What Causes Aftertaste In Drinks (And How You Can Manage It)

Ever taken a sip of a drink only to be caught off guard by a lingering aftertaste? You're not alone. Aftertaste, that unexpected flavor that stays in your mouth, sometimes bitter, sometimes strangely sweet, can completely change your feelings about a drink. One moment, your coffee tastes great and you love the flavor; the next, you think, "It's nice ... but there's a weird aftertaste."

Most of us can tolerate sweetness as an aftertaste, but have an issue when our drink turns bitter. Interestingly, this is related to our primal survival instincts, which allow us to navigate bitterness through taste to avoid continuing to eat something harmful. Why do some drinks have a stronger aftertaste than others? Well, this can be subjective. A 2019 study by researchers at Penn State found that bitter aftertaste in drinks, like beer, reflects how a taste can impact an individual's tongue receptors, and each person can experience aftertaste differently.

"Aftertaste largely occurs because certain compounds that cause bitterness or off-flavor linger longer than the other taste molecules in the food," Dr. Bryan Quoc Le, food scientist and food consultant, told Tasting Table. The reason we experience a heightened sense of these compounds in drinks more than food is because of their solubility in liquids. This is especially true for coffee. "These [bitter] compounds are also extremely poorly soluble in water, and can remain on the tongue for several seconds longer than other compounds," Dr. Quoc Le explained.

If you're not a big fan of aftertaste in your drinks, the good news is that, thanks to scientific research, it can usually be masked by using other flavors in food known as "bitter blockers." Beverage expert Jeanene Martinez, Director of Applications at T. Hasegawa in California, says the beverage industry uses bitter blockers to mask unwanted aftertastes, including adding a little vanilla or salt to reduce bitterness. "In general, the most effective way of managing aftertaste is using high-quality ingredients and balancing these so that no single flavor note is too strong," Martinez told Tasting Table.

The bottom line is, everyone's sensitivity to aftertaste varies. While bitter blockers can be effective much of the time, the results may vary depending on each individual's taste receptors. "It's important to note that there is no 'one size fits all' solution in masking offnotes," Martinez said. Although chemists and beverage application experts taste the beverage, identify bitterness, and neutralize the off-notes, what you taste in a drink is based on your own, specific senses. Our thoughts? If you find a drink you love without the aftertaste, order another one!