About tastebuds

[Jasmin]

I wonder if the food I eat influences the way I taste tea.
Is the way you taste tea different whether you usually eat lots of spicy food or more bland food?
I season my food a lot and I like spicy and hot food. Would some teas not taste as bland to me if my diet were different?

[auggy]

I have no scientific evidence to back this up, but I'd say yes. Simply because DH and I have very different food tastes - he tends to season things way too much for my liking (but then, he also tastes seasoning right out of the jar and enjoys it) and the things I make can be a little bland for him. When it comes to tea, I like the lighter teas and he has trouble tasting all of the nuances that make them so good to me so he finds them boring and flat. I think that it is this way because he eats the overly flavored foods that he doesn't have to have sensitive taste buds for. I have found that since drinking tea, it seems that my sense of taste has improved.

[Chip]

Food definitely affects how tea tastes, I suppose one reason why genmaicha is served in many Asian restuarants. More delicate and subtle nuances of many teas are lost when drinking tea with food. It may take up to an hour to fully regain the ability to fully appreciate some teas, imho.

I think I generally tend to not drink tea with most meals because of this.

[scruffmcgruff]

Don't forget that a very large part of what we perceive as "taste" is actually data from our olfactory system (smell). Aside from sweet, salty, bitter, sour, and umami, our tastebuds don't tell us anything. I'm not saying your question is invalid or anything, just that you need to account for more than just tastebuds.