No, seriously. I’m not really sure why, but when I drink coffee, I taste hints of weed. Not super strong, but it is there. It’s not exactly the same smell, as I’ve partaken in both and I know the differences. But it’s unmistakable that there’s a hint of weed taste/smell in this coffee.

For me, it’s not JUST the smell (although with the nose and mouth so close together, it might be, idk). If I press my tongue to the roof of my mouth, I can taste and smell it too, sometimes even stronger than just sipping the coffee.

Now, there is such a thing as weed coffee. I swear I don’t have that. I have store-brand k-cup coffee, unable to be tampered with (and who would put weed in a random person’s coffee anyway? Also, how?).

So I did some digging! A lot of people claim that both the smell of coffee and weed (and skunks!) trigger the same part of the nose that makes you relate the two smells due to the same thiols found in all three, which is just an organic compound. It also has to do with the terpenes found in weed, which are aromatic chemicals found in many different plants. These terpenes can make weed have very different scents, some relating closer to coffee and others more like oranges or blueberries or even weirder things. That’s why different strains smell like different things.

There’s your weird science for the day. Coffee smells like weed to some people because our brains relate the terpenes and thiols in them. Nature is wild!