Why do we categorize "tart" as a refreshing taste?

No. I just had this discussion in terms of the etymology and linguistic context – it isn’t cut and dry, black and white, however; I proposed that bitter is to sweet, as up is to down. Tart, being a negative sensation on the tongue – especially for babies, and then, psycho-tastewise (coining a stupid term, here – for lack of any real knowledge) one learns to like, or dislike something tart.

A lemon isn’t tasty on the tongue. It’s tart, and sometimes bitter. Sour is also good for a lemon olfactory description, but sweet and sour compliment each other – like the chinese sauce. Thus, bitter is the opposite of sweet, imho. Tart is unpleasant, naturally, however one may have acquired a taste for it – like for olives and caviar.

I think it is a traditional thing.

In the day you drank milk or water sometimes wine/beer.
Lemonade was a change up. Something that was easy to acquire and tasted good (different).

Just so happens one of the byproducts of lemonade is tartness. But still, a refreshing change.

Darn – didn’t have time to edit: “Refreshing” is like lemonade, or a coke – on a summer’s day. Tart is not the same as refreshing. But I’m willing to hear another opinion – or encyclopedic definition. I’m too lazy to look it up.

;-)

But that’s the point of my question. Those things that we tend to think of as “refreshing” are often tart. If that’s true, what’s the corollary?

So you’re saying it’s merely a learned response?

Tart is more stimulating than bland. It’s a form of nervous excitement.

Have you ever sneezed and it made you feel refreshed all over?

Same principle applies as tart on the tongue.

Its all about the human senses.

Lemonade is generally sweetened, so I am not so sure I can really think of the drink as tart, although I agree lemonade maintains some tartness. I guess sickening sweet is not refreshing to me, so I can see that the tart does counterbalance, although plenty of people love to drink sweet tea (not to be confused with sweetened tea) in the summer. I think for me refreshing drinks are cold and transparent, very high water content like iced tea and lemonade. Probably good that we find milk icky in the summer, because milk sitting out in the 100 degree weather probably will make you sick, literally. Blah. Even straight fruit juice is too sweet and dense on a really hot day in my opinion.

That’s why the Lord invented seltzer.

@dpworkin lemonade powder made with club soda instead of water is fantastic. The lemonade is not as sweet and tastes less fake.

Eww, I so prefer using real lemons.

I love the Lord’s seltzer. It’s divine.

I can see Benjamin Sisko say that.

@syz IMHO simply because it isn’t sweet. Sweet gets done to death. Yoghurt, for example, in Australia, has sugar added to it if there’s also fruit in it! Yoghurt is supposed to be sour/tart, and very much so. But it seems that the sugar industry has pressured food manufacturers to abominate everything with sugar. Tart/sour = a refreshing change, IMHO.