Asked by: Lottie Roessler, via email

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Pure water doesn’t stimulate your taste buds directly, but it can sometimes still have a taste. That’s because your tongue becomes habituated to the taste of the chemicals in your saliva. When you rinse those away with water, your taste receptors will ‘rebound’ with an opposite taste sensation. So since your saliva is salty, water can taste slightly sweet or even bitter.

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luis villazon
Luis VillazonQ&A expert

Luis trained as a zoologist, but now works as a science and technology educator. In his spare time he builds 3D-printed robots, in the hope that he will be spared when the revolution inevitably comes.

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