Don't think this test is going to work very well for someone with bifocals. However, I can taste the bitterness in artificial sweeteners so assume that I have a pretty good array of taste buds.

I took that test when I was in high school. The girl next to me and myself were the only two that spit out that nasty paper! LOL

ohio grower

I think a piece of plastic with the hole punched in it would work better than paper anyway. Isn't that a funny test? I smile to think about it, but I may do it this winter just to see. I suspect I'm somewhere in the middle like lots of folks. But I'm curious because I react very strongly to sour and spicy tastes, not always negatively, but they sure can make me sit up and take notice!

On the Tomato forum, lots of people ask which varieties have the best old-timey taste, and people give various answers and often disagree with each other, finally concluding that everybody seems to prefer something different and it's impossible to know what they're looking for. Children's taste buds seem to be much more "on the alert" than adults', and I suspect many people remember the taste of tomatoes in their youth that's been lost because our taste sensitivities grow less as we grow older. But maybe not if one is a supertaster! I think it would be great!

There are interesting jobs for supertasters, that's for sure.

LOL! You'd need a good magnifying glass. I can imagine it now, trying to count those blurry little taste buds in the mirror, squinting and peering and losing count and having to start all over again! It isn't the sort of thing one would want to be caught doing, lest people think you're daft.

So Anney, do you watch "Millionaire" too? They just had a question about this topic.

Tried it... darn... I'm just average. Age & too many scalding cups of coffee have probably taken their toll as well. Any super-tasters out there want to help me taste-test different varieties of garlic? Raw?

But seriously, I agree with Anney that it isn't all or nothing... different people are sensitive to different tastes. Plus, our preferences are influenced by pleasant (or unpleasant) associations with particular foods. So we're all different... ain't it great??

Anney, the paper I was refering to was something that supposedly only super tasters could taste according to the teacher. Only two people out of thirty thought that the paper had any taste at all. Myself and the girl next to me both spit it out, it tasted awful to us.

In addition to the NUMBER of taste buds, you can inherit different TYPES of tastebuds too. Its why artificial flavors seem fine to some folks and are horrid to others. Way back when I was in college, the grad student running my zoology lab course did the taste bud test on the class as part of his research. He had three different papers for us to "taste" and record what we found. For people with "normal" taste buds, the tastes were supposed to be salty, sweet, and fruity.......for me they were hairspray, bitter and jaw-locking obnoxious. I was the only one out of a class of 30-50 that thought all three papers were noxious. He did a few more tests with me, and was really happy to hear about what foods I avoided, etc. He said that his research was to show that you inherit types and # of tastebuds, just like inheriting eye color, etc. I got extra credit in the lab for going home and doing the genetics questionnaires with my family. (blood types, hair color, eye color, hand dominance, earlobe shape, presence/absence of hair on knuckles, etc).

granite

Does the "supertaste" ability also include an increased sensitivity to smell? IOW, can you vividly smell a fragrance of some sort (separately, apart from tasting) as well as experience the taste as intense? I know the two are closely-related but don't know to what extent they overlap.

Just curious.

Could be, that makes sense.
However, I have so many allergies and sinus problems that most of the time I can't smell much of anything. So, sorry, I can't answer that one personally