LMSC Let me know what you guys think? Thx
I think you may be over simplifying things. The sensations we get from taste can’t be broken down to just a few descriptors as you did. (e.g. Acidity = lemonade, green apples, fruity acidity). It’s probably thousands of components that can produce what we describe as acidity/sweetness/bitterness etc.
Then, as you said, there is the balance between sensations. Take the same acidity on it’s own and you have one sensation. Mix it with sweet and you have a completely different perception of it.
Then there is context: we look for different things in different context (imagine drinking coffee and tasting cheddar cheese…).
Bitterness in itself isn’t ‘bad’, just the same as sweetness isn’t always ‘good’. Some sort of bitterness is probably present in all coffees, and certainly in beer. Without it, it won’t taste like beer/coffee. And the same for sweetness: beer and coffee always have some sweetness in them, but too much of it will spoil the balance and won’t be enjoyable.
And of course, as you correctly said, this will also vary from person to person, and what tastes ‘good’ for one might taste ‘bad’ for someone else.
We generally tend to think of ‘sweet’ as good and ‘bitterness’ as bad, maybe because for ‘sweet’ we think of the ‘good’ kind of sweet (the one we enjoy) although there are sweet things we won’t enjoy. And for ‘bitterness’ we think of the bitters we don’t like (burnt, paracetamol). However, coffee, beer and Campari are some of the tastiest things in the world (imo) and they all have a distinct fantastic bitterness which makes them what they are.