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I've never understood this. I'm not a huge soda drinker, but I can tell the difference between at least Pepsi, Coke, and Dr. Pepper, by smell alone, no tasting

by ashark 10y ago

I've never understood this. I'm not a huge soda drinker, but I can tell the difference between at least Pepsi, Coke, and Dr. Pepper, by smell alone, no tasting required. One sip and I can tell you Diet or Regular, on top of the brand. I have not observed that I've got an above-average sense of smell or taste. What good does the blindfold do?

mediocrejoker 10y ago
You might then be surprised to learn that many people cannot tell the difference, even from taste, between coke and pepsi. Dr. Pepper I think has a more distinctive taste but my point is that your experience may not line up with what most people expect and you may in fact have an above average sense of smell and/or taste.
- ars 10y ago
  That would certainly surprise me. Coke tastes sour to me and Pepsi sweet. I can't imagine confusing them. (If you couldn't tell, I hate the taste of Coke.)
rconti 10y ago
Dr Pepper is obviously different. I used to drink a ton of Coke and I guarantee I could tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi. These days I rarely drink soda, and while I think I could tell the difference, I could probably be fooled.
solipsism 10y ago
First, have you actually tried it blindfolded? If you know what you're smelling the test is completely invalid. Second, assuming you can indeed tell the difference, you're assuming smell and taste are one single axis. You might be good at differentiating only certain kinds of molecules.
- ashark 10y ago
  Not literally blindfolded, but with cups of soda with no information about which was which. Not something I've practiced, but I've tried it out a couple times after I noticed by chance I could do it. Definitely works, not even difficult. And I say "what?" to the question "do you smell that?" often enough that I doubt I've got any general special ability in that department. > Second, assuming you can indeed tell the difference, you're assuming smell and taste are one single axis. You might be good at differentiating only certain kinds of molecules. So possibly I'm a soda-only super-smeller/taster. Ha, there's a handy skill. :-(
ethanbond 10y ago
It's because parent comment presented it wrong. This is not at all what the test is. In blind tests, people generally preferred the sweeter Pepsi. In unblinded tests, people preferred the incredibly brand-dominant Coke. This whole thing is a case study on brand perception, not sensory perception.
- ashark 10y ago
  Yeah, but I'd certainly know which brand I was drinking after a sip, and likely before, hence the confusion. That doesn't seem "blind", aside from in the most literal sense. How can there be a big reveal of "you chose Pepsi!" and the surprised reaction when they'd (I thought—this thread is making me reconsider) have to be entirely unfamiliar with mainstream sodas or have suffered some kind of nerve/brain damage not to be able to tell which they were drinking from taste and smell alone. I don't find the differences between the two to be subtle, but maybe it's just me after all. [edit] typo
  - viraptor 10y ago
    There are two important things here. One is that until you do a blind test, I wouldn't bet on your abilities. People think they can tell things and effects apart if they have a lot of experience. But it takes a proper experiment and they find out they just relied on their biases. The second thing is that "proper experiment" I mentioned. It's one thing to tell someone they're getting Coke and Pepsi. It's another to tell them they get two new products (but actually Coke and Pepsi). Yet another to tell them they're getting Coke and Pepsi and give them generic-cola-1 and -2. All of those may tell you something interesting. Check the paper "Blind Taste Test of Soft-drinks – A Comparison Study on Coke and Pepsi" - people actually can't identify the brand properly.
    - ashark 10y ago
      This one?: http://www.ijaiem.org/volume2issue12/IJAIEM-2013-12-26-071.pdf http://www.ijaiem.org/volume2issue12/IJAIEM-2013-12-26-071.p... starts reading Holy broken English Batman! checks author names Ah. Ok. Interesting that respondents seem to be using "sweetness" as a stand-in for "how much I like it". I'd class Coke as a fair bit drier than Pepsi—still quite sweet, but noticeably less so than Pepsi. The "open" version of responses, though, rate Coke as much sweeter. I don't get measuring the "caffeine" perception, but maybe I'm just unusual in not knowing what caffeine _per se_ tastes like? Possibly something's being lost in translation (so to speak) here. I wonder what percentage identified _both_ drinks correctly. Perhaps it turns out that ~half+ of all people are really bad at differentiating flavors in colas. Interesting that "can't identify" went up with Coca Cola. I definitely find both its nose and flavor to be milder than Pepsi, so I guess that makes sense. (for the record, I go for Coke over Pepsi, which you'd have to pay me to drink, though even Coke wears out its welcome with me after a half-dozen ounces or so)
