Similar topic, but after having COVID and losing my taste and smell for a few weeks, all carbonated sodas "taste off" for me. I've talked to a few people who have had similar experiences and after a year later, all of my regular Cokes still taste off :/
I was thinking about this yesterday when reading that some people with
long covid experience the smell of meat as that of decaying dead flesh, which
none of us wants to hear but is not technically wrong. Could it be
that whereas we're socialized toward certain perceptions, a disorderly
shutdown of the senses causes something like a reboot to factory
settings?
