Science & TechFact
You taste fizz with your 'sour' cells, not with the bubbles.
On the sour-sensing cells of your tongue sits an enzyme, carbonic anhydrase 4. It turns dissolved CO2 into carbonic acid, which releases protons and makes the cell fire. Mice without the enzyme barely taste carbonation. The tingle of bursting bubbles is added by touch, but the taste is the same whether bubbles burst or not. Published in Science in 2009.
Useful: Flat cola tastes different because the CO2 is gone, not just because it no longer tingles.
Source: sciencedaily.com