Consumers’ food and beverage selection is mainly driven by sensory aspects to which odor-active compounds make the most crucial contribution. Using state-of-the-art MOLECULAR SENSORY SCIENCE approaches including automated solvent-assisted flavor evaporation (aSAFE) for the artifact-avoiding isolation of food volatiles, gas chromatography–olfactometry (GC–O) for the differentiation of odorants from the bulk of odorless volatiles, and sensory tests to rank the odorants according to their importance, our team identifies the KEY ODORANTS in foods and beverages. Quantitation of the key odorants along the food value chain allows us to identify the crucial parameters influencing the sensory quality on the levels of agriculture, processing, and storage. Optimization of these parameters finally results in foods and beverages with improved quality and increased EATING PLEASURE for the consumer.