Sense of smell~Decanter article

WINE TALK
1

Back in November, Decanter published an article describing how they brought together a sommelier, a tea buyer, and a perfumier, to test their collective sense of smell.

In the end the tea buyer ended up winning out in what appeared to be a fairly objective contest.
Unable to find the actual article, I did find this piece on it in a tea publication.

http://jingtea.com/tea-knowledge/edward-eisler-wins-battle-of-the-senses" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The whole process was very interesting and made me reflect on my own olfactory acuity.

Anybody else see the article?

2

It is interesting. Looks like the tea guy is better able to utilize his skillset for a wider range of smell. I wonder if this is because he’s more of a generalist, rather than a specialist.

Frankly, after being told from multiple sources that women have a keener sense of smell, I was a little surprised the female didn’t score highest. OTOH, as a perfumier, I would imagine the subtlety of some nuances may be lost on her.

A couple of things I came away with:

  1. rather than trying to analyse the various flavors and aromas of tea, the tea buyer says, “…‘Instead I look to define what the tea is and where it comes from, then I look at what’s happened in the processing, which is where faults often occur. What you are looking for is a real clarity of flavour – which isn’t to say all the flavours need to be strong, they just have to present themselves clearly and in a distinctive way.’”
    To me, this meant that the tea guy does a lot of what we do - looks for faults or incompleteness.

  2. “…it seems clear that those people who have taken the time to hone their sense of smell are more sensitive than the average person to aromatic complexities, even when it comes to aromas outside the scope of their particular experience.”
    I’d agree. I find I’m much more sensitive to smells than many around me.

3

My guess is that the tea buyer won because the products they smell on a daily basis have no harmful fumes and are very subtle. Wine experts are taking in alcohol vapors, and perfume ‘noses’ are also, as well as very strong odors.

4

Thanks for the link Mark. Fun article.

5

the greatest noses I’ve encountered are MEN! And curiously, they’re men who’ve had injuries to their noses (often football). Perhaps it is similar to what a seizure could be to re-wiring the mind? Who nose?

6

thanks, a very interesting article indeed.