Black coffee with dark chocolate, not bitter but sweet?

Coffee and chocolate are a classic combination. Drinking coffee with a piece of chocolate-flavored cake or biscuits makes the combined flavors even more tempting.

Since both foods have a slightly bitter taste, most people would choose the version with milk and sugar. But some people prefer black coffee with dark chocolate, thinking that putting the two most bitter things together will not make it more bitter, but will taste sweet instead.

Recently, a study published in Foods showed that the combination of black coffee and dark chocolate has scientific basis.

After drinking black coffee, the sweet taste becomes sweeter and the bitter taste becomes less bitter

Scientists selected 156 young people and compared their sensitivity to four tastes: sweet, sour, salty and bitter, before and after drinking black coffee.

The study used sucrose, citric acid, sodium chloride and quinine to represent the above four tastes, dissolved them in water and dripped them on the tongues of the subjects. While asking them about the taste, the solutions were continuously diluted. When the taste was so weak that it could not be tasted, the dilution multiple was used to measure the sensitivity of the subjects to the taste.

After recording this data, the scientists asked the subjects to drink two sips of black coffee at 35℃~40℃ and repeat the above test two minutes later.

The results showed that the subjects were more sensitive to sweetness and less sensitive to bitterness. The other two tastes, saltiness and sourness, were not affected.

Changes in taste explain the successful pairing of black coffee and dark chocolate: after drinking black coffee, people are more likely to taste the sweetness of dark chocolate and feel less bitter, so it tastes better.

Effects of drinking coffee on four tastes | References [1]

In addition, decaffeinated coffee has a similar taste-altering effect, so it is not the caffeine that affects the taste, but the flavor of the coffee itself.

The effect of coffee on taste did not differ between genders, but was related to the amount of coffee one usually drinks. After drinking coffee, people who rarely drink coffee are more sensitive to bitterness, and their perception of sweetness is similar to that of people who drink coffee regularly.

Bitterness can sweeten or reduce sweetness

Everyone has different taste sensitivities, but most people like sweet and hate bitter, which is a self-protection mechanism evolved by human beings. Bitterness often indicates that food contains toxic substances, such as plant alkaloids, and disliking and stopping eating can protect people from poisoning. Sweetness, on the other hand, usually comes from energy-rich foods, which stimulates people to eat and replenish energy.

When the two tastes coexist, bitterness usually weakens the sweetness, such as quinine can significantly suppress the sweetness of sucrose. This can help people avoid energy-rich but toxic foods.

However, this new study found different results, that the bitter taste of black coffee actually makes people more likely to taste sweetness.

The interactions between flavors are so complex, and while scientists are slowly exploring the mechanisms behind them, we can first make use of the research results and enjoy coffee and food.

References

[1] Fjaeldstad AW, Fernandes HM. Chemosensory Sensitivity after Coffee Consumption Is Not Static: Short-Term Effects on Gustatory and Olfactory Sensitivity. Foods. 2020;9(4).

[2] Talavera K, Yasumatsu K, Yoshida R, et al. The taste transduction channel TRPM5 is a locus for bitter-sweet taste interactions. FASEB J. 2008;22(5):1343-1355.

Author: Dai Tianyi

Editor: odette

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