Does water have taste???

[sinc_vision]

This is intriguing me, i'm sitting at work enjoying the pleasures of the water cooler and wondering, does water have a taste?

How would we describe something that tastes watery? I guess we say it's watered down but we're unlikely to say something tastes like water right?

We say things like "it doesn't taste like anything", but that simply means it doesn't taste like anything else we have a label for so that must surely mean water tastes like water. It can't be that it tastes like 'nothing' because you can't drink 'nothing'. Can anyone think of anything we eat or drink that we describe as 'not having a taste'? If not then water must be the only thing that does and thereby 'taste like water'.

Is it because we're made to believe that water is bland and flavourless from such a young age that we regard it as having no taste?

What if, for some reason, someone had never had a glass of water before, reached adulthood and tried it for the first time, would they feel it has a je ne sai quois that we can't notice?

Would be well interested to hear what people think about this one.

[vonboyage]

Water is Burial..










Nah joke.. this is an interesting one.. I always just assumed my brain already allocated the water taste to something i aint tasted already..

and cause its transparent.. my brain is assigning everything i know to be see-thru in the same fashion.

Ergo.

I'm more confused than when i came in here.

[badger]

pure water, distilled water, tastes absolutely foul. tried some when i used to do chemistry at school, can't remember exactly what it was like but it wasn't good.

but tap water generally tastes of whatever impurities/minerals/whatever are in it and the same with mineral waters. that's why some people prefer one brand over another, because each tastes different depending on what's in it

[BaronVon]

Check this site out. People collect water like thy do wine
http://www.finewaterimports.com/

Heard a guy on the radio the other day who has a cellar full of water from all over the world. More money than sense.

Im a Tea addict so maybe im as bad, i spend a fortune on high quality tea. I would never make a cup out of unfiltered tap water. Chlorine makes the tea taste awful. Some Tea addicts go as far as buying water.

[badger]

Is it because we're made to believe that water is bland and flavourless from such a young age that we regard it as having no taste?

taste is something that i suppose in some ways we come to learn, and we are conditioned by what we've tasted before. for instance someone living in india eating spicy foods all the time will taste food differently than someone who's eaten traditional english food all the time. ever seen that sketch about indians going to 'have an english' and saying how bland it is?

so i'd think that someone who's never tasted it before will taste it differently to someone who has

bit of a ramble but think there's some sense in there somewhere

[badger]

Check this site out. People collect water like thy do wine
http://www.finewaterimports.com/

Heard a guy on the radio the other day who has a cellar full of water from all over the world. More money than sense.

Im a Tea addict so maybe im as bad, i spend a fortune on high quality tea. I would never make a cup out of unfiltered tap water. Chlorine makes the tea taste awful. Some Tea addicts go as far as buying water.

lol at bling h20, $680 a bottle??!! that's obsene. definitely more money than sense

baron the expert on yet another food/drink. there anything you don't know? you're a veritable fountain of knowledge

[thinking]

taste is detected by your tongue, and your nose.

First your tongue detects sweet (tip), salt (front), sour (sides), bitter (rear), and the 5th taste 'savoury' or 'umami' as it's known by the Japanese is detected by the middle/back of the tongue.

Most of the delicate tasting of different flavours is done by the nose - hence why you can't taste much when you've got a cold, why people pinch their nose when they eat something they don't like, and why people like to smell gourmet wines/cheeses in order to get the full effect.


Anyway, so the point is that water is almost odourless, and also isn't really sweet, bitter, sour or salty. So as far as our sense of taste is concerned, there isn't much there. It does have a flavour of sorts, it's just that we can't really pick up on it very well.

[*grand*]

taste like water.... thats it....

[vonboyage]

does ANYTHING ELSE taste like water?

[badger]

taste like water.... thats it....

yeah but different water tastes different so what does that taste like?

try travelling around and having different tap waters or buying different bottled waters. there's a definite difference

[vonboyage]

Meh..

GOVERNMENT JUICE IS THE ONE STILL.

Some gyal i know used to love LDN's tap water..

She cudnt wait to come down n sip summa that.

[*grand*]

no different taste different due to the fact it has different mineral compositions in it... so infact your tasting water plus something else.. otherwise ... water taste like water.. and there aint nothing else that quite taste like.. not even angel piss.

[feebles]

Can anyone think of anything we eat or drink that we describe as 'not having a taste'? If not then water must be the only thing that does and thereby 'taste like water'.

One of the reasons we eat is because things have a taste. Evolution has enabled us to taste because it basically allows us to chemically analyse what we eat. E.g. food that's sweet is usually high in carbohydrates and hence in nutritional value, salty means rich in electrolytes etc. This is how we constitutionally know and recognise what we need or should avoid (e.g. bitter stuff) although of course that is only relative nowadays since our nutritional habits and possiblities have changed relatively quickly throughout (recent) human history.

The sensation of taste is induced by soluble substances that we ingest such as acids, carbohydrates, peptides etc. none of which water contains. You can therefor objectively - and subjectively (unless you're on acid) - say that water has no taste. Slight fluctuation in oligo-elements and electrolytes concentration/constellation can cause variations in taste, just as mentioned before. However, these are usually only noticeable in comparison. If you drink any water on its own, no matter which kind, it is usually tasteless.

But taste is also relative. Meaning that the taste (or lack of taste) of water depends on certain factors. For example if you drink a glass of water after having had a cup of coffee the water will undoubtedly taste sweet. This, however, has causes in the central nervous system and is explained by adaptive processes. Any kind of sensory input is also usually strongly affected by an emotional/motivational component, meaning that if you've already had four glasses of water and don't actually want to drink more, the fifth might taste more disgusting than then previous one(s). This isn't "tasting" in the original sense, though.

Okay, hope this helps. [Nerd-mode off.]

[efa]

I've noticed different tastes of tap water depending where I am. Its normally a metallic taste prob caused by all the pipes its been through. I always filter water at home though, council filth!

[sinc_vision]

Meh..

GOVERNMENT JUICE IS THE ONE STILL.

Some gyal i know used to love LDN's tap water..

She cudnt wait to come down n sip summa that.

dunno where she was comin from but trust, enough time in certain places can make london's stuff seem like amber nectar.

[feebles]

Oh and one more: sense of taste is subject to high interindividual variation. That is on one hand based on central nervous causes and on the other hand on the density and constellation of receptors on your tongue and nasal mucosa. There are several known substances that certain people can taste with extreme intensity and others can't taste at all. (Same with smells by the way.)

[showguns]

it doesn't have a specific nor strong taste, but yes, it has a taste. depends on the chemicals present at its source or what it picked up through its delivery most of the time. it's relatively 'tasteless' when you compare it to some bleu cheese or a chocolate cake or something, but its still got a taste innit.

[danolboy]

Taste is very subjective, what one person may experience and describe as the taste of water may be completely different to another. Based on many factors. init.

[efa]

Oh and one more: sense of taste is subject to high interindividual variation. That is on one hand based on central nervous causes and on the other hand on the density and constellation of receptors on your tongue and nasal mucosa. There are several known substances that certain people can taste with extreme intensity and others can't taste at all. (Same with smells by the way.)

Thanks for both these interesting insights.

Taste is very subjective, what one person may experience and describe as the taste of water may be completely different to another. Based on many factors. init.

and thanks for your summery