Let's limit the answer to food/drink taste, which is actually more smell than taste. The brain is always trying to figure out if something in the mouth is good nutritious food or bad poison. In general, bitter and decomposed or moldy things=bad, sweet/salty/fatty/proteiny things=good, and sour is variable. The first time you eat something, you have limited information beyond basic patterns. Young babies need lots of nutrition and have parents to help, so they like all kinds of things, but toddlers are capable of finding something toxic, so they get pickier.

So, the first time you try coffee, your brain's reaction is likely "this is very strongly flavored and bitter, probably poison." Try it a few more times, and your brain gets used to it, confirms nothing bad was associated with it last time, and may start to associate it with positives like mild stimulation. Conversely, if you throw up after eating a food you used to like, it may be a while before you regain your desire for it--now your brain has evidence it was poison and should be avoided.

I'm not sure I can explain it very well, but it's simply the "acquired" but you mentioned already. Through repeated exposure, you can make yourself come to like or accept a particular taste you didn't like before.

Traditionally "bad" tasting things like coffee and beer are a good example I think. At first, hoppy or bitter, we don't like it, but the more it is tried, and the different types we try, the more flavours we learn to detect and appreciate, going back to the original, you may find you taste something completely different, or you just started on something bad in the first place.

I was given fish sticks as a kid, wasn't told what they were. My house never ate fish, so it definitely had to be fucked up poison chicken tenders.

It took 30 years and marrying into a very fish eating culture to learn to like the taste.

There's not really something that separates acquired tastes from non acquired tastes. There's foods or drinks that are almost universally loved that some people just don't like. It mostly has to do with a diversified palate. If you eat something that's very different from everything else you've ever tasted, chances are you won't like it the first time. It's why we "acquire tastes" as we grow older.

From the word itself, acquired meaning you've exposed your taste to that food many times, you've grown used to it. I remember not liking coffee that much in the beginning, but overtime I try to tweak it a bit and add something I like to the coffee to make is taste bearable for me like more sugar or cream. Eventually my taste got used to it that I started adding less sugar and cream.

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Is there research into the idea that there are any tastes that can't be acquired with repeated exposure over time? I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't.

Friends and family who are educated, employed or experienced with child development and kids in general have said it takes 7 to 10 tries to get a youngster to start eating something new. That's got to translate to adults. Except we don't have someone urging us to just have three more bites of tuna casserole or broccoli and cheese.

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