forgetsusername 10y ago
>but I can tell the difference between at least Pepsi, Coke, and Dr. Pepper, by smell alone, no tasting required. One sip and I can tell you Diet or Regular, on top of the brand Well, the point of the article is that there are many people who claim that they can do such things, but when they're put to the test...can't. Have you actually tested yourself, or do you just assume you can do it? It reminds me a lot of this: http://tom-morrow-land.com/tests/ampchall/ http://tom-morrow-land.com/tests/ampchall/ In short: Richard Clarke, an audio guru, put his own money up to reward people who could tell the difference in sound quality, consistently, between two level-matched amplifiers of varying price. No one has passed. Audiophiles have been complaining about it for years.
- mkslwsk 10y ago
  This reminds me of the Line6 Helix Challenge[1], where you have to decided between the Real amp vs Simulated amp. Sure they made it to promote their product and I guess there is no money involved. But in the end they show your scores and the % of all tests. If you take out the "don't know" it is near 50/50. [1] http://line6.com/helix/sound.html/ http://line6.com/helix/sound.html/
DavidWanjiru 10y ago
Out of curiosity, have you actually tested your ability to tell the difference? You know, someone other than you puts, say, 10 samples in identical cups, randomly makes 2 coke, 3 pepsi, 1 Dr Pepper, and 4 from another brand unfamiliar to you, and you're able to identify each by smell each time?
- ashark 10y ago
  That could get tough if the unfamiliar ones were carefully-chosen to smell similar to the three main ones, for instance. I picked out those three because they're so easy to tell from one another (which is why the Pepsi Challenge things strikes me as silly) and because "blind" Pepsi/Coke taste-tests were the topic. I'd guess something like RC thrown in the mix could make me confuse it for Pepsi, and some of the closer Dr. Pepper clones might get me, especially on a smell-only trial. Coke'd be tricky since its got the mildest odor of those three and I'd have mainly picked it out by process of elimination. With the other brands thrown in I could well miss a few. [EDIT] if it helps, it seems to me that having a "Pepsi Challenge" is like having an "Orange Challenge" where the other contender is a lime. It's not exactly gonna be hard to tell which one you're dealing with, even if the sample's the same size and you're blindfolded. Throw in a half-dozen other citrus fruits and yeah, I could see getting a couple of them wrong but just those two? No. Judging from the reaction here, though, I'm starting to wonder if I need to re-evaluate my sense of smell/taste. Maybe it's not only farther from normal than I thought, but in the opposite direction.
  - eropple 10y ago
    > if it helps, it seems to me that having a "Pepsi Challenge" is like having an "Orange Challenge" where the other contender is a lime. One thing you might not be realizing is that many people have absolutely shot their palates with modern flavorings, sugar bombing, etc. (though these days, smoking at least is less of a thing). I too don't have trouble telling the difference between Coke and Pepsi (and have done it blind), but if you took away visual cues, I think you'd be surprised how many people would bilge even the orange/lime test.
- CocaKoala 10y ago
NikolaNovak 10y ago
Few of us got a free dinner out of an unfortunate friend of ours who claimed, for years, superiority of one product over another and his ability to taste the difference easily. So one night we decided to put his claims to test: he was summarily sent to basement with a few friends; while the remainder of us prepared the samples in the kitchen. We (preparers) then left the room while he sampled and wrote down his choices - as double-blind as we can make it. He was wrong even more than random guessing would've allowed; and the video of his confident, but entirely erroneous reports are still an amusing viewing amongst our group :) Mind you, he still claims superiority of one product and his ability to tell. But time again, these claims don't bear testing...
- 8note 10y ago
  pepsi is really obvious though, it hs an aftertaste, and coke does not, along with being sweeter
colanderman 10y ago
You misread. The participants can definitely tell the difference: > The results usually have Pepsi wiping the floor with Coke That study says nothing about inability to differentiate tastes, only a disparity between taste preference and brand preference.

