Retronasal perception: smell, not taste

The standard

The sense-separated description assigns each impression to its sense organ: sweetness, acidity, salt, bitterness and umami to the tongue, everything else to smell. What counts as aroma arises retronasally.

Criteria

• Taste in the narrow sense stays limited to the five qualities of the tongue
• Aromatic impressions are assigned to retronasal smell, not to the mouth
• Sensation and smell are named separately, even when they occur together
• The finish counts as retronasal lingering, not as taste

Distinction

Retronasal perception ≠ taste: taste arises on the tongue, retronasal perception in the nose through the throat. Retronasal perception ≠ aromatics: the former is the pathway, the latter the result. The sense-separated description keeps the two apart.