Two words make coffee taste better

According to a report that was passed our way, it appears that after a long and arduous period of research scientists have uncovered how to make a regular cup of coffee empirically taste better by the implementation of two words.

Those two words are ‘eco’ and ‘friendly’ and if you apparently join them together, your cup of joe instantaneously has an enhanced flavour.

In the introduction of their study, published on Plos One, the academics note: “in this paper, we show that eco labels not only promote a willingness to pay more for the product but they also appear to enhance the perceptual experience of the product’s taste.”

A number of questions focusing on the environment were asked to the participants, and the findings were used to separate them into two groups; those who favoured ‘high sustainability’ (HS) and those who were classed as ‘low sustainability’ (LS).

In the investigations, people were initially given two cups of coffee to drink. One of the cups, it was said, contained beans that ‘eco-friendly’. 74% of the HS group said that this cup of coffee tasted better over the ‘non eco’ cup, even though in reality there was no difference between them.

The study was then repeated without the groups being told which coffee was which. The results in this situation indicated that the lack of labelling did not influence taste ratings, though the HS members stated that they would pay more for ‘eco-friendly’ friendly, even when it was not their preferred brew of choice.

“With the right convictions, an ‘eco-friendly’ label is sufficient for a product to taste better than a non-labelled objectively identical alternative,” the researchers said after collating their findings.

“Eco labels not only promote a willingness to pay more for the product but also lead to a more [favourable] perceptual experience of it.”