Report on our Taste, Train, Enjoy workshop, Norwich, 23rd June 2016
We held a very successful tasting workshop with Fifth Sense members and their partners on Thursday 23rd June at the University of East Anglia alongside our partners FlavorActiV and Dave Hart from Strangers Coffee in Norwich.
The workshop was part of the Taste, Train, Enjoy project we are undertaking with FlavorActiV. A key aim of our project is to train people with impaired olfactory function to become better-aware of their ability to detect basic tastes and learn how to apply this when eating, drinking and cooking, thus gaining more enjoyment from food and drink.
FlavorActiV’s Director of Global Sensory Management Boris Gadzov led the tasting session which started with an introduction into the work of his team of expert staff in training tasting panels within the beverage industry. Boris also explained the function of the senses of smell and taste and how these two distinct sensory systems work together to create flavour.
Boris then led the group through a tasting exercise focusing on identification of four basic tastes – sweet, sour, salty, bitter – using FlavorActiV’s own sensory training kits. Following this, guests then had the opportunity to apply this to a real-life example – a special Fifth Sense coffee roasted for us by Alex Sergeant and Dave Hart from Strangers Coffee. Dave and Alex had put a lot of effort into creating a coffee that had strong basic taste elements with quite a bitter finish. They were roasting batches of beans and then tasting the coffee they brewed whilst wearing nose clips.
We had a really positive afternoon and, judging by the feedback we received, most people went home with a better awareness of what the sense of taste actually is and how all of our different senses play a role in the appreciation of food and drink. The Fifth Sense members who came along, some with their partners, found the opportunity to share their experience of living with an olfactory disorder really helpful and we had a lot of discussion over the course of the afternoon.
All in all, a very memorable and successful event, and we hope to deliver more like this in future. Our thanks to Boris and Liam at FlavorActiV, and Alex, Dave and Rosemarie for the coffee tasting.