Just checking about ser vs estar
Ok so I'm making a concerted effort to pay attention to how ser and estar are used in conversation, in texts etc to try to get a better feeling for them.
Now take this sentence:
The churros were delicious.
(just to give a bit of context we made some churros last night and I was commenting, the next day, to a friend how delicious they were)
normally I would instantly want to use ser because in my mind I'm defining them as delicious, their essence was deliciousness.
but .......
what I am infact going to say is .....
Los churros estuvieron ricos.
- is that right? because rather than just generally declaring churros in general to be delicious I'm referring to some particular churros and their particular state at some particular time hence I use estar.
And I must warn you that if I have this wrong I'm going to scream and pull some hair out!! - because I do kind of feel like I'm having a wee epiphany here je je 
Probably so obvious to most who read this thread but sometimes it just takes a while for the penny to drop.
Someone please tell me I'm on the right track!
25 Answers
Actually, and I hope not to be too confusing, I would never say:
Los churros estuvieron ricos --> 
Los churros están ricos.
This may be a general and perpetual assertation about "churros", or about the "churros" you are eating right now.
Los churros estaban ricos.
For those churros that you've just finished.
Although I find it more natural to say:
¿No te gustan los churros? ¡Pero si los churros están buenísimos!
or
Oye, los churros están/estaban deliosos. Te los recomiendo.
If I heard the sentence...
"Los churros son ricos"
...from a native speaker (a thing I find improbable)
I'd ask:
-¿Ricos en qué? ¿en calorías?
or I'd joke, saying:
-Sure, and coffee is a billionaire.
Estos churros son ricos - clasificación (objetiva,característica intrínseca). Inglés - These churros are good. Estos churros están ricos - estado, condición (percepción subjetiva). Inglés - These churros taste good. Vas por buen camino.
For me, you are on the right track
Because you are talking about something in particular.
Like "¡la película estuvo buenísima! (another way to say "very good" -"muy buena-").
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If eat those churros (what's this???) from the same place and they're always delicious, I'll use 'ser'. However, if one day they unusually taste bad, I'll say... no están ricos hoy.
Ok I'll go pull out some hair....ouch
Estaba vs estuvo, según Google:
"la paella estuvo" tuvo Aproximadamente 4,100 resultados (0.15 segundos):
La Paella estuvo magistral; no quedó ni medio arroz.
La paella estuvo super rica, divina, hasta rasparon la olla jajajaja y no quedó para hoy.
"Juan, la paella estuvo exepcional. Gracias por la presentacion y magnifica paella para la recepcion de la boda de nuestra hija."
Para nuestro gusto la paella estuvo bien, pero el chocolate con churros se salió de buenos que estaban...
La paella estuvo más sabrosa.
Para ser la primera, la paella estuvo buenísima, el arroz quedó sequito, suelto y sobre todo, sabroso. La pinta tampoco estaba nada mal...
"la paella estaba" tuvo Aproximadamente 29,200 resultados (0.13 segundos):
El veredicto fue bueno, la paella estaba sabrosa.
La paella estaba deliciosa. A toda mi familia le encantó.
Ricardo Sala: La paella estaba excelente!!!! Realmente se pasaron. Además la pasamos muy bien. Gracias.
Se notaba que la paella estaba cocinada con mucho mimo.
Well, I think that we prefer "estuvo" in a more formal writing, as in a chronicle or a criticism for a magazine or a newspaper or a TV show. Or in a letter, maybe... whereas we broadly prefer "estaba" in a more informal speech.
Experiences are circumstantial, so they are normally expressed with "estar", like when you watch a movie, eat something, play a game... or anything that you are experiencing under specific circumstances. While you eat, you say "Este filete está muy bueno", and anything you can say in present tense now, you can recall with imperfect later, so "Ese filete estaba muy bueno" (I'll talk about the preterite later). When you finish a movie you can say "La película ha estado/estuvo muy bien", and later recall the whole event as "La película estuvo muy bien". Now, when you are not recalling that particular experience, but just making an absolute classification that implies nothing about that particular experience, then you say "Esa película es muy buena".
As I said in the last paragraph, if you can use present now, you can use imperfect later on, so "Los churros estaban muy ricos" is a perfect sentence. In this case, you can also say "Estos churros saben muy bien" and "sabían" later, but I can't imagine anyone saying "supieron". This, at least, is the most common choice in Spain. On the other hand, you could always say "Los churros resultaron muy ricos", referring to the entire finished experience. With this sense, many native speakers prefer to say "estuvieron muy ricos". It is a matter of regional preference, it seems.
Churros don´t have the ability to feel, but they can be on a table, so "los churros están en la mesa.
When discribing how they taste we are talking about their nature, so we need to say "Los churros son ricos."
To compare churros of yesterday to the ones today, it´s still "ser" because yesterday´s churros are not the same churros as the ones today. You are comparing the nature of individual churros.
er just to complicate matters, I think I would say 'los churros estaban ricos'
I'm thinking that estuvieron would be used if the time frame were specified (?)
Update
The consensus so far from native or fluent Spanish speakers:
Estar vs Ser 3-1
Any other natives out there brave enough to add their thoughts?
Just out of interest regarding estuvieron and estaban - these were the results from a google search and a quick scan of the accompanying articles showed that the context was often not dissimilar - describing a particular meal etc eaten in the past.
Grammar (estar for states in time) and popular opinion leads us to use estar but what makes a person decide between the preterite and the imperfect? Is it just a personal feeling? How you're relating to the food now - as a finished event or as something that somehow lingers even if it's just in your memory?
I'd really be interested in hearing the thoughts of native speakers as to what the difference is between using estuvieron and estaban when describing something as delicious.
Google - estuvieron deliciosos 7,530,000
Google - estaban deliciosos 4,830,000
but if they are good today or were good yesteday and that's the particular state at that particular time that you're referring to you would use estar - even if they were always good, in fact you'd never had a bad churro from there ¿no?
No that was a particular class, state would be whether or not they were good to eat, fresh or rotten.
You mean first experience? I'd say 'no son ricos', then the guy who invited me to eat churro in that place would say 'no, son ricos, pero están diferentes hoy'.
I'm running out of hair.....
I agree with SpanishPal. If those churros have always been and are viewed to always be good, ser. If they are randomly not what they usually are, estar.
This is simply a guess from a fellow learner.
And about "a woman in particular"mmmm...you can say "es" or "estar" make your choice
I think this might be a regional thing as well. In Mexico, at least, to tell woman "Eres muy bonita," you are complimenting her on the beauty she has developed or was born with. If you say "Te ves bien guapa el día de hoy," you are complimenting her on how she has made herself look beautiful ' dress, make up, hair, etc.
In the USA a man can no longer use either of these compliments without being accused of sexual harassment or starting yet another "battle of the sexes."
Kiwi said:
And I must warn you that if I have this wrong I'm going to scream and pull some hair out!! - because I do kind of feel like I'm having a wee epiphany here je je Probably so obvious to most who read this thread but sometimes it just takes a while for the penny to drop.
Hey guys, estar it sure is! jejejejejeje
Here's how I remember it:
My rice is not tasty. Can you pass the salt? Thank you. Now my rice is tasty.
I think the Ser and Estar rules always work, you just have to use your imagination.
Like really location isn't permanent.. because the world is always turning on its axis, orbiting the sun, not to mention the movements of tectonic plates 
