You've got sensors for acidity and alkalinity, but water is almost never truly neutral, so for sure you can taste that. You can also taste/smell a bunch of other stuff in water, like salt, other minerals, or chemicals like chlorine.
Tangent, but I remember when I was a kid I would try to explain people that I could "smell" the "air coonditioned air" and everyone was like "what? No you can't, it's just air. It doesn't smell like anything."
I never did figure out what the smell was. I'm guessing it was some kind of chemical; it wasn't a bad smell, though. It smelled like ice cubes (which I know, doesn't make a lot of sense either.)
Anyway, all this to say that a lot of people have very strong senses. (And the other comments about water not being neutral are correct as well!)
Ice cubes do have some smell, now that you mention it. Humans have an amazing ability to smell moisture, which we evolved for being able to find water sources. So your experience with AC could relate to how AC affects the humidity in the air perhaps.
And in context of this thread, smell is one of the largest factors for our experience of flavor. Without a sense of smell, most foods would taste relatively bland.
You can taste both water and CO. You just need to alter your typical concentration and get used to that, then switch back to a normal concentration. "Normal" will now have a taste.
Even distilled water will have a taste, since you are probably used to bottled or filtered.
I'm guessing you can taste the impurities missing from distilled water. It's probably closer to being able to tell it's not quite right then an actual taste, but that's close enough to be able to call it taste.
In the same way that the sunlight's spectrum (or at least the part of it that reaches the Earth's surface) has the most energy of green wavelengths, which are conveniently in the middle of the light spectrum visible by humans.
Water tastes neutral because your taste receptors are constantly exposed to water because it's universally present in and on living tissue. You don't sense things that are constantly there.
I think spit is a better one. Spit tastes fine in our mouths, its always there, youre tasting it right now. Now spit in a cup and drink it immediately. I dry heaved just typing this.
And not just that, the different mineral compositions give it a different flavor too. Sometimes when traveling here in Germany, I‘m filling my water bottle with regional tap water and often I‘m glad how good the tap water at home tastes compared to what you can get in other regions.
In the other regions defense, I'm sure they might say the same about your water simply because it's different.
Unless you're talking well water, that stuff can have a gnarly Sulfur smell to it, though still safe. Can't seem to get used to that kinda smell though lol
Funny story relating to that, when I was 5 I was told that you couldn't dig more than 6 a few feet in Florida because you would hit the "water line," so I assumed that if you dug further you'd just hit the ocean and drown. Also yes the water there tastes like sulfur all the time and it's nasty af, had to learn to get over my aversion to water after living there early on.
Florida water is weird here in the NW. Tap water is fairly "hot" in the summer since the lines are close to the surface. But YMMV. Our bathroom water is distinctly different than the kitchen water, in a tiny house, 8-years old. 🤷🏻♂️
My friend is going through chemo treatment, which is wrecking their tastebuds in various ways, and they told me after each infusion they can’t stand the “texture” of water for a few days. Thankfully, it’s also wrecking their cancer!
Different waters taste differently. Tap water taste differs from region to region. Bottled water tastes differently between brands and also compared to tap water. This is also caused by varying amounts of minerals.
If you think your sense of taste works fine, but can not tell taste differences in water, try making direct comparisons. Take some bottled water and some tap water (if it is safe for drinking whereever you live). Then take a sip, focus on the taste. Try making out differences. Repeat a couple of times.
If you still can't make out any differences and you weren't impatient, it might be worth training your sense of taste first, because water does have a flavour.
It's not that the water itself has flavour, but the solution does have some. There's usually minerals in most water. Distilled water being an exception.
The reason we've evolved to tune out whatever taste water may have, is because we need to be able to detect when there's shit in it. Literally. But also anything else non-suitable.
Which is why waters taste slightly different as we never drink distilled water really. Not that it's somehow toxic, but drinking only distilled water when there's no food and then sweating a lot would dehydrate you eventually.
Hydrophobia is still very much the name of one of the symptoms that rabies has.
As in a doctor might write "patient exhibits hydrophobia, rabies suspected" or something. Although most doctors wouldn't ever be in a situation like that, but still.
