smell of coffee, did your parents (or someone else in your household) drink it while you were going up? Both of my parents drink coffee (strong and black), but then again they also drink manhattans, and I’ve definitely never gotten to like the smell of bourbon and vermouth… ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900/17 "2003-07-21T18:08:07Z")
Growing up, my parents drank a lot of coffee. I hated the smell of it and swore that I would never drink it. Well, now I just _love_ the smell of coffee in the morning. I’m not an avid drinker, but I do like to have a cup of coffee every now and again. For example, if I don’t have a cup after Thanksgiving dinner, I’m out for the rest of the night. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ad7895/32.png) [@Just\_Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900/18 "2003-07-21T18:26:35Z")
Non coffee drinker and coffee stench hater checking in here. The reason I never have been able to get into coffee at all is the fact that I find it painful to drink (along with hot tea and other hot drinks). The rest of my family has no such problem. At this point I can’t stand even walking past coffee shops since the smell is so awful. ---
**Author:** ![5\_time\_champ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/5/278dde/32.png) [@5\_time\_champ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/5_time_champ)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900/19 "2003-07-21T19:20:02Z")
I love the smell of coffee brewing, but the taste of coffee is among the most vile tastes of all. ---
**Author:** ![MrVisible](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@MrVisible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrVisible)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900/20 "2003-07-21T19:27:43Z")
The main character of Mark Helprin’s excellent novel, **Memoir from Antproof Case** , has a severe aversion to the odor of coffee. > [@](#): > > “The whole world has been taken over by that disgusting stuff,” he continued. “It’s like a virus from outer space, sent to enslave humanity, not in chains but by beans. Did you know that at the zoo when they want hippos to vomit they stuff a handful of coffee grounds into their garage-mouths, and they hippos retch so hard they practically turn inside-out?” > > “Yes, I know that,” I asnwered. “Everyone knows that, but people forget.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-cant-stand-the-smell-of-coffee/189900.md?page=2)