Supertaster, regular taster, or nontaster?

I don’t know what I am!! I love spinach, dark chocolate and don’t mind coffee(with milk and sugar!), but I despise brussel sprouts and black jelly beans… I guess that puts me somewhere in the middle huh!

It’s funny. I enjoy dark chocolate, but I hate bitter stuff in general. I wonder if that means anything? I also prefer rather bland food and subtle tasting teas. I would be interested to see what my actual taste bud distribution would be.

Oh, very cool topic. :)

I’m a supertaster (and autistic-spectrum, which is all kinds of interesting) who loves things like licorice, green leafy foods and coffee (though it has to have cream and sugar). I can usually pick up subtleties that my (nontaster) partner can’t – which can be quite amusing at times – and it’s exacerbated when there’s a strange texture involved.

As far as tea goes I’m generally most fond of flavoured blacks and some oolongs. Hearty whites are awesome, but green tea is 90% too bitter or unpalatable for me…and rooibos tastes like cardboard.

Not sure. I like coffee, dark chocolate and spinach. Black jelly beans are not my fave, as I dislike licorice strongly. Broccoli is really the only cruciferous vegetable I like.

If the thought of veggies makes you cringe, you may be. Around one in every four people are born with thousands of extra taste buds, which enable them to more acutely detect sweetness, sourness, and bitterness in foods. Think you fit in this category? Try this test (it’s a little odd, yes, but experts stand by it):

What you’ll need: A hole punch, a one-inch-square piece of waxed paper, blue food coloring, and a cotton swab.

What to do: Punch a hole in the waxed paper; set it aside. Dab a little blue food coloring on your tongue. It should turn blue, with the exception of tiny pink circles. (These are “fungiform papillae,” and each contains six to 15 taste buds.) Place the waxed paper over the blue area of your tongue and count the pink circles in the hole that you punched out. More than 25 circles? You’re a supertaster.

I don’t really understand the categories. I mean sensitivity is one thing; tastes are another. By “tastes”, I mean likes and dislikes. I do not believe that people who like black licorice are incapable of tasting it. On the contrary, they very much enjoy that particular flavor. The fact that one enjoys strong, bitter flavors does not mean that one is incapable of detecting less strong and less bitter flavors, does it?

Consider an analogous case in music. Someone could say that pop music is crude and simplistic but still like it, even though s/he is a classical musician and recognizes that pop music is not subtle in the least.

N’est-ce pas?

Needless to say, I am a bit confused by this topic!

I did a paper titled “Picky Eaters: Nature vs. Nurture” investigating the scientific literature regarding the food preferences of children. A rather large section was on supertasters, tasters, nontasters. Its really important to note that while the taster status is genetic, quite a bit can be done to overcome it through repeated exposures to different flavors as well as the fact that generally speaking, taste sensitivity dissipates over time. Of course those on the highest end of supertasters may never get used to some of the more bitter compounds etc. which as it translates to tea may certainly be restrictive. For many people it may just be a matter of time. I have taken the strip test and I am a taster but not a supertaster which I think is pretty nice.

I’m not any of those, I like dark chocolate, spinach and coffee with milk as well as being a tea drunk who sees a tea and says bottoms up. The only thing is I mostly prefer unflavored teas. Our palates develop as we grow up. My parents described me as a picky eater as a kid and they continue to complain about that childhood tendency of mine even after I turned 40. But my parents preferred really rich food and I like very plain and natural food, so picky is a subjective viewpoint, in my opinion and culturally based as well.

I’m probably bordering on being a super taster. I dislike coffee, beer and dark chocolate. Veges like Brussels sprouts and capsicum I’ll tolerate every so often on the basis of their health benefits. Bacon is disgusting (smells like B.O to me). I do however like chilli (heat) and don’t care much for bland food. A regular black tea shouldn’t be too strong and must have milk or I can’t drink it. I adore liquorice but probably because I grew up with it (salty Dutch liquorice is a favourite).

Wanted to add what I think of coffee and wine.

I once had Starbucks coffee (the weakest kind they had, with milk) and spent the rest of the evening feeling sick trying to hold back the urge to throw up. The aftertaste lingered a long time.

Wine – I can only drink white wine and much prefer a Sauvignon Blanc, forget Chardonnays or anything oaky. I have white wine for the effect, not the taste. Red wine is definitely out, every sip is forced like trying to swallow a teaspoon of medicine.