Every single piece of candy tastes awful, sugar free or regular. Water tasting bad seems to come and go, but whenever it happens all water tastes bad. Tap, softened, filtered, bottled, iced, boiled, everything. Even my own spit can taste bad.
Some things are getting better though, very few things taste metallic anymore. Maybe just honey. But honestly this has been going on for so long that I don't even enjoy eating and as of a month or so ago I've quit looking for foods that taste good. I've just been sticking with what tastes the least bad. 😮💨
Yogurt, but only with granola mixed in, which is something I used to never do before.
Yes, they used some kind of guard that pressed down on my tongue to keep it out of the way. It was fine right after the first surgery, but I had to go back in a couple of days later because of some bleeding and it's been messed up since then.
flavor is an experience created by your brain (or at least, created subjectively internal to an agent if you don't want to accept that conscious experiences are fully explained physically)
what if water really has a flavor but our brains filter it out
so this makes no sense, flavor just is what you experience.
I moved from Nebraska to North Carolina 20 years ago and still haven't adjusted to the nasty taste of chlorinated water. I guess it's better than getting cholera or e. coli.
I once visited Wilmington N.C. in the "off" season (half the price for hotels) and the water was really fucking bad. Not just chlorinated, but sulfurous. Even showering in it felt like it left a kind of residue on your skin.
65 Comments
hoshikarakitaridia@lemmy.world · 68 pts · 251d
I could see that water being "neutral" on taste for most people is probably evolutionary. But I'm just speculating.
LodeMike@lemmy.today · 20 pts · 251d
Water is neutral in taste the same way that CO is scentless - it is literally too small for the things to pick it up.
474D@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 251d
Am I weird in that I definitely can taste water?
hobovision@mander.xyz · 12 pts · 251d
You've got sensors for acidity and alkalinity, but water is almost never truly neutral, so for sure you can taste that. You can also taste/smell a bunch of other stuff in water, like salt, other minerals, or chemicals like chlorine.
other_cat@piefed.zip · 4 pts · 250d
Tangent, but I remember when I was a kid I would try to explain people that I could "smell" the "air coonditioned air" and everyone was like "what? No you can't, it's just air. It doesn't smell like anything."
I never did figure out what the smell was. I'm guessing it was some kind of chemical; it wasn't a bad smell, though. It smelled like ice cubes (which I know, doesn't make a lot of sense either.)
Anyway, all this to say that a lot of people have very strong senses. (And the other comments about water not being neutral are correct as well!)
PrincessTardigrade@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 250d
Ice cubes do have some smell, now that you mention it. Humans have an amazing ability to smell moisture, which we evolved for being able to find water sources. So your experience with AC could relate to how AC affects the humidity in the air perhaps.
And in context of this thread, smell is one of the largest factors for our experience of flavor. Without a sense of smell, most foods would taste relatively bland.
LodeMike@lemmy.today · 3 pts · 251d
No
bbboi@feddit.uk · 0 pts · 250d
I doubt you're drinking pure water. You're almost definitely tasting all the minerals and junk in the water rather than the water itself.
SGforce@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 251d
You can taste both water and CO. You just need to alter your typical concentration and get used to that, then switch back to a normal concentration. "Normal" will now have a taste. Even distilled water will have a taste, since you are probably used to bottled or filtered.
floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 18 pts · 251d
A concentration of what in what? The "taste" of water is the impurities, not the H2O itself
arudesalad@piefed.ca · 12 pts · 251d
I'm guessing you can taste the impurities missing from distilled water. It's probably closer to being able to tell it's not quite right then an actual taste, but that's close enough to be able to call it taste.
floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 6 pts · 251d
Yes indeed, you can perceive it but it's not out of sensory stimulation - rather the lack thereof.
SGforce@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 251d
No really, you can taste distilled water.
rockerface@lemmy.cafe · 6 pts · 251d
In the same way that the sunlight's spectrum (or at least the part of it that reaches the Earth's surface) has the most energy of green wavelengths, which are conveniently in the middle of the light spectrum visible by humans.
