Taste of a pharmaceutical formulation is an important parameter for the effectiveness of pharmacotherapy. Cetirizine dihydrochloride (CET) is a second-generation antihistamine that is commonly administered in allergy treatment. CET is characterized by extremely bitter taste and it is a great challenge to successfully mask its taste; therefore the goal of this work was to formulate and characterize the microparticles obtained by the spray drying method with CET and poly(butyl methacrylate-co-(2-dimethylaminoethyl) methacrylate-co-methyl methacrylate 1:2:1 copolymer (Eudragit E PO) as a barrier coating. Assessment of taste masking by the electronic tongue has revealed that designed formulations created an effective taste masking barrier. Taste masking effect was also confirmed by the in vivo model and the in vitro release profile of CET. Obtained data have shown that microparticles with a drug/polymer ratio (0.5:1) are promising CET carriers with efficient taste masking potential and might be further used in designing orodispersible dosage forms with CET.Keywords: taste masking, electronic tongue, cetirizine dihydrochloride, microparticles, methacrylate copolymer, spray drying Unacceptable taste is an important problem encountered in the designing of new dosage forms. Taste masking of drug substances has been continuously changing with emerging techniques and new excipients (1-7). Taste masking can be carried out by various methods, depending on the therapeutic agent and dosage form. One of the simplest taste masking methods is addition of flavors, sweeteners and effervescent agents, but it is not always effective. In recent years, methods creating a physical barrier between active ingredients and taste buds have been developed for taste masking. One of them is spray drying, a relatively simple and convenient technology for the preparation of microparticles (8)(9)(10)(11)