Drinking beverages with complex tastes brings me, and many others, great joy. Like wow, it tastes like this, and that, and a little like that?

However, making beverages with good complex tastes takes a lot of effort, so costs a lot of money. Before I pay the money,1 I want to approximate the complex tastes. Tasting notes help that approximation.

Tasting notes matter more for categories of drinks2 with complex and varied tastes. And they better approximate those tastes when referring to other consistent, well-known flavors. For example, I'd say this tea tastes like peach; I wouldn't say this peach tastes like tea.

  1. and the time and effort to procure and prepare ↩︎

  2. or foods, though drinks can more easily have complex tastes by virtue of the ability of liquids to hold many flavors at once ↩︎