FishFace@piefed.social · 5 pts · 251d
Water tastes neutral because your taste receptors are constantly exposed to water because it's universally present in and on living tissue. You don't sense things that are constantly there.
Cruxifux@feddit.nl · 47 pts · 251d
I think spit is a better one. Spit tastes fine in our mouths, its always there, youre tasting it right now. Now spit in a cup and drink it immediately. I dry heaved just typing this.
riot@fedia.io · 14 pts · 251d
tbh, for me it's more about the texture of it and not so much taste, lmao. something about the bubbles, when you spit, yuck. carbonated spit 😭
Cruxifux@feddit.nl · 4 pts · 251d
Ok, drool into a cup then and try to drink that.
ivanafterall@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 250d
Okay, done. Now what? What's supposed to happen? It just tastes like Papa John's?
Cruxifux@feddit.nl · 6 pts · 250d
This entire conversation is making me dry heave and I have nobody to blame but myself.
finley@lemmy.zip · 24 pts · 251d
Water has a flavor. It has different flavors, depending on how clean it is, too. At least it does for me…
Pechente@feddit.org · 18 pts · 251d
And not just that, the different mineral compositions give it a different flavor too. Sometimes when traveling here in Germany, I‘m filling my water bottle with regional tap water and often I‘m glad how good the tap water at home tastes compared to what you can get in other regions.
Zoot@reddthat.com · 7 pts · 251d
In the other regions defense, I'm sure they might say the same about your water simply because it's different.
Unless you're talking well water, that stuff can have a gnarly Sulfur smell to it, though still safe. Can't seem to get used to that kinda smell though lol
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 251d
Water quality varies quite a bit. The water in Seattle is significantly better than the water in Florida, for example.
optissima@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 251d
Funny story relating to that, when I was 5 I was told that you couldn't dig more than
6a few feet in Florida because you would hit the "water line," so I assumed that if you dug further you'd just hit the ocean and drown. Also yes the water there tastes like sulfur all the time and it's nasty af, had to learn to get over my aversion to water after living there early on.SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 251d
So silly! The water line in Florida is much shallower than that.
optissima@lemmy.ml · 2 pts · 251d
You're absolutely right, I didn't think too hard about that part of the story and that kid-brain interpreted "a few feet" as "as tall as my dad."
SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 251d
The water line in Florida is above the ground
shalafi@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 251d
Florida water is weird here in the NW. Tap water is fairly "hot" in the summer since the lines are close to the surface. But YMMV. Our bathroom water is distinctly different than the kitchen water, in a tiny house, 8-years old. 🤷🏻♂️
socsa@piefed.social · 5 pts · 251d
It depends on the color of the la Croix can
youpie@lemmy.emphisia.nl · 1 pts · 251d
my favorite drink at friends houses who live in different places is their tap water. they all taste so different
bbboi@feddit.uk · -1 pts · 250d
Right. But are you tasting the water or the junk in the water?
TheFunkyMonk@lemmy.world · 23 pts · 251d
My friend is going through chemo treatment, which is wrecking their tastebuds in various ways, and they told me after each infusion they can’t stand the “texture” of water for a few days. Thankfully, it’s also wrecking their cancer!
MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 250d
Are they pissing lots of the cancer out?
TheFunkyMonk@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 250d
Yes!
Zacryon@feddit.org · 15 pts · 251d
Different waters taste differently. Tap water taste differs from region to region. Bottled water tastes differently between brands and also compared to tap water. This is also caused by varying amounts of minerals.
If you think your sense of taste works fine, but can not tell taste differences in water, try making direct comparisons. Take some bottled water and some tap water (if it is safe for drinking whereever you live). Then take a sip, focus on the taste. Try making out differences. Repeat a couple of times.
If you still can't make out any differences and you weren't impatient, it might be worth training your sense of taste first, because water does have a flavour.
some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 250d
Most bottled water is tap water
boonhet@sopuli.xyz · 1 pts · 250d
It's not that the water itself has flavour, but the solution does have some. There's usually minerals in most water. Distilled water being an exception.
bbboi@feddit.uk · -1 pts · 250d
There is a difference between tap water and water. Tap water is nowhere near pure water.
