In this paper, we have reviewed the concept of the taste sensor, i.e., an electronic tongue with global selectivity, and its applications to foods, beverages, and pharmaceuticals. The taste sensor enabled the quantification of the five basic tastes and astringency identified by the human tongue, and successfully provided the sensor outputs in good agreement with the results of sensory evaluation by panelists. For pungency, a type of taste in a broad sense, the development of a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) immunosensor that can detect capsaicin, a typical pungent substance, at ultrahigh sensitivity is under way. In the future, it will become possible to quantify the intensities of all types of taste of foods, including the five basic tastes, astringency, and pungency. Recently, researchers have also been attempting to develop biosensors using biological tissues such as taste cells and receptors by genetic engineering technologies. A group led by Suslick has analyzed liquids such as beer and soft drinks using colorimetric sensor arrays that comprise multiple chemically responsive dyes .