Sensory Exercise: Separating Bitterness from Astringency

We perceive bitterness chemically through our sense of taste. We perceive astringency physically through our trigeminal sense. While understanding that two different systems are working to detect bitterness and astringency is helpful in theory, the reality is that these sensations are still happening in one small area at the same time - our palates, namely our tongues.

It’s kind of like saying a snake is venomous, not poisonous. Nice to know, but that doesn’t really help you when you’re staring at a snake that looks like it wants to hurt you in one way or another.