On Aug 30, 4:13 am, wrote:
a liiittle sugar can bring up nuances of flavor
that would be entirely lost without it,

Any idea why sugar works that way, anyone ?

Karsten

speculating:

the sugar molecule (sucrose) meets certain other molecules in the
liquid [lets say the assam flavor molecule ] which it binds to and
then they both end up on the taste bud receptor, sugar facilitating
stimulation of the receptor (opening more ion channels = greater
stimulation)
or
binding the sugar, the other molecule is able to better bind into the
receptor (some 3d conformational spacial arrangements)
or
the sugary solution facilitates coating of the sugar molecule with the
flavor molecule around it , like saponification

but then again, i have no direct info regarding this issue, ...
someone else?