What does coffee freaking smell like?!?!

[JayKid]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 7:09pm

I have a cup of coffee in front of me right now and need 5 words to describe it's smell. I just can't upt my fingers on a word for it.

It tastes really strong in a dirty, bitter, tart way. It's like really light and watery, also has a very bland (with absolutely no sweetness) aftertaste.

The smell is strongish, and just smells like what I think a normal cup of coffee smells like. Now I even looked up words to describe coffee's aroma and could find ONE that described it, earthy.

Yet I need 5 So please, anyone who is good at describing smells, help me out here. I've done my best giving you a sense of the taste and smell I can describe. So hopefully if you can gimme some other adjectives, it'd be great.

Since I don't even know words to describe it... I'm stumped

[JayKid]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 7:10pm

doh wrong message board, thought i was on off-topic (sorry)

[mirramar]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 7:11pm

pungent
cloying Updated On: 10/10/05 at 07:11 PM

[JayKid]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 7:15pm

hmmm yay!! those are good!

Thank you!

[DefyingEDCT]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 7:28pm

coffee

[pndmnd]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 9:21pm

I think it should be what it tastes like to you, as it will taste different to different people. Not to be hall monitor, but think about the different layers of the coffee. And different kinds of coffee have different tastes. And if you put anything in it, that changes it, too.

[JayKid]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 9:51pm

The assignment isn't about different types or anything. It's to reenact drinking a cup of coffee (or even any hot liquid).

So I have drank a cup of coffee and basing it off that experience (I really don't drink coffee). I know what it tastes like and smells liek to me, I explained that.

I'm just at a loss of words to describe it. Really because my vocabulary just isn't great enough, although I do know the word pungent and it's a good one. And cloying, doesn't that mean lifeless and uninteresting? Or is it just uninteresting in a smells bad way? I'm not sure, but I'm using it regardless.

So see, the problem here is my lack of vocabulary to describe coffee, really smells in general. since I just feel that coffee has this one strong, I guess pungent smell to me. I just think of it as Coffee, never dissected it into 5 different descriptions of what my sense of smell picks up.

So I need words to describe the smell of the coffee I tried to explain.

So any help, pleeease... I need 2 more.
Updated On: 10/10/05 at 09:51 PM

[Mamie]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 10:03pm

gusto, piquancy, pungency, redolence, flavor, essence, spiciness, nutty, emanation, savor, warmth

[JayKid]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 10:03pm

looked up cloynig, it's a bad taste, but it's from being too sweet or somethin... so can't really use that.

Blah, I hate this. My smell sense sucks... along with my description of what i smell.

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 10:06pm

Not really sure. I once heard somoene say their coffee smelled and tasted like the movie they had just seen. I thought that was really neat.

[JayKid]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 10:08pm

lol, ok I just need ONE more thing...

I really wanna get something to eat and stuff, so if anyone could help me out here so I can print this and get to eating, I'd be sooo grateful :)

[Over_the_Moon]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 10:15pm

I hate to be teacher-like here, but I think you're kind of missing the point of the assignment by asking a bunch of message boardies...

As far as I know, assignments like this are to help you open your mind, explore your vocabulary, and expand your writing skills... you're not really doing that if other people are giving you your adjectives.

[KelRel]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 10:16pm

EDIT- I started to list words, but OTM is right. You need to do this yourself.

Updated On: 10/10/05 at 10:16 PM

[JayKid]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 10:21pm

Really, I don't need advice like that... I realize that is what this is suppose to do and here, if you want to see what I've already done on this project (and have to then act this out)... then here, I'll show you all.

I know what I'm suppose to do and have done it, sorry if I couldn't figure out one part of this... I'm just having trouble. If I went to my professor he'd help, but I can't get in contact with him.

Senses Project

Actions:
1. Coffee is sitting in front of my and I start by putting my hand across the top of the cup
2. Try to touch and pick the cup up, but quickly realize it’s too hot and drop it
3. It falls down and splashes coffee on my hand; I react violent because of the pain
4. I allow my hand to cool off and than put my sweater over my hand to protect it from the scolding hot coffee
5. I lift it up, and put my face over the coffee, breathing in the hot steam, sighing in pleasure
6. I blow no the cup as I bring it closer to my mouth
7. I finally try and take a sip, very slowly, paying attention to the coffee as it rises closer to my upper lip
8. It touches my lips and I curl my lip back from the hit and lower the cup down, also allowing my tongue to cool my lip
9. I blow again against the coffee, holding my breath as long as I can
10. Put the cup back down, and continue with another breath
11. Put my hand over the cup to feel the heat and feel the cup with my back of my hand
12. Try to take another sip, this time, letting it hit my lip, but backing off only a little
13. I tilt the cup even more to allow just a small amount of the hot coffee into my mouth
14. It touches my tongue and I realize the pain, trying to blow on it while my mouth is closed
15. Once I feel it is cool enough to swallow, I swallow slowly, and painfully, feeling the scratchy and hot liquid run down my throat
16. and still working on this part...

