You’ve handled spicy food before. At least, that’s what you thought. But sitting in a bustling hot pot restaurant in Chengdu, staring into a bubbling cauldron of crimson broth, you begin to question everything.

The first bite is deceivingly flavourful, a rush of chili, garlic, and fragrant spices. Then, it happens. A slow, creeping numbness spreads across your tongue, tingling like tiny electric sparks. Your lips feel swollen, your mouth slightly paralysed, yet somehow, you can’t stop eating. The heat builds, not just as fire, but as a buzzing, almost euphoric sensation that lingers.

A local across the table laughs. “This is not just spicy — it’s mala,” they say, emphasising the unique combination of numbing (ma) and heat (la).

You take another bite, realising that spice isn’t just about burning heat, it’s a whole spectrum of sensations. And in that moment, you wonder: how do we even define how spicy is spicy?

aste intensity acceptance varies significantly among individuals and cultures. Here are the key contributing factors:

🔬 Biological & Physiological Factors

🧬 Genetics: Determines taste receptor sensitivity (e.g., bitterness).

👅 Papillae Density: More taste buds = heightened sensitivity.

🧠 Neurological Response: Higher sensory thresholds affect tolerance.

👶 Early Exposure & Habitual Diet

🍲 Childhood Diet: Frequent exposure builds familiarity.

🌍 Cultural Norms: Spicy, fermented, or umami-rich diets shape tolerance.

🔄 Acclimatisation: Gradual exposure increases acceptance over time.

🧠 Psychological & Cognitive Factors

⚡ Sensation-Seeking: Adventurous eaters enjoy bold flavours.

🤔 Expectations & Perception: Anticipation affects tolerance.

❤️ Emotional Associations: Comfort foods reinforce preferences.

🤝 Social & Cultural Influences

🍛 Culinary Norms: Regional diets set taste benchmarks.

👥 Peer Influence: Social dining encourages new taste adoption.

🎭 Symbolism & Rituals: Certain flavours hold cultural significance.

👀 Sensory Interaction & Adaptation

👃 Aroma & Texture: Strong smells & mouthfeel enhance taste perception.

☯️ Contrast & Balance: Acid balances fat, bitter enhances sweet.

🔥 Desensitisation: Repeated exposure reduces perceived intensity.

🧓 Age & Health Factors

🕰️ Age-Related Changes: Older adults prefer stronger flavours.

🏥 Medical Conditions: Illnesses affect taste perception.

🥦 Dietary Habits: Processed food diets can dull natural flavour sensitivity.

(Not an exhaustive list)

Ifyou’ve ever wondered how professionals standardise taste — yes, there’s an ISO standard for that! The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) has set up guidelines to make taste testing more reliable and consistent. Here’s a quick look at some key standards:

1️⃣ ISO 13301: Measuring Taste Sensitivity

2️⃣ ISO 13299: Creating a Sensory Profile

3️⃣ ISO 8586: Training Professional Tasters

4️⃣ ISO 3972: Understanding Taste Sensitivity

5️⃣ ISO 5492: The Official Sensory Vocabulary

6️⃣ ISO 11036: Sensory Analysis: Texture Profile Methodology

(Not an exhaustive list)

Apart from ISO standards, there are also other scales used to measure specific sensory parameters, including:

🌶️ Scoville Heat Units (SHU) — The Spice Scale

If you’ve ever seen a hot sauce bottle labeled 1,000,000 SHU, that’s referring to the Scoville Scale, which measures spiciness based on capsaicin concentration. Originally, this was determined by diluting chili extracts until people could no longer detect heat. Now, it’s tested using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), which is much more precise.

🔹 Example: Jalapeños range from 2,500 to 8,000 SHU, while the Carolina Reaper clocks in at over 2 million SHU. Yikes.

🍬 Brix Scale — Measuring Sweetness

Ever heard a winemaker or barista talk about Brix? It’s a scale that measures the sugar content in liquids like juice, wine, or honey. A 1° Brix reading means there’s 1 gram of sugar per 100 grams of liquid.

🔸 Example: Coca-Cola has about 10–12° Brix, while a ripe mango can hit 15–20° Brix.

🍋 pH Scale — Acidity & Sourness

Acidity plays a big role in taste, and it’s measured using the pH scale (0–14). Lower numbers mean more acidity, while higher numbers are more alkaline.

🔹 Example:

Lemon juice: pH 2 (very sour!); Vinegar: pH 2–3; Coffee: pH 4–5; Milk: pH 6–7

However, just knowing the pH isn’t enough — perceived sourness also depends on other taste interactions.

☕ Bitterness Index — Measuring the Edge of Flavour

Bitterness is one of the hardest tastes to measure objectively. Some methods analyze specific bitter compounds (like IBU in beer, which stands for International Bitterness Units). In food science, HPLC is also used to measure bitterness by detecting bitter alkaloids.

🔹 Example: Light beers: 10–20 IBU; IPAs: 40–100+ IBU; Dark chocolate (85%+ cocoa): High bitterness but no standardized scale!

🍜 Umami Index — The Fifth Taste 🍜

Umami, the savory taste found in foods like tomatoes, cheese, and mushrooms, is measured based on glutamate concentration. While there’s no universal “umami scale,” food scientists use glutamic acid levels (mg/100g) to estimate intensity.

These standards help scientists, food brands, and researchers put some structure around taste — pretty cool, right? But let’s be real, at the end of the day, it’s all about how we feel it. Because no matter how precise the measurements are, taste is personal. And that’s what really counts. 🤔🍽️

Back in 2024, I was all in on digitising taste perception — building taste recommender systems, running digital campaigns, and delivering consumer insights for brands across the country. It was all about understanding how people experience flavour on a deeper level. But when I looked back at the community we built, something clicked: we weren’t just delivering personalisation practice — we can map an entire country’s tasteintensity acceptance in one place.

That’s when the idea for a sensory index came to life. So, we rolled up our sleeves, cleaned up the data, processed every geographic input against key flavour items, and drafted the very first version of a national sensory index. A small step for data engineering, but a huge leap for understanding intensity acceptance like never before.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing. Big cities were a challenge — with such diverse populations and mixed taste patterns, it was hard to pinpoint a singular flavour intensity profile. Seasonality also played a huge role; what people craved in winter wasn’t the same as in summer, making it tricky to establish a stable baseline. And then there was the expat community — in some regions (e.g., Beijing, Shanghai), their influence created entirely new hybrid intensity acceptance that didn’t fit into traditional local patterns.

Despite all the progress we’ve made in mapping taste intensity, one question keeps surfacing: how much more do we not understand about ourselves and each other? Taste isn’t just a personal preference — it’s deeply cultural, collective, and ever-evolving. Our flavours shape our culture, and our culture, in turn, shapes the way we experience taste. One flavour simply doesn’t fit all.

This year, my journey expands to APAC. We’re taking on a global scale, exploring sensory index across ethnicities, culinary traditions, and countless variables — from anthropology and psychology to language, geography, and climate influences. As I dive deeper, new questions emerge:

How do we account for cross-cultural influences in hyper-globalised cities?

What should be measured in controlled environments vs. real-life settings?

How do psychology, language, and climate impact regional taste evolution?

The truth is, a lot of questions still have no clear answer — only a path forward. What matters most is taking the first step towards a future where people are more aware of their own taste & nutritional profiles, dietary habits, and sensory well-being. Because understanding taste isn’t just about food — it’s about understanding ourselves.