You don’t have to have supernatural powers to be a supertaster. But what is it, and is it something you can learn?
Have you ever heard the term supertaster and wondered what it means? Despite the cool name, it is not some kind of superhero with supernatural powers.
Actually, a great deal of us are supertasters and many without even knowing it. So, what exactly is a supertaster?
Taste on speed
A supertaster is someone who experiences the sense of taste with far greater intensity than the average person.
Studies have shown that supertasters often have an increased sensitivity to bitter taste, meaning that even low levels of bitterness can be perceived as very strong.
People who are very picky or really dislikes bitter foods like grapefruit, tonic or coffee can be selective because they are supertasters. So don’t judge before you know.
It is estimated that around 25-30 percent of people are supertasters. The rest are either average tasters (40-50 percent) or non-tasters (25-30 percent).
The power of taste buds
Our taste buds hold the answer to whether you are a supertaster or not. The taste buds are located on small bumps on the tongue also called fungiform papillae.
They are made of taste receptor cells that binds to taste molecules in the food you eat. Each receptor can detect a specific basic taste (sweet, sour, salty, bitter or umami) and sends a signal to the brain with the specific taste. The “sum” of signals depicts the way we perceive the taste of the food.
The more tastebuds you have, the more signals can be sent to the brain.
Supertaster og not
Whether you are a supertaster depends on the amount of taste buds on your tongue and varies from person to person. The more taste buds you have, the more likely is it, that you’re a supertaster.
The amount of taste buds we have, are genetically determined, and you can therefore not do anything to become a supertaster. Either you are, or you are not.
If you want to test it, there are several ways to do so. You can buy test kits, or you can simply just count the amount of taste buds in a specific area of the tongue.
Want to test if you are a supertaster? See how to here:
