Re: why does water taste bitter after eating a grapefruit

Hi Val -

I suspect the main reason arises from residual acids/flavors in your mouth that are washed around to contact the bitter taste buds on your tongue, re-initiating the bitter flavor.

To test, I peeled a bitter yellow-rinded grapefruit for dinner, and ate a few sections. I found that if I rinsed my mouth with a few swills of water before drinking, it removed the seeming bitterness of drinking directly after eating the grapefruit.

You can also locate some related information in our archives with a search for orange toothpaste taste.

Hope this helps..

Lynn Bry, Moderator MadSci Network