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My guess is that some common ingredients have such strong flavor that the other ingredients are covered. We could reliably distinguish between coke and Diet Cok

My guess is that some common ingredients have such strong flavor that the other ingredients are covered. We could reliably distinguish between coke and Diet Coke though.

HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago
The Sprite vs Coke thing is surprising; Coke vs Diet Coke is not. I regularly find that I'm given Diet Coke even though I asked for regular. Aspartame and most other artificial sweeteners have a very distinctive flavor and I can generally detect it even in items I don't expect to find it in.
- taneq 5y ago
  Likewise 'full fat' Coke tastes syrupy and sticky compared to artificially sweetened Coke. It's not so much a flavour thing as a texture thing.
bradknowles 5y ago
My mom refused to believe that I could taste the difference between caffeine-free Diet Coke and the normal Diet Coke. She was trying to get me to decaffeinate myself. So, she made me take a blind taste test. I proved I was right and that I really could taste the difference, and she stopped trying to force me to decaffeinate myself. She was quite surprised and unhappy that I was right and that I really could taste the difference. But to her credit, she upheld her end of the bargain.
- powersnail 5y ago
  It's pretty cool that you can literally taste caffeine. Is it more of a flavor or a smell?
  - bradknowles 5y ago
    It was a difference in flavor. At the time, I attributed it to the decaffeination process that was used, thus causing the drink to taste different. It was a mild difference, but detectable. And I didn't like the different taste. Thinking back on it, it could just have been that the caffeinated drinks came from a newer batch and the decaffeinated drinks came from an older batch. Or maybe they were canned in different facilities, which might be using different water. I don't think my mom controlled for all the potentially confounding variables.
- taneq 5y ago
  But all of these experts on the internet say you can't even tell the difference between coffee and tea if you're blindfolded let alone different types of soda so clearly you're wrong! /s Seriously, though, one unreplicated headline-grabbing result can generate so very much "science says..." type rhetoric.

My guess is that some common ingredients have such strong flavor that the other ingredients are covered. We could reliably distinguish between coke and Diet Coke though.

HeyLaughingBoy 5y ago

The Sprite vs Coke thing is surprising; Coke vs Diet Coke is not. I regularly find that I'm given Diet Coke even though I asked for regular. Aspartame and most other artificial sweeteners have a very distinctive flavor and I can generally detect it even in items I don't expect to find it in.

taneq 5y ago
Likewise 'full fat' Coke tastes syrupy and sticky compared to artificially sweetened Coke. It's not so much a flavour thing as a texture thing.

bradknowles 5y ago

My mom refused to believe that I could taste the difference between caffeine-free Diet Coke and the normal Diet Coke. She was trying to get me to decaffeinate myself. So, she made me take a blind taste test. I proved I was right and that I really could taste the difference, and she stopped trying to force me to decaffeinate myself. She was quite surprised and unhappy that I was right and that I really could taste the difference. But to her credit, she upheld her end of the bargain.

powersnail 5y ago
It's pretty cool that you can literally taste caffeine. Is it more of a flavor or a smell?
- bradknowles 5y ago
  It was a difference in flavor. At the time, I attributed it to the decaffeination process that was used, thus causing the drink to taste different. It was a mild difference, but detectable. And I didn't like the different taste. Thinking back on it, it could just have been that the caffeinated drinks came from a newer batch and the decaffeinated drinks came from an older batch. Or maybe they were canned in different facilities, which might be using different water. I don't think my mom controlled for all the potentially confounding variables.
taneq 5y ago
But all of these experts on the internet say you can't even tell the difference between coffee and tea if you're blindfolded let alone different types of soda so clearly you're wrong! /s Seriously, though, one unreplicated headline-grabbing result can generate so very much "science says..." type rhetoric.