Too Hot to Taste!

My husband likes his soup so hot that I don’t know how he can actually taste it. I always end up reasoning with him that he needs to change his way and have his soup not as hot, but it’s a losing battle. Typically, I’ll give up and this is how he gets his soup:  After everyone is served, the pot is heated to a higher temperature, and soup ablaze, he is served. Given the dining etiquettes I grew up with, everyone has to be served before anyone start eating.  Well, my husband does not wait for everyone to be served because his food will get cold.  So when he isserved last everyone has got their food and he does not have to wait.  I just gave you a tip in how to get creative with your daily relationship issues.

How can your taste buds process the essence of a variety of flavors when they are fighting to get rid of the food by throwing it around your mouth, pushing it away and down your throat to survive the burning sensation? And then there’s a suffering and healing period afterwards, which leaves your taste buds not functioning for a while.

Yesterday morning, I received validation for my opinion from the “high priest of coffee”.  As I turned the TV on to watch the CBS morning show, I saw part of a segment with Jeff Glor (@jeffglor) on “the quest for a perfect cup of coffee” titled “Back to the Grind” with George Howell. George is one of the pioneers of the specialty-coffee movement in the US, founder of New England based “The Coffee Connection”, later acquired by Starbucks. Now 68 years of age, George and his daughter go around the world tasting coffee as the Terroir Coffee Company. It was interesting to see how much time he took to smell and taste a variety of different roasts and be able to process the experience. Among his comments one that hit home with me was: “we drink coffee too hot to taste it”, meaning, you can’t taste it if it’s too hot.  Coming from the “high preist” of the coffee bean, I rest my case.  Not only hot temperature burn and disable your taste buds it also destroys the flavors that are to present themselves and give you the pleasure of the experience.  The moral of the story:  Let your food cool down a bit, and savor it.