# Why can I smell coffee in my urine?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-i-smell-coffee-in-my-urine/234309>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [March 14, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-i-smell-coffee-in-my-urine/234309 "2004-03-14T22:37:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\
**Post date:** [March 15, 2004, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-i-smell-coffee-in-my-urine/234309/21 "2004-03-15T21:24:31Z")

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I drink really strong black coffee, and the aroma goes right through me. So this is a real phenomenon, and you’re not a freak, you’re normal.

I’ll tell you another food aroma that makes for fragrant urine: Basmati rice. I eat basmati rice for lunch and dinner every day, and I can smell its characteristic fragrance the next morning.

In the novel _The House of Doctor Dee_ by Peter Ackroyd, the Elizabethan alchemist Dr. John Dee urinates the morning after a party when he’d been drinking spiced wine. He smells cinnamon and muses how his urine could be collected and alchemically refined to retrieve the cinnamon.

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**Author:** ![galt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@galt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galt)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-i-smell-coffee-in-my-urine/234309/22 "2004-03-16T00:43:33Z")

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Having your urine smell like coffee doesn’t seem like anything you should worry about, but I would start to be concerned if your coffee smells like urine. 😃

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**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-i-smell-coffee-in-my-urine/234309/23 "2004-03-16T01:25:58Z")

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Sometimes I swear my urine smells like popcorn, or maybe rice cakes, even though I no longer eat either.

And for the record, I do get very strong asparagus pee, even after eating only 1-2 spears.

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**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-i-smell-coffee-in-my-urine/234309/24 "2004-03-16T13:25:01Z")

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Sugar Puffs (which I assume are of the same ilk as Sugar Smacks, whatever they are…) are the main culprit for scented whiz, for me.

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**Author:** ![ReverseCowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/cc9497/32.png) [@ReverseCowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReverseCowgirl)\
**Post date:** [March 16, 2004, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-can-i-smell-coffee-in-my-urine/234309/25 "2004-03-16T14:18:13Z")

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Yeah, be thankful your coffee does not smell like urine. That is a more serious problem.

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