Walked into a coffee shop in Portland last week and noticed the whole place smelled like cinnamon and lemons

I popped into this little cafe on SE 12th and it hit me right away - that combo of smells. Asked the barista about it and she said they use cinnamon sticks and lemon peels in their water for the misting system around the pastries. Said it keeps fruit flies away naturally without those sticky traps everywhere. Has anyone else seen shops do this with essential oils or dried stuff instead of chemicals? Feels like a cheap hack I could try at home.

2 comments

2 Comments

diana8291mo ago

Oh I gotta jump in here because that "keeps fruit flies away" thing is a little off. Cinnamon and lemon are more for making the place smell nice (which, honestly, it works great for that). Fruit flies are actually drawn to the fermenting smell of overripe fruit, not really repelled by citrus or cinnamon sticks in water. I've tried the whole "lemon peel in a bowl" trick at home and it just made the kitchen smell like a fancy cocktail bar while the fruit flies still partied on my bananas. You might have better luck with apple cider vinegar in a little dish with a drop of soap - that actually traps them. But hey, that cafe sounds lovely anyway, cinnamon and lemon is a killer combo for ambiance.

dakota_taylor391mo ago

The apple cider vinegar trap works way better than people think but heres the thing nobody talks about - you gotta change it every couple days or it just becomes a breeding ground. Left mine out for a week once and came back to like fifty tiny bodies floating in there. Also pro tip from someone who dealt with this way too much: check your drains. Fruit flies love breeding in sink pipes and thats probably where half of them are coming from while youre chasing them around the counter.