The Aromas That Make Me Feel Alive

The sense of smell is a powerful force that can evoke strong emotions and memories. Scents have a unique ability to transport us back to a specific moment in time, whether it's the comforting aroma of freshly baked cookies reminding us of our grandmother's kitchen, or the invigorating scent of pine trees taking us back to a family camping trip. With so many wonderful aromas in the world, it's intriguing to explore the question: what is your favorite smell or aroma, and why does it hold such a special place in your sensory memory?

The smell of home-cooked food

There's something comforting about the smell of home-cooked food. It nourishes not only our bodies but also our souls, and the aroma of it cooking feels like home. The sense of smell is associated with our earliest memories, and most odor-related memories relate to the first decade of life. The ability of human mothers and infants to identify each other by scent is genetically coded, so this sense remains preeminent in our early years.

The smell of home cooking can transport us to another time and place. For some, it might evoke memories of a parent's famous dish, like mom's enchiladas or dad's Sunday morning bacon. For others, it could be the exotic scent of butter that a friend's mom used for baking, reminding you of her warm hospitality.

The olfactory bulb in our brains processes smells, and information is then relayed to the limbic system, including the amygdala and hippocampus. Since the amygdala processes emotions and the hippocampus is crucial for memory, it's no surprise that smell affects these elements so powerfully.

The aroma of home-cooked food can also create new connections and emotional bonds. The scent of garlic and onions sizzling in the pan, for instance, can evoke feelings of comfort and care, signaling that supper is cooking and someone cares.

Whether it reminds us of our childhood or creates new memories, the smell of home-cooked food is a powerful force that connects us to people, places, and emotions, all while tantalizing our taste buds and nourishing our bodies.

Incense

The use of incense in India, for example, dates back to 3300 BC, where it was burnt in Hindu temples to create a sacred space for prayer and serenity. In ancient Egypt, incense was used to ward off evil forces and to cleanse ceremonial tombs. Buddhist monks also rely on incense to purify their meditation spaces.

Today, incense is commonly used for aromatherapy, yoga, meditation, and spiritual practices. It is believed that incense can improve concentration during meditation, promote mindfulness, invoke pleasant memories, and aid relaxation.

There are numerous varieties of incense available, with different fragrances catering to diverse preferences and moods. Here is a selection of popular incense products:

HEM Assorted Hexa Combo Incense Sticks

This assortment of incense sticks from HEM offers six delightful fragrances: Lavender, Dragon Blood, Patchouli, Frankincense-Myrrh, First Rain, and White Sage. Each purchase includes six packs, with 20 sticks in each pack, providing an ample supply for fragrant enjoyment. These incense sticks are made with high-quality ingredients, ensuring a long-lasting fragrance. They are perfect for creating a serene ambiance during meditation, relaxation, or spiritual practices.

Nitiraj Premium Lavender Natural Incense Sticks

Crafted using an ancient Indian method called "masala incense," Nitiraj incense sticks combine resins, oils, and herbs to create a dough mixture coated in sandalwood or another aromatic powder. These incense sticks are made with all pure and natural ingredients, including lavender oil, resulting in a long-lasting fragrance and high-quality burn.

Satya Nag Champa Positive Vibes Incense Sticks

Satya incense sticks are hand-rolled and manufactured in Malaysia. The sweet and spicy scent combination of Nag Champa is intended to reduce stress and enhance mental clarity. Each stick is said to fill your space with a lingering note that permeates your surroundings, creating a pleasant atmosphere.

Shoyeido's Ruby Incense

Based in Japan, Shoyeido uses traditional practices to create their incense sticks. Their popular Ruby blend combines cinnamon, sandalwood, saussurea, and patchouli, resulting in a unique and captivating fragrance.

Gonesh Classic Incense

Gonesh has been creating in-demand incense sticks since 1923. Their classic scent is fruity, and each stick burns for about an hour, providing up to 60 hours of cleansing aromas per pack. The scent blends are extensively researched and made with high-quality charcoal, herbs, resins, and oils.

Province Apothecary Cedar Wood Essential Oil Incense

This incense offers a grounding and strengthening scent designed to clear and purify the air while calming your mind. The charcoal incense is hand-infused with essential oils, resulting in a gentle and less overpowering fragrance.

Nippon kodo Kayuragi Incense Sticks

These clean-burning Japanese incense sticks come in a variety of calming scents, with a focus on warm sandalwood. Each box includes 40 sticks that burn for 25 minutes each, along with a mini ceramic holder.