Passerby6497@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 250d
Water does have flavor, depending on the mineral content. I've always had to get used to the taste of the water when I start in a new area.
Dasus@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 250d
The reason we've evolved to tune out whatever taste water may have, is because we need to be able to detect when there's shit in it. Literally. But also anything else non-suitable.
Which is why waters taste slightly different as we never drink distilled water really. Not that it's somehow toxic, but drinking only distilled water when there's no food and then sweating a lot would dehydrate you eventually.
9point6@lemmy.world · 9 pts · 251d
Could be the other way, our brains nerfing the incredible flavour so we don't all die of hyperhydration
taylor_says@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 250d
Water does have a flavor. It’s water flavored.
bhamlin@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 250d
Cerothen@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 250d
Rabies is a condition that lets you taste water for it's real flavor
Smeagol666@crazypeople.online · 1 pts · 250d
Maybe that's why they used to call it "hydrophobia".
Dasus@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 250d
Hydrophobia is still very much the name of one of the symptoms that rabies has.
As in a doctor might write "patient exhibits hydrophobia, rabies suspected" or something. Although most doctors wouldn't ever be in a situation like that, but still.
besmtt@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 251d
I had surgery in my mouth and for months I've had problems with my sense of taste. Water has sometimes tasted bad. FML
manuallybreathing@lemmy.ml · 6 pts · 251d
Get yourself some sugar free cordial or something, it helps. Get a water filter maybe? They're expensive though
I'm really sensitive to tastes and smells, lots of treated drinking water tastes foul to me
besmtt@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 250d
I appreciate the thought and comment.
Every single piece of candy tastes awful, sugar free or regular. Water tasting bad seems to come and go, but whenever it happens all water tastes bad. Tap, softened, filtered, bottled, iced, boiled, everything. Even my own spit can taste bad.
Some things are getting better though, very few things taste metallic anymore. Maybe just honey. But honestly this has been going on for so long that I don't even enjoy eating and as of a month or so ago I've quit looking for foods that taste good. I've just been sticking with what tastes the least bad. 😮💨
Thanks though.
PrincessTardigrade@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 250d
I'm curious what foods taste least bad to you? Also, did the surgery involve your tongue in some way?
besmtt@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 249d
Yogurt, but only with granola mixed in, which is something I used to never do before.
Yes, they used some kind of guard that pressed down on my tongue to keep it out of the way. It was fine right after the first surgery, but I had to go back in a couple of days later because of some bleeding and it's been messed up since then.
eru@mouse.chitanda.moe · 6 pts · 250d
flavor is an experience created by your brain (or at least, created subjectively internal to an agent if you don't want to accept that conscious experiences are fully explained physically)
so this makes no sense, flavor just is what you experience.
caseyweederman@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 250d
Your lungs have a smell
lowlandghost@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 248d
How do I smell my lungs
caseyweederman@lemmy.ca · 2 pts · 248d
You're doing it right now but your brain filters it out.
Blackmist@feddit.uk · 5 pts · 250d
But we're 60% water so we taste it all the time.
bbboi@feddit.uk · 0 pts · 250d
Imagine always having a taste in your mouth.
anistorian@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 251d
True. Nothing has innate taste. So the taste of water is whatever we needed it to be.
MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 250d
Drinking water absolutrly has a taste. You're just used to it. Not so if you drink somewhere else.
Smeagol666@crazypeople.online · 4 pts · 250d
I moved from Nebraska to North Carolina 20 years ago and still haven't adjusted to the nasty taste of chlorinated water. I guess it's better than getting cholera or e. coli.
I once visited Wilmington N.C. in the "off" season (half the price for hotels) and the water was really fucking bad. Not just chlorinated, but sulfurous. Even showering in it felt like it left a kind of residue on your skin.
FrostyTrichs@crazypeople.online · 2 pts · 251d
Crossposted to !weedtime@crazypeople.online, hopefully that's cool 💚
kayzeekayzee@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 251d
Flavor --> Can't taste it.
Contradiction of definitions
SGforce@lemmy.ca · 1 pts · 251d
Oh you said CO? I misread that as CO2. Yeah I don't know about monoxide