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Cold Water Tastes Better
Why Does Cold Water Taste
Better Than Warm Water?
Rajat Lunawat
The
coldness of water suppresses the taste of certain unwanted impurities in the
water that are amplified if the water is warm.
Also,
taste is a relative term and varies from person to person.
After
coming home from a long trip or finishing a gruesome daily workout, most people
long for a cool glass of water.
Nothing
quenches our thirst like this fundamentally important liquid.
However,
if someone gives you a glass of warm water when you’re thirsty, you probably
won’t like the taste.
On
the other hand, if someone puts ice in that glass, the flavor appears to change
completely.
What’s
the reason behind this change of taste accompanying a change in temperature? Is
it just you or does this happen to everyone?
If
you’ve ever thought about these questions and desperately want to know the
answers, you’ve come to exactly the right place.
A
little something about ‘Taste’
In
school, we all learned about the five senses that our body possesses, taste
being one of them.
We
also learned about the tongue — a sensory organ that has thousands of taste
buds helping it detect different tastes.
But
what is taste? Is it just a sensation, a chemical reaction or some gimmick of
the mind?
The
word “taste”, more formally known as “gustation”, refers to the sensations
developed by the taste cells on the front, back and sides of our tongue when
molecules from the food or drink being consumed attach to these cells and send
signals to our brain.
Hence,
taste can be considered a mix of different chemical reactions taking place on
the tongue.
How
does the tongue detect different flavors?
Different
tastes, such as salty, sour and sweet, are sensed differently.
Saltiness,
for example, is detected by taste receptor cells that primarily respond to
sodium chloride or other similar salts.
Certain
proteins present in the cell membranes of these cells act as channels (e.g.,
epithelial sodium channels) and allow the NaCl to enter the cells, subsequently
releasing neurotransmitters (chemicals that transfer information) that pass the
sensation to axons (nerve cells that carry the taste information to the brain).
Sourness
is also sensed in a manner that directly affects ion channels.
Proteins
of certain acids (citric or acetic acid) enter via sodium or potassium channels
and initiate a cellular response.
The
bitterness of food is also sensed by blocking potassium channels in taste
receptor cell membranes.
On
the other hand, chemicals that are sensed as “sweet” bind to particular sites
on membrane receptors (proteins present in the cell membrane) in a “lock-and-key”
fashion (implying that only chemicals of a specific shape can fit in the
binding site and initiate the response).
Once
these chemicals are bound, certain changes inside the cell lead to the release
of neurotransmitters, which send the signal to the brain.
The
better the fit, the higher the “sweetness potency” of the substance.
What
does water taste like?
Growing
up, we all learned that water has no taste.
However,
when we drink this colorless life-giving fluid, we experience some kind of
taste sensation on our tongue.
For
ages, people simply thought that it came from the minerals and salts dissolved
in the water, but even pure distilled water has something akin to a taste.
So…
what is accountable for this pseudo-flavor?
First
of all, to be clear, distilled water is supposed to be tasteless.
However,
as soon as it is taken out of the distillery, a certain amount of carbon
dioxide and oxygen gas dissolves in it.
Also,
if you pour such pure water in a glass, the impurities present in the glass
(however small in quantity) will mix with the pure water, altering its taste
slightly.
Again,
whenever we eat food, certain minute food particles stick around in the mouth
and on the tongue; the moment we take the first sip of water, they mix in,
providing the water with a specific taste.
Why
does cold water taste better?
The
coldness of water actually suppresses some of these “bad” factors that alter
the taste of pure water.
Any
impurities that make the water taste slightly different can be detected far
more easily when the water is warm.
Try
it yourself; put some sugar or salt in a glass of water and taste it at
different temperatures. You will experience the difference in sensitivity
immediately.
Also,
when the body is tired after strenuous work or heat, the temperature of the
body rises.
In
such a situation, cold water helps to bring the body temperature down quickly
and effectively, providing a refreshing feel in the process.
Another
possibility is the fact that water is an acquired taste — a preference that an
individual develops over many years.
A
person living in the poles will not like water to be as cold as someone living
in the desert may prefer.
Many
of us might associate warm water with stagnant, uncovered water, as anything
cold is inherently considered “fresh”; that psychological factor may be hard to
avoid when sipping a glass of warm H2O.
Purely
psychological?
Although
the taste of water depends on many factors, such as temperature and mineral
constituents, a lot of it might also be purely psychological.
According to a 1997 study at the School of Medicine at
the University of Yale, “the action of drinking is more thirst-quenching
than being rehydrated through a nasogastric tube.”
In
simpler words, the same amount of water can be given to two different people,
but the one who drinks it from a glass will feel more refreshed and hydrated.
Having
discussed all this, there are bigger problems to consider.
The
water crisis is now a global phenomenon, and we should all try to conserve as
much water as possible, because one thing is pretty clear, whether cold or
warm, water quenches our thirst like no other liquid on Earth!
Rajat is
an undergraduate student of BTech at BITS Pilani (India). He likes all kinds of
sports and has represented his college for Athletics several times. He also
loves to sing and play the guitar. He enjoys watching movies and likes to read
about financial management and the stock market.
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