I recently went off sugar. I realized I was eating way too many sweets, I did not do a little cut by cutting out sweets and sodas, I mean I cut out sugar almost totally from my diet. I am tracking everything I eat on a cool little app on my phone called "My Fitness Pal". This app has a database and barcode scanner to log each food, it then lists the nutrients for you, and rolls up the daily intake of all major nutrients so you can track it. I have cut my sugar intake from 400-500 grams per day to 10 grams or less per day. It has been eye opening! I don't want to side track off on a diet or lifestyle discussion here, I just want to suggest a small experiment. And as I have learned here at H-B this experiment is good because it can be done blind or even double blind easily, more on that experiment at the end of the post.

I can now detect sweet tastes and fruit flavors, even acidity, at a much greater level than I could previously. This is just after a couple weeks on no sugar. I was drinking a dark roast blend today that I have been drinking off and on for a few months and I could not believe that I could now taste light raspberry, milk chocolate, and a sweet finish that was not there at all for me before, this blend was a dark cocoa flat tasting blend for me until this change. To taste more sweetness in coffee, I stopped eating sugar everywhere else, now I find the natural sweetness in my coffee to be suddenly amplified and clear.

I suddenly realized, sweetness is very personal and depends a lot on the individual's palate. It is of course a simple idea, and maybe a "no brainer" for many but it had never really sunk in and become so clear to me until I witnessed it myself. This got me excited and I have been Google-ing and reading all I can about the palate, perception of flavors, sweetness. There are so many good H-B posts on this already that I had never delved into, so I am reading back all the old H-B posts on the topic and learning a lot. I studied this topic some in my food science and nutrition classes in restaurant school, but I just now made the mental connection to espresso and coffee. I had a real "oh! wow!" moment.

Here is the simple experiment to see how well you can judge a common flavors natural sweetness. If you have a hard time judging the natural sweetness level you can follow the suggestions to reset your palate. It is really simple to do and there is also only a positive side benefit of reduced sugar in the diet.

While reading this week came across a story (I think I had already read this once here at H-B) that really shows how susceptible our palate is to flavor interpretation based on what we are eating. I would really like to try these fruits that can totally alter how tastes are perceived. It makes the art of "food pairing" by sommeliers suddenly seem even more amazing to me.

Maybe the way to get people to try to taste the natural sweetness in coffee, and not add sugar to add sweetness, is to try and get them to lower the amount of sweetness they are tasting everywhere else. At my next coffee tasting I will make sure to not offer sweet or strong snacks to accompany the coffees and instead look for food to just cleanse the palate. I am going to do more reading on this topic in the book,"Taste What You're Missing", it has some interesting tests and palate cleansing experiments.

True to the saying, less is more

Jeremy, I've had a very similar experience. I decided to radically reduce my sugar intake following a heart attack, after learning that high levels of blood sugar tend to keep your cholesterol levels elevated as well. I was surprised to discover, after a few months on this diet, that everyday fruits started to taste much sweeter, and that my preference for various sour and bitter foods and drinks was increasing as I learned to appreciate their subtle forms of sweetness. I can't say for sure, but I suspect that this has also broadened and deepened my love of coffee. In particular, my tastes are less particular to a narrow range of moderate roasts and preparations. Now that the sweetness in coffee is more perceptible, I find that I take more pleasure in both lighter and darker roasts than I used to like.

weebit_nutty wrote:True to the saying, less is more

Yes, very apropos!

[creative nickname] wrote:I was surprised to discover, after a few months on this diet, that everyday fruits started to taste much sweeter, and that my preference for various sour and bitter foods and drinks was increasing as I learned to appreciate their subtle forms of sweetness.

Exactly my experience, and living here in Macau I have heard for many years my local friends and family say any western desserts or snacks always taste "too sweet". I never understood until now. I have even had some good coffee drinking friends tell me they can't drink some single origin brews we try as they are too sweet for their taste! I was always shocked by that, but now I think I understand better.

I posted a similar response some while ago here.

After I had just gotten off a 42 day fast.
If I try to add sugar to my espresso it tastes like crap!!!
Although the expert did not agree with me?

Also have just about completely gone off of sugar. No junk food, no fast food ( 20 years now ), I'm currently working on 18" arms, getting back a six pack , with a 27" waistline.
As you can tell I watch what I eat, but I do drink allot of espresso its tough at 43 .

Yes your taste seems to change after not using sugar for a long time.
( try a long fast it will change some more )

http://www.nespresso.com/magazine/gb/en ... ogram.html

Coffee Sommelier Program
The expertise of coffee professionnals

Because of the many parallels between coffe and wine, it seemed indispensable to match the expertise of gastronomy and wine profesionnals with the expertise of coffee professionnals.

An instructional program of a completely new type was thus set up, catering to professional wine sommeliers. Its goal : to broaden their knowledge and understanding of the coffee universe, and to adopt their sensory background to the world of gourmet coffees. These future experts in Grand Cru coffee learn to taste the broadest aromatic palette of coffee, and to marry it with delicacies such as chocolate, water and other products.

Four meetings a year permit sommeliers from the finest restaurants to participate in this wholly unique of training program. Each gathering is divided into two parts : one day of theoretical classes are followed by practical cupping and scoring sessions, at the production center of Avenches, in Switzerland.

Under the watchful eye of Giuseppe Vaccarini and Edouard Thomas, three workshops are also proposed at the 2010 Bocuse d'Or Europe, in order to develop the harmonies of coffee with water, chocolate and liqueurs.

I stopped eating dairy a little over a year ago. I found the same heightened awareness of flavors and nuance that are covered by milk, cream, butter, and cheese in so many recipes. If you're at peace with the removal of sugar or dairy you will find a new world of tastes.

What you are seeing expressed here is anecdotal evidence/proof that an individual's sense of taste and to some degree smell is influenced by their routine diet. Without detailed knowledge of that routine diet it is difficult to impossible to use comments regarding taste of something as an absolute.

insatiableOne wrote: its tough at 43 .

Trust me -it's good preparation for passing 63!

I don't tend to add sugar to anything, but I do love my desserts. I don't snack unless it's fruits or veggies. For instance, I don't regularly have chocolate bars or chips. But, when I do I go all out. Anyway, I have noticed that since I've started to drink espresso and coffee black that I can no longer add anything to the beverages without ruining it.

I can't add sugar to any type of prepared coffee or tea for that matter, because I can taste the sugar on top of everything else. What sugar does is ruin everything else. I've never agreed with some other forum users saying they get a sense of amplified flavours in the espresso when they add sugar.

I don't think you need to go as far as cutting sugar completely, but you can make an effort not to add sugar or eat a lot of candy and chocolate bars. I find many juices and pops are too sweet to drink even a cup. I can't finish a pop. My wife grabs root beer sometimes when we go out for a burger and I can't take more than 2 sips without craving water.

If your beverage of choice - aside from coffee - is water and you don't indulge in sweets by regularly snacking on them, then your appreciation for any complex drink will increase.

Also, if you're someone who consistently adds sugar to your espresso, you should take the plunge and stop for a couple of weeks. See how different your tasting experience is when you're not always trying to overcome the bitterness with additional sugar.

You're not going to find a raspberry note if you're searching for milk chocolate or Nesquik.