# How does lemon juice make tea taste sweet? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 3, 2021, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lemon-juice-make-tea-taste-sweet/932116 "2021-02-03T10:25:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ElDeLuxo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@ElDeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElDeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lemon-juice-make-tea-taste-sweet/932116/1 "2021-02-03T10:25:09Z")
One of my favorite cold drinks is unsweetened, black iced tea. Recently I decided to try a squirt of lemon juice in my tea–just enough to change the color of it slightly. It was good, of course–strong and refreshing and just very faintly astringent, exactly how I like it. It also tasted…_sweet_. Just very slightly so, but sweet nonetheless. If you don’t believe me, make an unsweetened iced tea and spike it with lemon, and sip. Now, I know that tea is somewhat acidic. And lemon juice is _quite_ acidic, and one of the sourest tastes one is likely to taste. So how can two acidic liquids together be sweet? It seems like the opposite would be true. Where does the sweetness in the combo come from? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lemon-juice-make-tea-taste-sweet/932116/2 "2021-02-03T10:47:04Z")
I don’t have the full answer, but I think it’s worth noting two things: 1. Despite tasting predominantly sour, lemons do contain a fair bit of sugar, so there is sweetness there, hidden under the perception of sour taste when the juice is sampled on its own. 2. Our sense of taste does not absolutely reflect the PH of the thing being tasted - that is, things like ‘sweet’ and ‘sour’ can balance each other out - so a solution that is acidic will taste sour; when sugar is added, it will taste less sour, without actually having become less acidic. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lemon-juice-make-tea-taste-sweet/932116/4 "2021-02-03T11:35:41Z")
Sweet and sour aren’t opposites. Lemons are both. To the extent that there are opposite flavors, they’re sour and bitter. ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lemon-juice-make-tea-taste-sweet/932116/5 "2021-02-03T13:25:11Z")
It is likely that you used a Meyer Lemon which is a crossbreed between citron and Mandarin, and brought over from China. All lemons have some sugar in them, Meyer lemons have a fair bit. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lemon-juice-make-tea-taste-sweet/932116/6 "2021-02-03T13:44:46Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Despite tasting predominantly sour, lemons do contain a fair bit of sugar, so there is sweetness there, hidden under the perception of sour taste when the juice is sampled on its own. This sounds right. When mixed in tea, the sourness probably takes a back seat to the little bit of added sugar from the lemon. As a side observation, I’ve noticed when adding lemon juice to something salted, like a soup, it makes the soup taste less salty, to the point where if I thought it was perfectly seasoned before, I feel like I need to now add more salt. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lemon-juice-make-tea-taste-sweet/932116/7 "2021-02-03T14:42:02Z")
I guess the thing to try is the same amount of lemon juice in a cup of water. I think from memory of trying things like this, it will taste slightly sweet and not all that sour, compared to the experience of just sipping that much lemon juice from a spoon. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2021, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lemon-juice-make-tea-taste-sweet/932116/8 "2021-02-03T14:45:08Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Sweet and sour aren’t opposites. Lemons are both. To the extent that there are opposite flavors, they’re sour and bitter. Sweet and sour are not chemical counterparts (whereas sweet and bitter _sort of_ are, at least in so far as ‘bitter’ overlaps with ‘alkaline’ - it’s possible for things to be bitter tasting, but neutral PH) But _perceptually,_ sweet and sour are kind of opposites, in that either one seems to mitigate the other ---
**Author:** ![ElDeLuxo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@ElDeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElDeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lemon-juice-make-tea-taste-sweet/932116/9 "2021-02-04T00:35:53Z")
Thank you, **Mangetout** , that makes sense… I hadn’t considered that lemon juice would have _some_ amount of natural sugar in it. It sounds like it’s the _tea_ that sweetens the _lemon_, instead of the _lemon_ sweetening the _tea_! My mind is blown for the afternoon. ---
**Author:** ![ElDeLuxo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@ElDeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElDeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lemon-juice-make-tea-taste-sweet/932116/10 "2021-02-04T00:40:59Z")
I did not know about Meyer lemons until I read your post just now. Are they used as commercial juicing lemons? Because what I used was just regular old store-bought lemon juice from a green plastic bottle. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lemon-juice-make-tea-taste-sweet/932116/11 "2021-02-04T00:57:18Z")
> [@ElDeLuxo](#): > > I did not know about Meyer lemons until I read your post just now. Two of my favorite beverages are unsweetened black tea with Meyer lemons and diet Coke with Meyer lemon. Yum! ---
**Author:** ![am77494](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d2c977/32.png) [@am77494](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/am77494)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 3:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lemon-juice-make-tea-taste-sweet/932116/12 "2021-02-04T03:10:52Z")
I am a member of a gardening group and grow a few different types of citrus in Houston, TX. There is a huge variety of lemons that you may like : 1. Commercially available : Lisbon Lemons, Eureka Lemons, Meyer Lemons and Bearss Lemons [4 Common Types of Lemons You'll Find in Your Local Grocery Store - US Citrus](https://uscitrus.com/blogs/citrus-delight-blog/4-common-types-of-lemons-youll-find-in-your-local-grocery-store) 2. Niche Lemons : New Zealand ‘Lemonade’ Lemons, Ponderosa Lemons, and many others [https://leafyplace.com/types-of-lemons/](https://leafyplace.com/types-of-lemons/) I love the lemonade lemon 😀 ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2021, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-lemon-juice-make-tea-taste-sweet/932116/13 "2021-02-04T08:35:44Z")
Is it because the lemon juice partially neutralizes the bitterness of tea, especially the tannins? Never heard of a Meyer lemon, but in a world we we now have Sweeties - sweet grapefruit without the pucker factor, everything is possible.