How do you know if you're a Super Taster?

Super Taster Breakfast Wrap

I always thought I might have an above average sense of taste, but I couldn't figure out where to get tested...

What's a Super Taster?

A Super Taster is someone with a high functioning sense of taste. It means that favors seem “louder” and besides the scale, some foods are even more intense - especially bitter tastes. They may taste things 3x more strongly than normal tasters.

I had NO idea the range of experience was so wide, I thought food tasted the same to everyone we just had different preferences... But it's making a lot of things make more sense. I thought I was just a wuss about coffee (I didn't learn to like it until I was in my late 20's).

It turns out bitter foods like Coffee, Greens Veggies, and Artificial Sweeteners can be a temperature-check for some people. In fact Saccharine was they way scientists found that a certain bitter chemical was undetectable to some people, and awful to others (Prop).

Where are the Tests?

I really wanted to know if I was a Super Taster so I tried to find a home-test with no luck. All I could find on the web were kits for training wine enthusiasts, or medical tests for loss of smell/ taste. The closest thing I found was a scratch and sniff screening test for aspiring perfumers, but I would have to order a case of 500 cards... Thanks for nothing Internet!

It's like a secret club that you can't find unless you already have the address!

Anyhow, the Internet failing me, I tried the local University - they DO have a sensory lab with taste panels but only students and staff can volunteer... so again, no help. I resigned myself to wait and wonder...Then about 6 months later providence found me and a friend recommended I applied for a job as a taste panelist. THEY do the screening! 

I found out I was a Super Taster when I was screened for a JOB as a taste panelist.

If you still want to try an internet option, this quiz seemed interesting.

Why I'm SO Jazzed:

I'm excited to learn the proper terminology so I can describe foods accurately in my own life. Sometimes I taste something but don't know what to call it, or how to identify it. It's maddening! It took me years to realize the flavor I like in pink bubble gum is Plumeria (a flower).

It was just luck that I was able to match it when I smelled a single-note body spray. I feel like if I got some training it would help me to describe tastes & textures more professionally. I feel like that would help my cooking and writing, not to mention satisfying my insatiable curiosity...

Speaking of curiosity, I will have a post about the actual screening up soon...