Aftertaste is a common phenomenon experienced by consumers of certain foods, drinks, and medicines. It can be pleasant or unpleasant, with professional taste testers evaluating products based on their aftertaste. Artificial sweeteners are a common cause of bitter aftertaste, and liquid medications can also create an unpleasant finish.
It is not uncommon for consumers of certain beverages, foods and medicines to experience a lingering taste after swallowing. This could be a sense of warmth from a spicy ethnic dish or a very unpleasant bitter taste after ingesting liquid cough syrup. Some people may experience a chemical taste after consuming a diet drink, while others may notice a pleasant smoky or buttery taste after sipping a gourmet coffee. These are all examples of a phenomenon known as an aftertaste.
In some cases, a pleasant aftertaste can be a good thing. Professional taste testers of gourmet wines and coffees, for example, evaluate a product’s aftertaste for qualities such as smoke, smoothness or longevity. A pleasant lingering flavor, also known as a finish, is considered a positive element of wines and coffees. Some drinks may have little or no aftertaste, or a very short or unpleasant shelf life. The finish of a gourmet drink often depends on how long it remains on the drinker’s taste buds.
In other circumstances, however, an aftertaste can be considered a bad turn of events in the kitchen. Spicy ethnic foods may feature spices with a slow burning effect, but those lingering spices often create an unpleasant aftertaste until the palate is thoroughly cleansed. Other ingredients such as cooking wine or acidic sauces could also leave an off-flavor, especially if diners are not used to such savory dishes.
Perhaps the most obvious example of an aftertaste occurs with artificial sweeteners. Many consumers of diet sodas and other sugar substitute products complain of a noticeably bitter taste upon swallowing. Sugar substitutes created from sugar can also leave a chemical aftertaste. Some consumers get used to this after repeated use, but for others, the bitter or unpleasant taste is considered a real deterrent. Manufacturers of products containing sugar substitutes spend a lot of time and money addressing the aftertaste problem, with varying levels of success among consumers.
Many liquid medications can also create an unpleasant aftertaste. The use of flavoring agents can help mask some of this taste, but many oral medications cannot be modified to completely eliminate it. Home remedies like cod liver oil are often chosen for their extremely unpleasant aftertaste. Some people find the burning or medicinal finish of alcohol-based mouthwashes to be quite unpleasant, while others may notice a strong aftertaste after a dose of cough medicine or oral antibiotics.
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