by ashark 10y ago

mediocrejoker 10y ago

You might then be surprised to learn that many people cannot tell the difference, even from taste, between coke and pepsi. Dr. Pepper I think has a more distinctive taste but my point is that your experience may not line up with what most people expect and you may in fact have an above average sense of smell and/or taste.

ars 10y ago
That would certainly surprise me. Coke tastes sour to me and Pepsi sweet. I can't imagine confusing them. (If you couldn't tell, I hate the taste of Coke.)

rconti 10y ago

Dr Pepper is obviously different. I used to drink a ton of Coke and I guarantee I could tell the difference between Coke and Pepsi. These days I rarely drink soda, and while I think I could tell the difference, I could probably be fooled.

solipsism 10y ago

First, have you actually tried it blindfolded? If you know what you're smelling the test is completely invalid. Second, assuming you can indeed tell the difference, you're assuming smell and taste are one single axis. You might be good at differentiating only certain kinds of molecules.

ashark 10y ago
Not literally blindfolded, but with cups of soda with no information about which was which. Not something I've practiced, but I've tried it out a couple times after I noticed by chance I could do it. Definitely works, not even difficult. And I say "what?" to the question "do you smell that?" often enough that I doubt I've got any general special ability in that department. > Second, assuming you can indeed tell the difference, you're assuming smell and taste are one single axis. You might be good at differentiating only certain kinds of molecules. So possibly I'm a soda-only super-smeller/taster. Ha, there's a handy skill. :-(

ethanbond 10y ago

It's because parent comment presented it wrong. This is not at all what the test is. In blind tests, people generally preferred the sweeter Pepsi. In unblinded tests, people preferred the incredibly brand-dominant Coke. This whole thing is a case study on brand perception, not sensory perception.

ashark 10y ago
Yeah, but I'd certainly know which brand I was drinking after a sip, and likely before, hence the confusion. That doesn't seem "blind", aside from in the most literal sense. How can there be a big reveal of "you chose Pepsi!" and the surprised reaction when they'd (I thought—this thread is making me reconsider) have to be entirely unfamiliar with mainstream sodas or have suffered some kind of nerve/brain damage not to be able to tell which they were drinking from taste and smell alone. I don't find the differences between the two to be subtle, but maybe it's just me after all. [edit] typo
- viraptor 10y ago
  There are two important things here. One is that until you do a blind test, I wouldn't bet on your abilities. People think they can tell things and effects apart if they have a lot of experience. But it takes a proper experiment and they find out they just relied on their biases. The second thing is that "proper experiment" I mentioned. It's one thing to tell someone they're getting Coke and Pepsi. It's another to tell them they get two new products (but actually Coke and Pepsi). Yet another to tell them they're getting Coke and Pepsi and give them generic-cola-1 and -2. All of those may tell you something interesting. Check the paper "Blind Taste Test of Soft-drinks – A Comparison Study on Coke and Pepsi" - people actually can't identify the brand properly.
  - ashark 10y ago
    This one?: http://www.ijaiem.org/volume2issue12/IJAIEM-2013-12-26-071.pdf http://www.ijaiem.org/volume2issue12/IJAIEM-2013-12-26-071.p... starts reading Holy broken English Batman! checks author names Ah. Ok. Interesting that respondents seem to be using "sweetness" as a stand-in for "how much I like it". I'd class Coke as a fair bit drier than Pepsi—still quite sweet, but noticeably less so than Pepsi. The "open" version of responses, though, rate Coke as much sweeter. I don't get measuring the "caffeine" perception, but maybe I'm just unusual in not knowing what caffeine _per se_ tastes like? Possibly something's being lost in translation (so to speak) here. I wonder what percentage identified _both_ drinks correctly. Perhaps it turns out that ~half+ of all people are really bad at differentiating flavors in colas. Interesting that "can't identify" went up with Coca Cola. I definitely find both its nose and flavor to be milder than Pepsi, so I guess that makes sense. (for the record, I go for Coke over Pepsi, which you'd have to pay me to drink, though even Coke wears out its welcome with me after a half-dozen ounces or so)

