Q. If one drinks coffee or a tea and greatly enjoys the smell of them, should he also make a bracha on the smell?
A. Mishna Berura (226: 16) rules that if one smells ground coffee and he has pleasure from the emanating aroma, he should recite the brocho of Asher Nossan Reiach Tov Bapeiros.
However, Rema (216: 14) quotes different opinions regarding reciting a brocho on freshly baked bread, and advises not to smell the bread. Mishna Berura (ibid 55 – 56) quotes Magen Avrohom, that one should not recite on bread.
Kaf Ha’Chaim (216: 86) writes that just as we do not recite a blessing on freshly-baked bread, one should likewise not recite a blessing on the pleasant scent emanating from hot coffee, for the aroma is not that enjoyable that one would be obligated to recite a blessing on it. Other Poskim disagree (Perach Shoshan, Yad Aharon, See also Yalkut Yosef 216 note 6, and others), an opine that one must recite a blessing on the pleasant smell emanating from coffee)
However, they are mainly referring to coffee made from ground beans and not instant coffee, that has no “Ikar” (V’Zos HaBracha 19: 2).
Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit’a opinion is similar.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as advised by Horav Shlomo Miller and Horav Aharon Miller Shlit”a
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