What the hell is "taste"?

There's this term that constantly pops up when people in creative fields talk about writing, art, or music. It's "taste". Apparently, the way you write is reflective of your "taste in stories". Some people have better "taste" than others. Some people's "taste" is completely offensive.<br><br>Now, from what I can see, nobody has really tried to tackle this issue head-on, to define what the hell they actually mean. Taste is not "what genres do you like?" or "what's your opinion on this particular thing?" Taste is not the same as "preference."<br><br>I think the closest definition I can get to is "the way you analyze, understand, and appreciate artistic mediums". If someone has an idea of a story, if they like it, they'll try to write it. To know if it's a good idea, it needs to be analyzed, understood, and appreciated in some way. If you have good taste in stories, you will generally make well-written ones.<br><br>If so, what's a way to improve your taste? When you're writing, how do you know you have good taste?