I'm a supertaster myself-- certain pungent/sour tastes will literally make me gag; I don't like foods with a million different components since I can taste all of them quite clearly. My wife on the other hand will smell things on the wind (like smoke) that I'll only notice 5-10 minutes later. I hear there are others who can see gradients of colors that others cannot.

> wetting the filter before you make your coffee

This isn't really voodoo, but it is debatable whether it matters for such a low volume. Since no filter fully expresses the fluid it absorbs, if you put exactly 4 cups of water through a dry filter, you're not getting exactly 4 cups of water out of it. The result might be a stronger cup of coffee (since there is less water to dilute it). Wetting the filter gives you a more "accurate" result, but you'll get a consistent cup of coffee either way if you commit to either always wetting it or not doing so.

This matters more for things like oil changes, which is why after changing your oil filter and refilling the oil, you're supposed to run the car for a few minutes to operating temperature and check the oil levels again-- the dry filter will have added to the total capacity of the engine block and soaked up some of what you thought you put in.