I don't like hot drinks. I may be a thermal taster. Kind of like a superhero.

I don’t drink coffee, which places me in an extreme minority, at least among my friends and colleagues.

I also do not drink tea or even hot chocolate. For years, I have told people that I don’t like hot drinks, a statement that is often greeted with a furrowed brow and many questions, particularly on a frigid day.

Now my unusual taste preference may have an explanation.

A study reported in Scientific American finds that the intensity of some flavors varies with temperature.

While this might not be terribly surprising, the study also finds that for most people, temperature can enhance flavors. But for some, dubbed thermal tasters, temperature alone can be a flavor. Heating or cooling parts of the tongue creates the sensation of taste without food.

So my distaste for anything other than a chilled drink may have less to do with the actual taste of the liquid and more with its temperature.

Hot drinks just taste bad to me.

Except for coffee. That stuff is gross regardless of temperature. Even coffee ice cream makes me want to wretch.

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to ruin ice cream?