I just finished reading a book called "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell. In it he discusses the Pepsi Challenge and the flawed sampling methods which led to Coke re-formulating their product. We all know how that ended up so I'll skip to the chase:
Can you tell the difference between Pepsi cola and Coca-cola?*
Apparently during sensory analysis tests, tasters use a Degree of Difference scale with 1 being indiscernible and 14 being extremely different. Salt & Vinegar chips from Wise vs Lays have a degree of difference of 8. Coke and Pepsi have a DoD of 4.
And supposedly, most of us can't tell the difference!
Triangle Test: Given three samples which contain two identical and one different, identify which one is different (while controlling everything but type of cola, of course).
Anyone want to give it a shot and bravely share their results? I don't have any assistants to help right now but hope to do it soon. The author reports that among his friends, most were not able to do it and felt duped or tricked. The probability of being correct by guessing is p = 1/3 so you have to do significantly better. Professional tasters get it right 100% of the time.
What other different but similar items would you be willing to put to the Triangle Test?!