• Question: Why dosen't water have no taste?

    Asked by january to Andrew, Daniel, Hayley, Natalia, Peta on 18 Nov 2011.
    • Photo: Peta Foster

      Peta Foster answered on 17 Nov 2011:

      We taste using the taste buds in our mouths… we have taste buds for sweet, sour, bitter and salty!

      Water doesn’t taste of anything because it doesn’t contain any compounds which activate our taste buds. 😀

    • Photo: Daniel Scully

      Daniel Scully answered on 17 Nov 2011:

      There is also a fifth taste called “umami” which I understand is related to savoury foods.

      And, though I can’t remember it, there is thought to be a sixth in Asia.

      Taste isn’t the only contributor to the sensation of flavour we get when eating/drinking either, much of it comes from smell.

    • Photo: Natalia Parzyk

      Natalia Parzyk answered on 18 Nov 2011:

      Actually maybe water only doesn’t have the taste to humans? It’s possible that it has a kind of taste to animals. Feeling of taste is with brain involve in that process, so it might be different for different animals.

    • Photo: Hayley Smith

      Hayley Smith answered on 18 Nov 2011:

      As Peta says, water doesn’t contain any compounds which get our taste buds going, although I’ve lived in a few places around the UK and I think it is possible to notice differences in the flavour of water in different locations and the only thing I can attribute this too is the different mineral content of the water. Where I live now is a high lime-scale area and the water does taste different to where I used to live, so maybe those minerals are having some kind of effect.

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