The sweet taste deserves much of the credit. But we don't rush to buy juice in the same way.
"The bubbles do something exciting to the drink," Valérie Lengard Almli tells sciencenorway.no. She researches consumer taste experiences at Nofima.
So what happens in the body when we taste carbonation?
A sensation in the mouth
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The tongue is densely packed with taste buds. They can distinguish between the five basic tastes: sour, sweet, salty, bitter, and umami.
The aroma from the soda is captured by the nose.
But how do we actually perceive the fizzing sensation?
Carbonation comes from CO2, which is injected into the bottle before it is sealed.
"The bubbles add another dimension to the experience," says Valérie Almli.(Photo: Nofima)
Under high pressure, the gas dissolves and turns into carbonic acid, commonly known as carbonation. When we open the bottle, CO2 starts bubbling out again.
"Carbonation is, in a way, a touch sensation in the mouth," says Almli.
There, they stimulate a nerve called the trigeminal nerve.
Some find carbonation uncomfortable
The trigeminal nerve has multiple functions.
It typically alerts the brain to sensations like pain, cold, heat, and spicy food.
"It's probably easier to enjoy fizzy drinks than to like spicy chili, but it's the same system and the same nerve that sends signals to the brain," says Almli.
If you gulp down soda too quickly, you might even feel some discomfort.
Not everyone enjoys the tingling sensation in the mouth, says Professor Tom Finger.
"Including my partner Sue, who doesn't even enjoy champagne. She claims that not only are the bubbles unpleasant, but they taste sour," Finger writes in an email to sciencenorway.no.
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He studies taste and smell perception at the University of Colorado's School of Medicine.
Like riding a roller coaster
Despite this, soda sales show that many people love carbonation.
So why do we enjoy the fizzing sensation in our mouths?
Finger compares it to riding a roller coaster.
"On the one hand, your nerves are signalling, 'Hey this could be dangerous,' but your brain knows that this is safe," explains Finger.
The trigeminal nerve is not only found in the mouth but branches out across the face. It detects sensations such as touch, pain, heat, and cold.(Image: Chu KyungMin / Shutterstock / NTB)
Caffeine also plays a key role
According to Almli, people's addiction to soda likely involves more than just taste and bubbles.
Soft drinks with a cola-like flavour, for example, contain caffeine.
"As far as I know, people don't become addicted to orange soda. That suggests there's something else in the drink," says the Nofima researcher.
