By way of an example, I was eating a salad which had raw onions in it. I then took a sip of Coke. The combination of the two flavours was amazing, but I know that if someone handed me an onion-infused Coke, I’d find it horrid.
What the hell is the difference?
Things like acid and salt act as flavor enhancers but the don’t enhance all flavors equally so you perceive less flavors you dislike in proportion to the flavors you enjoy.
Makes sense, maybe if the oniony flavour was in little clots floating within the Coke it would work better (just realised how profoundly gross that sounds).