15 People Share the Things That They Think Smell Good But Taste Really Bad

Often we think of smell and taste going hand in hand. For example, fresh baked bread smells amazing and tastes great too. The same goes for chocolate chip cookies and cinnamon rolls. On the savory end of the spectrum, just one sniff of pizza, fried chicken or french fries makes us instantly crave them.

One important thing to realize is that not everything tastes as good as it smells. Yummy scents are often added to products to make them appealing. Many of these products aren’t intended to be eaten. Then, there are food items that smell good, but if eaten by themselves, the flavor is too strong to actually taste good.

Reddit user Pipster142 asked, “What smells good but tastes bad?” The Reddit community shared many great examples. Scroll down to discover which items people thought would taste good based on their delicious smell but realized they were wrong as soon as they tasted them.

  1. Markers

    Reddit user ChoPT wrote:

    Those scented markers we had as kids.

  2. Vanilla Extract

    candancely added:

    Vanilla extract. I really liked to bake as a kid, and I would often make cookies because my family would eat the ones I baked, but I was really there to eat the cookie dough. So, while things were mixing in the stand mixer, I would get bored and usually try whatever was mixing. I’ve always thought vanilla extract smells heavenly, so one day I tried a little teaspoon full to see how great the taste was, and yeah I won’t ever make that mistake again

  3. Febreeze

    bbkeef explained:

    Febreeze (sometimes you spray too much and end up tasting it)

  4. Chapstick

    VictorBlimpmuscle shared:

    Cherry-flavored chapstick – 5-year-old me learned that one the hard way.

  5. Cocoa Powder

    thedean246 wrote:

    Cocoa powder. When I was a kid I was so convinced that it would taste good. My mom even tried to warn me, but it’s chocolate right? My younger self was very disappointed.

  6. Oats for Horses

    Vohnyshche added:

    Late response, but oat feed for horses. The oats have this absolutely delicious smell, like a perfect blend of spices and wholesome, filling veggies. But then you take one bite and it tastes like dirt.

  7. Dish Soap

    Niotes explained:

    Green apple dish soap. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t taste it when I was around 6.

  8. Dog Treats

    hey_im_anna shared:

    I just opened a new bag of dog treats. They smelled like cinnamon. I looked at the ingredients; flour, oats, peanut butter, cinnamon. Thought what the hell and took a bite. My answer is those dog treats.

  9. Coffee

    StatusWelcome wrote:

    I wouldn’t say it tastes bad per se, but coffee never tastes as good as it smells.

  10. Very Dark Chocolate

    rayrayrayray added:

    90% Cacao dark chocolate – I assumed the higher the number the better it tastes.

  11. Medicine for Bees

    Reddit91210 explained:

    I’m a beekeeper and we had this Pro-health medicine for the bees. Can’t even remember what it was exactly but you mix it in with the corn syrup to feed them. It looked like orange juice and smelled like really pungent fruitier 7′ Up or something. Anyways it pretty much tasted like burning. Still alive. For now.

  12. Scented Pens

    -sootlinq- wrote:

    My school pens. Those things tasted horrific but man, that scent was amazing

  13. Raspberry Tea

    LunairCinderella added:

    Raspberry tea. Smelled really nice and heard it helped with period cramps so I tried it. Was the most bitterest tea I had that even putting sugar or honey in it didn’t help at all.

  14. Grapefruit

    sugurkewbz shared:

    Grapefruit!!! I remember the first time I smelled it, I was in heaven. Then I tasted it and thought I got a bad one. Then I realized they all taste like that…

  15. Flowers

    lizzygrantisgold wrote:

    Can’t believe nobody said flowers.Was I the only child who tried to nibble on rose petals and found them disgustingly bitter and nasty?