forgetsusername 10y ago

>but I can tell the difference between at least Pepsi, Coke, and Dr. Pepper, by smell alone, no tasting required. One sip and I can tell you Diet or Regular, on top of the brand Well, the point of the article is that there are many people who claim that they can do such things, but when they're put to the test...can't. Have you actually tested yourself, or do you just assume you can do it? It reminds me a lot of this: http://tom-morrow-land.com/tests/ampchall/ http://tom-morrow-land.com/tests/ampchall/ In short: Richard Clarke, an audio guru, put his own money up to reward people who could tell the difference in sound quality, consistently, between two level-matched amplifiers of varying price. No one has passed. Audiophiles have been complaining about it for years.

mkslwsk 10y ago
This reminds me of the Line6 Helix Challenge[1], where you have to decided between the Real amp vs Simulated amp. Sure they made it to promote their product and I guess there is no money involved. But in the end they show your scores and the % of all tests. If you take out the "don't know" it is near 50/50. [1] http://line6.com/helix/sound.html/ http://line6.com/helix/sound.html/

DavidWanjiru 10y ago

Out of curiosity, have you actually tested your ability to tell the difference? You know, someone other than you puts, say, 10 samples in identical cups, randomly makes 2 coke, 3 pepsi, 1 Dr Pepper, and 4 from another brand unfamiliar to you, and you're able to identify each by smell each time?

ashark 10y ago
That could get tough if the unfamiliar ones were carefully-chosen to smell similar to the three main ones, for instance. I picked out those three because they're so easy to tell from one another (which is why the Pepsi Challenge things strikes me as silly) and because "blind" Pepsi/Coke taste-tests were the topic. I'd guess something like RC thrown in the mix could make me confuse it for Pepsi, and some of the closer Dr. Pepper clones might get me, especially on a smell-only trial. Coke'd be tricky since its got the mildest odor of those three and I'd have mainly picked it out by process of elimination. With the other brands thrown in I could well miss a few. [EDIT] if it helps, it seems to me that having a "Pepsi Challenge" is like having an "Orange Challenge" where the other contender is a lime. It's not exactly gonna be hard to tell which one you're dealing with, even if the sample's the same size and you're blindfolded. Throw in a half-dozen other citrus fruits and yeah, I could see getting a couple of them wrong but just those two? No. Judging from the reaction here, though, I'm starting to wonder if I need to re-evaluate my sense of smell/taste. Maybe it's not only farther from normal than I thought, but in the opposite direction.
- eropple 10y ago
  > if it helps, it seems to me that having a "Pepsi Challenge" is like having an "Orange Challenge" where the other contender is a lime. One thing you might not be realizing is that many people have absolutely shot their palates with modern flavorings, sugar bombing, etc. (though these days, smoking at least is less of a thing). I too don't have trouble telling the difference between Coke and Pepsi (and have done it blind), but if you took away visual cues, I think you'd be surprised how many people would bilge even the orange/lime test.
CocaKoala 10y ago

NikolaNovak 10y ago

Few of us got a free dinner out of an unfortunate friend of ours who claimed, for years, superiority of one product over another and his ability to taste the difference easily. So one night we decided to put his claims to test: he was summarily sent to basement with a few friends; while the remainder of us prepared the samples in the kitchen. We (preparers) then left the room while he sampled and wrote down his choices - as double-blind as we can make it. He was wrong even more than random guessing would've allowed; and the video of his confident, but entirely erroneous reports are still an amusing viewing amongst our group :) Mind you, he still claims superiority of one product and his ability to tell. But time again, these claims don't bear testing...

8note 10y ago
pepsi is really obvious though, it hs an aftertaste, and coke does not, along with being sweeter

colanderman 10y ago

You misread. The participants can definitely tell the difference: > The results usually have Pepsi wiping the floor with Coke That study says nothing about inability to differentiate tastes, only a disparity between taste preference and brand preference.