On top of taste, smell, and touch, memories and associations can influence of experience of flavor. This helps explain why some people have nostalgia or affection for flavors born out of compromise.

As I learned when I visited Driftaway Coffee, in the times of the British Raj, during the months of transport by sea from India to Europe, coffee absorbed the moisture and developed a musty flavor. When modern transportation reduced the time and humidity of transport, producers deliberately re-created those conditions, and thereby the musty flavor, along the Malabar coast of India during the monsoon months. And now we have Monsooned Malabar.

Genmaicha originates from poorer Japanese people cheaply extending their tea with roasted rice, and similarly chicory extended the limited supply of coffee in the American South during the Civil War. Now people seek out genmaicha and chicory coffee, even if they can afford plain tea and coffee.