Bodha Smokeless Incense

Made in Japan with organic woods and essential oils, Bodha incense features light fragrances and a smokeless burn. Each box contains 50 incense sticks in themes like Refresh, Ground, Calm, and Purify.

Chakra Incense Sticks Set

This set includes seven packs of incense sticks, each dedicated to one of the seven chakras. The fragrances are made with a blend of essential oils and include patchouli, sandalwood, frankincense, sage, and more. Each stick is made with sustainable bamboo and has a burn time of 60 minutes.

Freshly-brewed coffee

There's nothing quite like the aroma of freshly-brewed coffee to get your day off to a perfect start. The rich, captivating fragrance of coffee is a multi-sensory experience, a delightful ritual that awakens the senses and sets the tone for the day ahead.

The magic of coffee's aroma begins with the beans themselves. Roasted coffee beans contain nearly a thousand different volatile compounds, and when ground, these particles become more available to our olfactory system, creating an intense fragrance that is simply irresistible. The moment hot water meets the grounds, the true aroma of coffee is unlocked, and a complex dance of molecules begins.

The science behind the aroma is just as fascinating. Different volatile compounds are released into the air during coffee extraction at different rates. The molecules with high polarity take flight first, and coffee releases dozens of particles every second. This means that you may not perceive all the aromatic notes simultaneously. For example, a molecule responsible for a buttery aroma will usually be the first to reach your nose.

The roasting process also plays a significant role in developing the unique aroma of coffee. It produces over 900 aromatic compounds, and this number continues to grow as scientists work tirelessly to uncover more insights. The ground coffee, when combined with hot water, further intensifies the aroma, creating an indulgent drinking experience.

The coffee aroma is not just about the sense of smell; it's a multi-sensory experience. The entire retronasal system, including taste and smell, works together to perceive the coffee's aromatic profile fully. The fragrance of ground coffee and the aroma of brewed coffee offer distinct yet intertwined dimensions to the overall coffee experience.

Flowers

The evolutionary purpose of floral scents is to attract pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds, facilitating the transfer of pollen and ensuring successful reproduction. Different scents appeal to different pollinators, resulting in a diverse array of floral fragrances in nature. For example, sweet and fruity scents often attract bees, while spicy and musky scents are more appealing to butterflies.

Today, flowers continue to play a significant role in the perfume industry, with natural fragrances gaining popularity. Classic floral scents such as gardenia, rose, lily, magnolia, jasmine, freesia, honeysuckle, lavender, and orange blossom are beloved for their unique and captivating aromas, evoking emotions and conjuring memories.

Baking

The smell of freshly baked bread is almost universally loved. The aroma of bread baking in the oven evokes powerful, pleasant memories of childhood and family for many people. It is a Pavlovian response, triggering "odour-cued memories" at a subconscious level that catapult people back to their youth. The scent of bread is so distinctive that it can be used to make people feel happier and spend more money in supermarkets, and estate agents will often put a loaf in the oven when selling a house.

But why does the smell of baking have such a profound effect on us? The answer lies in both the chemistry and psychology of bread-baking. The Maillard reactions, in which sugars combine with amino acids, create tasty golden and umber complexes that release many volatile aromatic compounds. These float through the air and into our nostrils, stimulating our senses. The longer the fermentation, the more pronounced the yeast flavours become, as the microbes have more time to produce these compounds.

The smell of baking bread is so enticing that people will often stop outside a bakery, their heads turning towards the source of the aroma, their noses lifting to catch a hint of it. It is a powerful scent that can influence our emotions and memories, with 89% of people saying the smell of bread makes them happy. The olfactory bulb, which processes incoming smells, has direct connections to the brain areas strongly implicated in emotion and memory, which explains why the aroma of baking bread can be so evocative.

The process of baking bread creates a complex flavour profile, with over 540 distinct volatile compounds detected in a typical loaf, nearly 20 of which contribute to its aroma. These include compounds that give off milky, buttery, and malty aromas, as well as more unexpected notes like cooked spaghetti, flint, green olives, grapefruit, and baked onions. The crust of the bread, in particular, contains compounds that impart a sweet, roasted, cracker-like aroma.

The smell of baking is so alluring that people have found clever ways to make their homes smell like fresh-baked goods without ever turning on the oven. From infusing their homes with the scent of vanilla or almond extract to simmering fruit and spices on the stove, there are many ways to capture the comforting aroma of baking without ever mixing a batch of cookie dough. However, nothing quite compares to the smell of freshly baked goods straight from the oven, filling your home with warmth and delicious scents.

Frequently asked questions