zatsumi
concept / concept-zatsumi
雑味
Zatsumi is a conventional term in the sensory evaluation of sake. The National Research Institute of Brewing’s sake flavor and quality assessment terminology (Utsunomiya et al., 2006) operationally defines it as "bitterness, umami, astringency, and other unpleasant mouthfeel tastes", a strongly composite and subjective sensation, and excludes it from the standard terminology. It cannot be reduced to one basic taste or one compound.
On this page (7 sections)
Reading the bitterness
Zatsumi is a term conventionally used in the sensory evaluation of sake. In developing terminology for assessing sake flavor and quality, Utsunomiya et al. (2006) at the National Research Institute of Brewing operationally defined zatsumi as 『苦味，うま味，渋味及びその他口あたりが不快な味』 (in translation: "bitterness, umami, astringency, and other unpleasant mouthfeel tastes"), a term with a strongly composite, subjective sensation. It does not reduce to one basic taste or one compound.
The terminology defines 86 standard terms for sake flavor. Utsunomiya et al. (2006) explicitly gave the reason 『現在一般的に使用されている用語だが、複合的感覚及び主観的感覚が強いため』 (in translation: "although it is now a commonly used term, it carries a strong sense of a compound, subjective sensation") for excluding zatsumi from the system of 86 standard terms. It thus remains a conventional term outside the standard vocabulary.
The operational definition of zatsumi explicitly lists bitterness, umami, astringency, and other unpleasant mouthfeel tastes as components. Bitterness is therefore explicitly positioned as one component of the composite sensation zatsumi within the Utsunomiya et al. (2006) terminology.
An industry rule of thumb, 『タンパク質レベルが高い原料米で造った清酒には雑味が多い』 (in translation: "sake made from rice with a high protein level has more zatsumi"), has been described as circulating vaguely. On the basis of research into the production of bitter peptides from rice protein (derived from glutelin), Hashizume (2008) considered that part of the reason for this rule of thumb could be understood at the protein level. This is the author’s discussion, not an experimental result statistically establishing causation.
Sources for this overview
Checked for this overview: Confirmed the operational definition including bitterness, umami, astringency, and other tastes. / Confirmed the institutional decision to exclude the term from the 86 standard terms. / Confirmed that bitterness is explicitly listed as a component of zatsumi.
原料米タンパク質に由来する清酒の苦味ペプチド (Bitter-Tasting Sake Peptides Derived from the Rice Protein)
Checked for this overview: Confirmed the discussion of bitter-peptide production and the rule of thumb concerning zatsumi.
Follow the connections
zatsumi →is associated with→ sake bitter peptides from rice glutelin
zatsumi →includes→ bitterness →can be measured separately …→ astringency
Structured claims — open a section to read each claim's confidence, evidence and limits
Sensory (3)
Scope: "Zatsumi" is a term currently in common use, but because it carries a strong sense of a compound, subjective sensation — "bitterness, umami, astringency, and other unpleasant mouthfeel" — it was excluded from this vocabulary.
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concept-zatsumi —is_excluded_from→ "The standard terms (86 terms in Table 1) of the sake flavour-quality assessment vocabulary of Utsunomiya et al. (2006)"Show data
concept-zatsumi —is_defined_as→ "A composite sensation and subjective sensation described as bitterness, umami, astringency, and other unpleasant mouthfeel tastes (the operational definition in Utsunomiya et al. 2006's terminology system)"Note: An explicit connection between zatsumi and bitterness, based on Utsunomiya et al.'s (2006) operational definition (bitterness, umami, astringency, and other unpleasant mouthfeel tastes).
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concept-zatsumi —includes→ sensation-bitterCulture (1)
Scope: The author discusses that part of the reason for the previously vaguely understood empirical rule 『タンパク質レベルが高い原料米で造った清酒には雑味が多い』 (in translation: "sake made from rice with a high protein level has more zatsumi") could be captured in terms of protein level, namely the generation of glutelin-derived bitter peptides.
Note: A statement in the closing section (p.579) of Hashizume (2008). This is the author's own interpretive summary, treated as an account that explains an empirical rule long discussed in the industry through the mechanism of bitter-peptide generation. Note that this is a statement in the discussion section, not an experiment that established causation statistically.
Show data
concept-zatsumi —is_associated_with→ compound-class-sake-glutelin-peptides