The Sensory Advantage workshops teach a fundamental yet often overlooked component of any food, drink, or flavour product - how molecules become conscious perception.
Too often teams focus on the chemistry but disregard how the body interprets the chemistry. The molecules are simply the stimuli. How the senses process them and how the brain represents them is unique for each individual.
Gaining a deep understanding of the processes and pathways that create flavour perception is therefore critical in a world where we demand more than simply flavour - we seek experiences.
What you will learn:
The Modern Definition of Flavour
The Power & Limitations of Language in Flavour
Olfaction & the Neurology of Smelling
Taste Receptors and Neurotransmitters
Mouthfeel from Somatosensation to Chemesthesis
Cross-Modal Integration in Flavour
Oral Enzymes, Microbiota, and other Flavour Modifiers
Cognitive Biases, Expectations, Psychological Influences
Individual Variability in Flavour Perception
The Neurology of Expertise & Flavour Fluency
Subthreshold Odours and the Illusion of Flavour
The workshops can be delivered in-person at a convenient location for your team, or virtually to engage global teams.
Workshops and Training in Flavour Perception
Are Our Flavour Workshops For You?
Whether you distil whisky, lead sensory panels, or engineer flavours, the same principles apply because the process of transforming chemical information into cognitive perception is universal.
Each workshop is tailored to the exact needs of the team but the fundamentals remain the same. For example, if you want to create better guest experiences - we can do that. Or if you want improve sensory panel data reliability - we can do that too.
Flavourists (Flavour Creators / Flavour Chemists)
Understanding psychophysics and flavour neurology helps design formulations that match human perception, ensuring that chemical composition truly aligns with desired sensory impact across contexts, temperatures, and matrices.
Flavour Scientists / Flavour Technologists
Training in sensory psychology and perception strengthens your ability to predict how ingredients interact in the brain, not just in the lab, leading to more accurate modelling of thresholds, mixtures, off-notes, and consumer liking.
Sensory Analysts / Sensory Scientists / Panel Teams
Understanding perceptual mechanisms improves accuracy in evaluating flavour, aroma, and texture, and enhances panel design and interpretation.
Food & Beverage Product Developers
Knowledge of how flavour is perceived helps design products that deliver consistent, targeted sensory experiences consumers actually notice and enjoy.
Brand Ambassadors (Food, Drink, Spirits, Hospitality)
Our workshops help ambassadors communicate flavour more accurately and engagingly, turning complex sensory science into compelling stories that deepen consumer connection.
Visitor Centre & Experience Teams
Understanding how people perceive flavour enhances the ability to guide tastings, design immersive experiences, and educate guests with confidence, making visits more memorable, interactive, and scientifically grounded.
Whisky, Wine, Beer, & Spirits Producers
Understand how small chemical changes translate into large perceptual differences, refining production decisions and communication.
Chefs / Culinary Innovators
Insights into sensory integration and cross-modal perception allow chefs to craft dishes that maximise flavour impact, balance, and emotional resonance.
Bartenders / Mixologists
Our training helps predict how aroma, taste, and mouthfeel interact, and how guests will perceive complex drinks under different contexts, occasions, and settings.
Perfumers / Fragrance Developers
Psychophysics deepens the understanding of intensity, hedonic tone, and perceptual thresholds, enabling more precise formulation and storytelling.
Coffee, Tea, and Chocolate Tasters
Knowledge of sensory adaptation, expectation, and attention helps professionals deliver more reliable evaluations and reduce cognitive bias
Wine Sommeliers / Spirits Educators
The neuroscience of flavour strengthens the ability to teach, describe, and communicate sensory experience using accurate, brain-based principles.
Marketing & Branding Professionals (Food, Drinks, Hospitality)
Understanding how people form flavour memories improves storytelling, product positioning, and emotional engagement with consumers who seek experiential immersions.
