Aroma

The aroma of freshly roasted coffee beans escaping through the shop’s windows and doors would make me pause just so I could take a deep breath and inhale that scent and imagine what that steaming cup of coffee would taste like. This is the power of aroma and our ability to sense smell, which scientists call olfaction. Aroma is the sense most strongly associated with our memory; when we reminisce about food or drink, it’s their unique scents that we recollect, and rarely their taste (see Emotion). (Just in case you’re wondering, I eventually did go back to drinking coffee.)