Bitter and Sour

[aaroned]

Hi Everyone,

A Simple question really....

From a Taste point of view.... How would you define the difference between Bitter and Sour?

Regards,
Aaron

[luca]

Re: Bitter and Sour

You coudl do it by tasting some reference solutions. Sour = citric acid/lemon juice. Bitter = caffeine tablets/panadol, maybe.

You could also test it out with your espresso machine. The last 10ml of a 15 second shot = sour, for example.

Cheers,

Luca

[aaroned]

Re: Bitter and Sour

LOL to the Panadol (ill prob end up addicted to it) and Thanks for the lightning reply.

Cool.. Ill try this out.

Anyone else got any other suggestions, or possilbe other reference solutions?

[muppet_man67]

Re: Bitter and Sour

suck on a lemon. (sour) then eat the skin (bitter) otherwise play with you shots pull one thats a gusher and one thats waaay overextracted. the first one should have a sour/grassy taste. the second should taste bitter/burnt/ ashey.

[Dimal]

Re: Bitter and Sour

An alternative to the "bitter" examples above is "hops" as used in the making of that ubiquitous amber liquid, or Angostura Bitters is another one.... Very distinct from the Sourness of Lemon, etc.

Mal.

[mwatt]

Re: Bitter and Sour

Doesnt it also have something to do with where you taste it on your tongue?

Sour is tasted at the front/tip of the tongue, bitter is at the back of the tongue...

[COFFEECHASER]

Re: Bitter and Sour

Doesnt it also have something to do with where you taste it on your tongue?

Sour is tasted at the front/tip of the tongue, bitter is at the back of the tongue...

That is what 2mcm suggested to me when I first got my machine and it worked well for my diagnosing of my shots. When a shot was sour you could notice it more at the front of your tongue and when bitter more at the back of yoru tongue. I remember someone posting a sectioned tongue diagram that showed what area of tongue specifically to a particular taste. From memory sour was supposed to be more at the side of the front of your tongue. But as I say 2mcms suggestion worked for me.

Brett

[Dimal]

Re: Bitter and Sour

Doesnt it also have something to do with where you taste it on your tongue?

Sour is tasted at the front/tip of the tongue, bitter is at the back of the tongue...

Yes,

That is kind of true :-? but for most of us, we have the various taste-type sensors spread all over our tongues with concentrations for each type roughly coinciding with the various "tongue taste-maps" that you can find on the web. I think it is better to practice identifying the various tastes rather than worry too much about where on your tongue you are supposed to taste them.....

Mal.

[scoota_gal]

Re: Bitter and Sour

I was researching this too for my coffee appreciation course a while back and found out that the general thought is that the tongue tastes flavours all over rather than specific areas. I wonder if it isnt more related to how the brain actually interprets the sensory response. But then thats probably too much thought for this time of night! Good night!

[dsc]

Re: Bitter and Sour

Gday,

Mal is right (as usual), the famous tongue map is in fact incorrect as we tend to feel all the tastes on the whole surface of our tongue. Of course this varies from man to man, but basically the whole thing is "active"

Cheers,
dsc.

[aaroned]

Re: Bitter and Sour

Yeah i have read about developing your own taste map, using the solutions of the 5 different tastes... They said to get a fine paint brush and dap it onto different areas of your toungue and work out where you can taste each different solution... Cause everyones tongue is different... They also said that people who are "Super Tasters" will hate a coffee which 75% of others will not have a problem with.... i guess "Coffee Snob" = "Super Taster" ;-)