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درباره:
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Does the colour of the mug influence the taste of the coffee?
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<p>
In experiment 1, the white <a href="http://www.bonya-bottle.com/travel-mug/"
target="_self">travel mug</a> enhanced the rated “intensity” of the coffee flavour
relative to the transparent mug. However, given slight physical differences in the mugs
used, a second experiment was conducted using identical glass mugs with coloured sleeves.
Once again, the colour of the mug was shown to influence participants’ rating of the
coffee. In particular, the coffee was rated as less sweet in the white mug as compared to
the transparent and blue mugs.
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<p>
Both experiments demonstrate that the colour of the mug affects people’s ratings of a
hot beverage. Given that ratings associated with the transparent glass mug were not
significantly different from those associated with the blue mug in either experiment, an
explanation in terms of simultaneous contrast can be ruled out. However, it is possible
that colour contrast between the mug and the coffee may have affected the perceived
intensity/sweetness of the coffee. That is, the white mug may have influenced the perceived
brownness of the coffee and this, in turn, may have influenced the perceived intensity (and
sweetness) of the coffee. These results support the view that the colour of the mug should
be considered by those serving coffee as it can influence the consumer’s multisensory
coffee drinking experience. These results add to a large and growing body of research
highlighting the influence of product-extrinsic colour on the multisensory perception of
food and drink.
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<p></p>
<p>
In Australia alone, around a billion cups of coffee are consumed in cafés, restaurants
and other outlets each and every year. Even Britain, a nation famous for its fondness for
tea, has, in recent years, seen a dramatic rise in its coffee consumption, with an
estimated 70 million cups drunk each day. Given the economic incentive to keep consumers
drinking coffee, café owners, restaurateurs, crockery designers and manufacturers ought,
presumably, to be interested in anything that can help to enhance the multisensory coffee
drinking experience for their clientele cf.
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<p>
The idea behind experiment 1 came about serendipitously. During a conversation between
the first author (GV) and a barista, the latter reported that when coffee is consumed from
a white, ceramic mug, it tastes more bitter than when drunk from a clear, glass mug
instead; note that these two mug types are amongst the most commonly used vessels to serve
coffee in Australian cafés and restaurants. In the present study, we therefore sought to
establish the validity of this claim which, to our knowledge, has not been described
previously. Indeed, as recently highlighted by Spence and Wan, there is a paucity of
research on the psychological impact of the receptacles that we use to drink from.
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<p>
The notion that the colour of the receptacle/plateware can impact taste/flavour
perception might relate to Piqueras-Fiszman et al.’s research putatively showing that
colour contrast resulted in a red, strawberry-flavoured mousse presented on a white plate
being rated as 10% sweeter and 15% more flavourful than when exactly the same food was
presented on a black plate, see for an extension of this work; see for an explicit attempt
to evaluate the colour contrast account. While contrast represents one plausible
explanation for such results, it is important to note that there are also several other
possible mechanisms (e.g., priming) that may explain the influence of product-extrinsic
colour on taste/flavour ratings. Taking the principal of colour contrast one stage further,
and given the conversation with the barista, it was proposed that brown may be associated
with bitterness (or, perhaps, is negatively associated with sweetness). If taste were to be
affected crossmodally by colour contrast, then coffee that is tasted from a white <a
href="http://www.bonya-bottle.com/coffee-mug/" target="_self">coffee mug </a>should be
rated as somewhat more bitter than exactly the same coffee when consumed from a transparent
mug instead.
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<p>
It is possible that another contrast mechanism (i.e., simultaneous contrast) might
affect the perception of taste . Here, if light, opaque, milky brown coffee were to be
associated with bitterness, then a light blue mug/surrounding should intensify the brown of
the coffee because blue is brown’s complementary colour . This, in turn, would be expected
to elevate ratings of bitterness relative to the same coffee when served in a transparent
mug. Some famous examples of the use of simultaneous contrast are Heinz’s™ use of a
greenish-blue can to set off the red-orange colour of their beans and sauce and Cadbury’s™
use of purple packaging to enhance the colour of their chocolate.
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