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Comment by catalogia | Hacker News Reader

Sommeliers claim to have incredible wine tasting powers, yet in a blind taste test I cannot reliably distinguish red wine from white wine. Maybe with more training I could, but shouldn't the difference be obvious without training?

I've yet to be convinced that subtly in wine and coffee flavor is an objective matter.

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There are definitely things that I consider voodoo, like wetting the filter before you make your coffee, but there are tons of things that are just undeniable like: if you drink coffee from stale beans, your urine smells bad then next time you pee; if not, not. I'm always surprised when I drink some gas station coffee and then a couple of hours later "oh yeah, I normally drink better coffee, don't I?"

It's not voodoo; the concept of "supertasters" and other supersensory traits in humans is well-documented. Most legitimate sommeliers are likely supertasters.

I'm a supertaster myself-- certain pungent/sour tastes will literally make me gag; I don't like foods with a million different components since I can taste all of them quite clearly. My wife on the other hand will smell things on the wind (like smoke) that I'll only notice 5-10 minutes later. I hear there are others who can see gradients of colors that others cannot.

> wetting the filter before you make your coffee

This isn't really voodoo, but it is debatable whether it matters for such a low volume. Since no filter fully expresses the fluid it absorbs, if you put exactly 4 cups of water through a dry filter, you're not getting exactly 4 cups of water out of it. The result might be a stronger cup of coffee (since there is less water to dilute it). Wetting the filter gives you a more "accurate" result, but you'll get a consistent cup of coffee either way if you commit to either always wetting it or not doing so.

This matters more for things like oil changes, which is why after changing your oil filter and refilling the oil, you're supposed to run the car for a few minutes to operating temperature and check the oil levels again-- the dry filter will have added to the total capacity of the engine block and soaked up some of what you thought you put in.

> Wetting the filter gives you a more "accurate" result, but you'll get a consistent cup of coffee either way if you commit to either always wetting it or not doing so.

The big difference that wetting a filter has is that certain filters have a slight taste associated with them. If you wet the filter first and throw that water away you get a cleaner/brighter cup without the paper filter adulterants.

Exactly, and this is easy to check: just pour a bit of water through the filter and then drink it.

You'll taste paper bag, I guarantee it.

I can definitely taste the difference between slowly pouring over and not, but so far I have not been able to taste the pre-wet filter. I’d prefer not to gain the ability either because there’s only so much time in the morning.

I could see that. You're supposed to do that with aquarium filter media as well to flush out any manufacturing debris.

You’re supposed to fill the new oil filter with oil prior to installation to prevent this. Irrelevant to larger point though.

That isn't always possible though. I've had at least two cars that mounted them either sideways or near-upside down.

Huh, I noticed this effect sometimes, and other times not, but I never figured it had to do with the quality of the coffee.

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