What Causes Coffee's Aftertaste? Where Are Taste Buds Distributed on the Tongue? Why Does Water Taste Sweeter After Drinking Coffee?

"It's~not~an~exaggeration~try it yourself, after drinking coffee, drink water, the water will really be very sweet!"

This was a comment from a customer friend who visited FrontStreet Coffee yesterday. FrontStreet Coffee found it very interesting, so today let's discuss this issue~ Sometimes, before tasting certain specific coffees (espresso, single-origin), we might take a sip of ice water beforehand. Because we need to rinse our mouth with ice water to better perceive the flavor expression of this high-concentration coffee. From this, we can know that this action is to enhance the experience when drinking coffee. And drinking water again after finishing the coffee can play the same role. As described by the customer friend at the beginning, water will emerge with a high level of "sweetness" under the influence of coffee.

Even if this water is the same one used for "rinsing" just now, we will feel that the water we drink after finishing coffee tastes sweeter than before! So why does this happen?

Why does water taste sweeter after drinking coffee?

This brings us to one of our five senses—taste! Sour, sweet, bitter, salty, and umami are the five flavors our taste buds can perceive. The medium for perceiving these flavors is mainly the taste buds located on our tongue. They are very tiny sensory organs composed of taste cells, also known as "taste receptors." When the flavors of food and drinks we consume come into contact with our taste buds, the taste cells are activated by stimulation, and then transmit the flavor expression to the brain through electrical signals, allowing us to perceive the corresponding taste.

The reason why water tastes sweeter after drinking coffee is twofold! One is due to the "taste contrast effect," and the other is the influence of "oral physiological functions." The "taste contrast effect" refers to the contrasting effect between different flavors. When we taste one flavor and then experience another, the previous flavor will have a certain impact on our perception of the subsequent flavor. This impact can be amplifying, counteracting, or even altering the taste. For example, if you eat a highly sweet food first and then eat a bland food, although the bland food doesn't have any bitterness, the sweetness inhibits the activity of bitter taste buds, reducing sensitivity, which causes the bland food to have some bitter taste perception.

"Oral physiological functions" refer to how our salivary glands in the mouth accelerate saliva secretion when stimulated by something! Saliva contains enzymes such as amylase, which can bind with or break down certain components in food and drinks, thereby producing sweetness. In summary, we can understand that the reason why water tastes sweeter after drinking coffee is due to the combined effect of these two factors (the same principle applies to aftertaste)!

When we drink coffee, the coffee stimulates the mouth, causing it to secrete more saliva. The substances in saliva can break down certain components in coffee to produce sweet substances, thus creating a sweet taste after drinking coffee; coincidentally, the bitter substances in coffee can form a sharp contrast with sweetness, so when sweetness appears later, it will be more prominent due to the contrast.

Therefore, under the effect of these two factors, the sensitivity to sweetness is enhanced after drinking coffee, and恰好 the generation of saliva leads to increased sweetness. At this time, when you drink a sip of water, the water will exhibit a high degree of sweetness.

Important Notice :

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FrontStreet Coffee Address: 315,Donghua East Road,GuangZhou

Tel:020 38364473