The Gatorade site says:
I noticed that this was true after working out yesterday. I always drink it after karate. At other times it doesn’t taste good at all.
What makes it taste better? Does sweating cause something to happen to your tongue that makes different parts more/less effective? (Correct me if I’m wrong in assuming your tongue produces taste)
I beg to differ.
Me and son always drink Gatorade. It doesn’t have caffeine or carbonation so its healthier.
I guess you can get used to almost any taste.
I differ also. A few years ago when Mr. Scarlett and I were driving from Wisconsin to Colorado and back in August, in our tiny non-air-conditioned car, at every stop I bought a bottle of Lemon Ice Gatorade and a large cup of ice. It stayed cold and tasted good, yet not watered down, as the ice melted in the heat. Plain water would have been too blah, and soda would have been too gross and syrupy after long.
YMMV.
Ok. I didn’t mean it tastes bad. But there is a significant taste difference when drinking it before a workout (not thirsty and sweaty) and after a workout (thirsty and sweaty). What causes the taste difference?
Maybe your so thirsty you don’t care that it tastes like old sweat? (I am not a fan of Gatorade ;))
Gatorade isn’t as sweet as other drinks (Juice, soda, etc), as you get hotter/thirstier you like drinks that are not as sweet. When you are very hot/thirsty even gatorade tastes syrupy.
Gatorade is not meant to be an everyday beverage, especially for sedentary people. It’s designed to quickly replenish carbohydrates after extended physical activity. It has a 6% solution of carbohydrates, mostly in the form of simple sugars, that closely mathces your body’s optimum absorption rate. That’s important because if that percentage is not right, your body has to add more electrolytes or water to absorb the liquid, leaving you feeling more fatigued or thristy than if you had done nothing, or worse shotgunned a soda. That’s my best guess as to why it tastes better after a workout. You’ve just burned through several hundred calories, your bodies feeling fatigued … Gatorade is quickly and efficiently absorbed, replenishing the lost supplies… voila - it’s yummy, and doesn’t leave you feeling blah.
Incidentally, here’s how to make your own gatorade:
In researching this answer, I also learned that Gatorade is a bit behind the curve in sports drink nutrition, but that’s not on topic.
I looked at several sources of info, but this one: http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/ultramentor/gatorade.html provides a good summary and the recipe above.
oops, “bodies” should be “body’s” 
I’ll go with that answer. When you exercise and sweat, you lose moisture and minerals like potassium. Your body needs those minerals and that moisture. So when you drink Gatorade, you are getting those things and your body recognizes that.
Besides, anything cold and wet tastes good when you’re hot. 
But those same minerals stand out more when your body isn’t craving them.
Not that I’ve tried Gatorade in a while. Powerade tastes better, though it’s hard to completely eliminate the mineral taste. I’ve tried Propel (new Gatorade product) a couple times, but have trouble finding it in stores.
well, let’s take it slightly off-topic. what are better brands? and please, don’t drink that stuff everyday–i’m pretty sure the extra salt can be harmful to your health.
I’m British and haven’t tried Gatorade…
…But it seems more than plausible that any drink would taste better after a workout, simply because you’re more dehydrated
Has anyone tried an experiment with a new and unusually flavoured drink (like Rivella perhaps?), asking people to rate it when given it before exercise, and comparing their ratings to those given to the drink by people having exercised?
Gatorade’s source of carbs are simple sugars (sucrose, glucose). They are not as easily absorbed and converted into muscle energy as complex sugars like maltodextrin. With sports drinks containing long-chain sugars, you get twice as many calories for the same amount of fluid, by volume, and thus has more energy avilable to it. Endurance athletes notice the difference. I don’t know if I would. This is not to say that Gatorade is bad, it’s just not as efficient as it could be, according to sources such as
http://www.angelfire.com/electronic/ultramentor/gatorade.html
The sports drinks with complex sugars include: Sustained Energy, Cytomax, Buz-RN, Endurox. I’ve never heard of any of them, and you’re unlikely to find them in your local grocery store.
should read:
Commenting on the OP:
I TOTALLY agree with c_goat. This stuff kept me going through four years of high school sports. Couldn’t get enough of it after practices, and still love it these days after a hard workout, but I can barely handle it otherwise. Then again, I can say the same thing for water… but I still think he’s on to something.