Touch:
1. Heat of the steam against the back of my hand as I move it across the top of the cup
-Thick feeling, blowing up against my hand
2. Heat of touching the cup itself (which is rather thin)
-Shocking to my hand, quick, burning sensation
3. Burning feeling of the liquid against my hand
-Put down too quickly, so liquid spilled out
4. Heat from the steam, as I bring the cup closer to my face, against my face
-The moisture and heat of the stream opening my pores
5. The heat and burning of the coffee against my upper lip as I try to take a sip
-Meanwhile still feeling the steam against my face, mainly my nose
6. Breathing in the vapors from the coffee and feeling it go up into my sinuses
-Very soothing, relaxing feeling (especially having a slight cold)
7. The burning against my tongue, which is painful
-Feels as if I’ve lost taste buds, loss of sensation afterwards
8. The feeling of my cold breath against the insides of my lips as I blow on the coffee
9. Intense heat inside my mouth
-mainly my tongue, and top of my mouth
10. The burning hot coffee going down my throat
-Painful and scratchy
11. As the coffee gets cooler, the soothing feeling of the liquid running down
Sight:
1. The steam rising from the liquid and out the cup
2. The coffee falling over the edge of the cup
-Splashing off my hand and onto the table
3. The coffee still somewhat violently swaying from side to side
-After I put it back onto the table
4. Watching the coffee rising up the side of the cup as tilt it
-Coming closer and closer to my mouth, anticipating what is to come
5. The steam lessening, as well as the coffee taking up less and less of the cup as I drink

Hearing:
1. Grabbing the cup and releasing it because of the heat
2. Putting the cup down quickly to avoid the heat of the cup
3. The coffee splashing against my hand and the table
4. The coffee jumping around frantically in the cup after I quickly almost drop the cup
5. Sound of myself sucking in the steam into my nose
6. Sipping the coffee
7. Drinking the coffee
-Sound of it running down my throat and me swallowing


Taste:
1. At first there is almost no taste, especially because of how hot the coffee is
2. It is a bit strong in a bitter sense
3. Although it is a strong taste, it is a dull one, lacking sweetness
4. The aftertaste is bland and stays lingering in your mouth
5. This taste is strong, yet it’s a light watery taste
6. This lingering watery taste, which is strong and not so good at first, you get used to
-The more coffee that is being drank, the better it tastes
7. Overall a very earthy quality
-Also somewhat dirty or burnt

Smell:
1. At first I almost smell the heat and steam, an empty smell
-I can almost smell the warmth and moisture
2. It is a strong, noticeable smell
3. Pungent
4. Dirty and muddy (goes with the earthy taste)
5. ??????? NEED HELP HERE ???????



So seriously, I don't see why anyone should bug me on this when I personally feel I've done more than enough work. I'm sorry I'm asking for a bit of help from all of you, but I really don't want advice like... oh I shouldn't help because it's a project for you etc, etc.

Now someone stop with the obnoxious comments that do nothing, but criticize me and give me my last word.

Damn it.

[Calvin]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 10:33pm

Are you limited to adjectives? Try adjectival present participles. And action verbs. Verb forms make for much more interesting and descriptive writing than when you're bogged down in a bunch of adjectives.

In writing:
Strongest: Nouns/Verbs
Weaker: Adjectives, Prepositional phrases
Weakest: Adverbs

In other words, if you look at your writing and find that your adjectives are outnumbering your nouns and verbs, you should change that. It muddies your writing. And use adverbs sparingly. Except "sparingly."

So, for smell. How do you react when you smell it? Do you wince from the odor? Does it soothe you as you close your eyes and enjoy the fragrance? etc. etc.

Of course, I have no idea what kind of assignment this is, so this might not be helpful at all. And some academia-types love adjective-heavy writing, so...

[Over_the_Moon]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 10:34pm

I don't think telling you to do your own damn work is obnoxious. It's intelligent. Some day you're not going to have a message board to turn to when you have something to figure out. And no, you haven't done enough work unless you've finshed the project. When teachers assign something, they know what they're doing.

And for the record, you aren't going to get anywhere if you don't know how to take criticism. (Not that this really counts as criticism so much as a wake up call.)

[JayKid]

Posted: 10/10/05 at 10:56pm

I am not going to argue you with you OTM, I get where you are coming from and don't agree. You can feel free to stand where you stand, but just because I need help does not mean I haven't done my work or not done enough. I would quickly ask my professor if I could contact him, but haven't been able to, so I'm at a loss and came here. Big deal.

And Calvin, I realize adjectives do weaken writing, but this isn't even a writing class... it's an acting class and I just need ANYTHING, noun, verb, adjective to describe the smell. I just stuck unpleasant for my last one because I wanted to finish and considering I did way past what was needed for eveything else I didn't care.

I really am fine with criticism, but I'm sorry... but this "wake up call" is completely obnoxious and uncalled for. I don't need one, and if you don't want to help, don't post here at all, simple as that. Your post was unwanted and unneeded. Updated On: 10/10/05 at 10:56 PM