The Cup Matters
The cup you drink your coffee in matters. It will affect your coffee’s taste. Old news. But read on for what you didn’t know about how this matters.
That coffee cups influence our perception of how a coffee tastes isn’t exactly new information. Zillions of studies confirm this. The conventional wisdom is that the material of the cup interacts with the coffee itself to alter its flavor profile. In some cases it’s obvious, like styrofoam or non-waxed paper cups, and in other cases it’s not so obvious, like a low-grade stainless steel. Coffee geeks have generally settled on ceramic and glass as the most inert materials to keep coffee flavor in coffee and non-coffee flavors out.
Most people get that. Except when they don’t. Coffee drinkers might focus on the coffee mug or espresso cup itself, but not the pour-over pot of cheap stainless steel that’s been holding the coffee for hours. Sure, it’s nice and hot through thermal isolation, but now the coffee you’re drinking may not be the coffee you brewed. Either the steel coating itself or coffee absorbed from your previous brew seep into the pot and now your coffee tastes different. Subtle. But it’s there. Some folks fret about what kind of filters to use in pour overs, and can even tell if the French press used to brew coffee was steel or glass. True story.
Ah, but the story doesn’t end there, even if you’re super fussy about using ceramic or glass for absolutely everything. (Yes, there are ceramic lined, steel french press pots). We’ve talked before about how temperature affects coffee taste.
Now studies have also shown coffee cup’s color affects a drinker’s perception of taste. Really. The coffee cup itself. Interestingly, coffee experts are affected by this, reporting “fuller” coffee if served in a black mug with an “after taste” as opposed to a white mug. In one study by a pioneering psychologist, women tended to report “richer” coffee if served in a red mug, by a wide margin (85%). The same coffee.
Other studies have shown that mug material (as between ceramic and glass) also impacts taste perception, with consumers generally preferring ceramic over glass. And still other research has shown smaller cups are preferable to bigger ones (narrower cups are more “aromatic”; shorter mugs are “intense”; wider mugs are “sweeter”).
What does this all mean? It confirms what food industry insiders have known for a long time. Packaging matters, even for the experts. Coffee industry experts try to minimize the impact in coffee cups by using the same cups for all tastings, but ultimately it might be impossible to eliminate entirely.
Try for yourself and take notes on what you think when drinking coffee with friends. Be mischievous, switch out coffee mugs with the same coffee and tell everyone you’re asking for feedback on different coffee brews. See what they say! The fun never ends in the coffee world…