Here’s a bit of a mystery.
I like the occasional drink of Coke – but I enjoy it more if it’s from a traditional glass bottle, or a ribbed Coca-Cola glass.
Coke from a can, to me, for instance, tastes better if it’s poured into one of those curvy glasses. (An ordinary glass isn’t anywhere near as good.)
It’s clearly a matter of touch as much as taste, here with a certain nostalgic twist to it. It makes you wonder why other manufacturers haven’t equally developed a presentation that has the same enticing feel. The only other drink container that comes close is the original glass Orangina bottle.
Something similar happens in English pubs, where pints of beer were traditionally served in a choice of ‘straight’ glasses or ‘jugs’ (the latter being the ones with the handle and dimples). Time was you were usually offered a choice, and most people had quite a strong preference for one or the other.
However that’s not the point I had in mind. When you’ve had n pints (where n >=1) and just want a half pint to finish off, it’s common practice to pour the half into the pint glass. I have seen it argued that it’s considered more macho to have a pint glass, but I think it’s this tactile thing again. A pint glass sits much more satisfyingly in the hand.
Here’s to touchy-feely drinks.
Diet Coke from a plastic bottle tastes different than from a can. Seriously. Not entirely sure why, maybe it’s because some of the sweeteners are light-sensitive. It doesn’t matter whether you pour it into a glass or not.
Being a frequent transatlantic-hopper I can also add that Diet Coke in Europe tastes slightly different than in North America.
Sabine -
That’s a different issue. There are definitely differences in taste in most drinks between plastic bottles/cans/glass bottles/draft for a range of reasons from different ways the gas is kept in the fluid (or not) to interaction with the materials.
But the effect I’m describing is more subtle. It’s not about the taste, it’s about the pleasure of the experience, influenced by the tactile nature of interacting with the drinking vessel. It shouldn’t have any effect, but it really does.
Ah yes, the trusty drinking vessel. I only have a few survivors these days but I had a thing many years ago when I would cough “acquire” pint glasses and a smaller n of ashtrays from pubs to create the pub feel to home.
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Also on the vessel front, last year at my Mum’s 70th, an Uncle produced his fav wine glass. You know, the one that holds > 750ml.
Hi Brian,
Yeah… It was just a random association. I’ve repeatedly told people Coke doesn’t always taste the same but most think I’m just nuts, so thanks for confirming my nuttiness.
I’m not a beer drinker, but when it comes to wine it does indeed very really make a difference to the taste whether you have a red-wine glass or drink from the bottle or whatever.
Best,
B.
I think you’ve only scratched the surface, Brian. The taste of a drink is influenced by the memories of past drinks; where you were at the time; who you were with; what the weather was like; whether your favorite team had just won the FA cup or had been relegated. You know, the good ol’ association cortex, limbic system, hippocampus and Marcel Proust thingy.
A friend of mine turned me on to drinking red wine from a straight tumbler. It’s very different to drinking from a proper wine glass, and much better suited to BBQs and other informal gatherings.
And I refuse to drink beer from a can. I’ll drink from a bottle quite happily, but give me a can and I’ll demand a glass. It’s just not the same.
A Belgian restaurant / bar neer us has a massive beer list, and serves each beer in a specific matching glass (and on a specific matching beermat, which is probably much less critical to the whole experience). Like Graham I’ve been known to acquire the odd glass, but this place has the strictest glass security I’ve ever seen!
Haven’t they recently started selling Coke in the old bottles for this reason? I don’t like it at all myself (or any fizzy drink) so I can’t offer a useful perspective. There was once a proper (independent, double-blind) study on the Coke/Pepsi challenge I seem to recall, though.
In the days long ago in my mis-spent youth when I went to pubs with those who drank pints (and pints) of beer, I do remember quite vividly the “straight or handle” question as standard from the barperson. Also the regulars always had a silver tankard behind the bar. How the beer tastes from a tankard cf glass I shall probably never know.
I am a notorious cocacolic, so this is the questions I have been wondering about for a long time… ;-)
The difference between Europe and US: sugar from sugarcane vs. sugar from sugar beet. I prefer the latter (European style). They also put more COs in bigger bottles so it does not go flat too fast (it is opened and re-opened several times, unlike the small bottle). But yes, the shape of the small bottle triggers all sorts of nostalgic associations regardless of taste.
http://sciencepolitics.blogspot.com/2005/08/diet-new-coke.html