Why does sugar taste sweeter in milk rather than water?

Question

I notice that when I make any drink with milk instead of water, the same amount of sugar tastes sweeter to me somehow.

Like when I steep tea, with a lot of water and mix a little bit of milk and add a spoon of sugar
vs concentrated tea with more milk and same amount of sugar – milky one is sweeter.

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

There might be a more in depth answer to this question, but I think the short answer is that milk has naturally occurring sugars in it, where water is void of these compounds. If you have the same amount of water and sugar in two cups, and add milk to one cup, the milky cup will have more sugar in it when you added the milk. This is logically why it would taste sweeter than without the milk.