6 ms·

Some french tv channel did a quick game test, asking a bunch of students to sip colored soda and guess the flavour. Green was mint, Red was strawberry, Yellow w

Some french tv channel did a quick game test, asking a bunch of students to sip colored soda and guess the flavour. Green was mint, Red was strawberry, Yellow was citrus, they were all strawberry. Surprising "reality".

bombcar 5y ago
I’ve always wondered if part of the reason the “clear” craze for sodas died off is that you didn’t have the right signals to tell you what it tastes like.
- BenjiWiebe 5y ago
  What about canned soda? If drinking from a can it's pretty hard to see what color the soda is, without making a point of checking. I wonder if the can color is then the signal?
  - 0ldskool 5y ago
    color is probably associated with certain flavors. For most people our eyesight is used to identify things more so then other senses. If you don't see the color you probably have to work slightly harder to identify what is being eaten. How many people have a tongue so accurate they can eat/drink food blindfolded and identify it?
pessimizer 5y ago
The same thing is true about red and white wine. Color it all red and no one can tell the difference.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- scoot 5y ago
  I'm sorry, but that just isn't true. No doubt some wines cross over, but the tannins present in much red wine are notable by their absence from pretty much all white wine.
  - fullstop 5y ago
    Yes, this. Red and white don't taste that similar to me. My nose isn't great, especially compared to my wife's, but I could tell you 100% of the time if I was tasting red or white while blindfolded.
    - aembleton 5y ago
      Would you be able to tell if you weren't blindfolded and it was white wine that had food colouring added to it so that it appeared as red? Would your sense of taste overpower what your eyes were telling you?
      - fullstop 5y ago
        I absolutely could do this, even with food coloring.
        haimez 5y ago
        Please report back after confirming :)
        fullstop 5y ago
        Let's see if I can convince the wife to open a bottle of white on a Sunday night. :-)
  - agumonkey 5y ago
    Heh, red wine makes me a bit nauseous while white feels like honey. I shall try blindfolded one day.
powersnail 5y ago
We did an experiment in class, where we drank sodas blindfolded. Not only did we fail to distinguish Coke Cola and Pepsi, we couldn't even tell sprite from coke! I would have never believed that they taste so incredibly similar without the experiment.
- rootusrootus 5y ago
  I'm skeptical. Coca Cola and Pepsi have fairly distinct flavor profiles. There are some that I could see being more problematic. Like RC vs Pepsi, which have a similar profile. But Sprite? Nah, that's got a strong citrus component that definitely doesn't exist in a cola.
  - powersnail 5y ago
    Oh, they are probably indeed different. But the question wasn’t whether they were different; it was whether we could tell the difference in a blind folded test. 62 students, 50% error rate.
  - tristor 5y ago
    > But Sprite? Nah, that's got a strong citrus component that definitely doesn't exist in a cola. It may surprise you to find out, then, that Coca-Cola is actually a lemon-lime soda. In fact, all Colas are predominantly citrus flavored. "The primary modern flavoring ingredients in a cola drink are citrus oils (from orange, lime, and lemon peels), cinnamon, vanilla, and an acidic flavorant." [1] [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cola https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cola
- gamblor956 5y ago
  Coke and Pepsi do not taste the same, and Sprite does not taste like either of them. It's not simply a matter of different amounts of sugar, they use different "natural flavors" and have different levels of carbonation. The difference in flavors is roughly similar to the difference between an IPA, a double IPA, and a cider.
  - powersnail 5y ago
nanidin 5y ago
A food scientist came to my high school and did a similar demonstration with us - except with different flavors of koolaid. Students reported red as cherry, purple as grape ... but they were actually the same flavor and only differed in color.

bombcar 5y ago

I’ve always wondered if part of the reason the “clear” craze for sodas died off is that you didn’t have the right signals to tell you what it tastes like.

BenjiWiebe 5y ago
What about canned soda? If drinking from a can it's pretty hard to see what color the soda is, without making a point of checking. I wonder if the can color is then the signal?
- 0ldskool 5y ago
  color is probably associated with certain flavors. For most people our eyesight is used to identify things more so then other senses. If you don't see the color you probably have to work slightly harder to identify what is being eaten. How many people have a tongue so accurate they can eat/drink food blindfolded and identify it?

pessimizer 5y ago

The same thing is true about red and white wine. Color it all red and no one can tell the difference.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
scoot 5y ago
I'm sorry, but that just isn't true. No doubt some wines cross over, but the tannins present in much red wine are notable by their absence from pretty much all white wine.
- fullstop 5y ago
  Yes, this. Red and white don't taste that similar to me. My nose isn't great, especially compared to my wife's, but I could tell you 100% of the time if I was tasting red or white while blindfolded.
  - aembleton 5y ago
    Would you be able to tell if you weren't blindfolded and it was white wine that had food colouring added to it so that it appeared as red? Would your sense of taste overpower what your eyes were telling you?
    - fullstop 5y ago
      I absolutely could do this, even with food coloring.
      - haimez 5y ago
        Please report back after confirming :)
        fullstop 5y ago
        Let's see if I can convince the wife to open a bottle of white on a Sunday night. :-)
- agumonkey 5y ago
  Heh, red wine makes me a bit nauseous while white feels like honey. I shall try blindfolded one day.

powersnail 5y ago

We did an experiment in class, where we drank sodas blindfolded. Not only did we fail to distinguish Coke Cola and Pepsi, we couldn't even tell sprite from coke! I would have never believed that they taste so incredibly similar without the experiment.

rootusrootus 5y ago
I'm skeptical. Coca Cola and Pepsi have fairly distinct flavor profiles. There are some that I could see being more problematic. Like RC vs Pepsi, which have a similar profile. But Sprite? Nah, that's got a strong citrus component that definitely doesn't exist in a cola.
- powersnail 5y ago
  Oh, they are probably indeed different. But the question wasn’t whether they were different; it was whether we could tell the difference in a blind folded test. 62 students, 50% error rate.
- tristor 5y ago
  > But Sprite? Nah, that's got a strong citrus component that definitely doesn't exist in a cola. It may surprise you to find out, then, that Coca-Cola is actually a lemon-lime soda. In fact, all Colas are predominantly citrus flavored. "The primary modern flavoring ingredients in a cola drink are citrus oils (from orange, lime, and lemon peels), cinnamon, vanilla, and an acidic flavorant." [1] [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cola https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cola
gamblor956 5y ago
Coke and Pepsi do not taste the same, and Sprite does not taste like either of them. It's not simply a matter of different amounts of sugar, they use different "natural flavors" and have different levels of carbonation. The difference in flavors is roughly similar to the difference between an IPA, a double IPA, and a cider.
- powersnail 5y ago

nanidin 5y ago

A food scientist came to my high school and did a similar demonstration with us - except with different flavors of koolaid. Students reported red as cherry, purple as grape ... but they were actually the same flavor and only differed in color.