Comment Re:Style over substance (Score 1) 188
Oh goodie, a lesson on ABX testing I didn't need. Carbonation is more obvious than the taste differences people often fail to confirm in blind test. Slate even did some coverage on container carbonation differences talking about it. According to that I didn't necessarily describe the cause and effect correctly in my quick comment--it may be from gas escaping rather than a bottling difference--but the effect I was describing is real.
Have you ever noticed the difference between flat soda and fresh? If so, why do you believe carbonation level and bottle specific characteristics are never distinguishable? There's a motion component to it. A major reason flat soda tastes differently is that you expect a different taste from the bubbles, whether or not there even is a taste difference outside of that. Your perception of carbonation turns into a taste even though it's really not a taste, exactly. The same way that knowing the brand alters how you taste--the bit that screws up non-blind taste tests--sensing the carbonation in your mouth changes how you taste too.
Fine, you say that's still me claiming something, not a test result. I looked around for five minutes for a blind test showing some difference between two different Coke product packages that included observations on the "fizziness" of the product impacting preference. Here's a recent blind comparison with untrained testers doing exactly that. I don't think it's studied more because it is too obvious to bother.