System and method for tracking consumer tasting preferences

A method for determining numerical correlations with chemistry-based item features, comprising the steps of:

• chemically analyzing each of a plurality of items in a category using a chemical analysis system;
• obtaining from the chemical analysis system, for each of the plurality of items in the category, chemical data including an objectively-measured quantity for each of a plurality of chemistry-based item features, wherein each chemistry-based item feature is a chemical compound or a chemical property;
• storing item data for the plurality of items in the category in a database, wherein the item data comprises terms, attributes, and the chemical data for each of the plurality of items in the category;
• receiving, by a learning module configured to run on a computing device having a processor and non-transitory memory, of user data from a plurality of users including user information regarding user preference for each of the plurality of items in the category;
• receiving, by the learning module, of the item data from the database;
• determining, by the learning module, of a plurality of units of inquiry, wherein each unit of inquiry is associated with a set of responses, wherein each response indicates a user preference;
• and
• determining, by the learning module using at least the item data and the user data, a set of numerical correlations for each response of each unit of inquiry, wherein at least one numerical correlation in each set of numerical correlations is a numerical value that correlates that response with one chemistry-based item feature.