Researchers Natsumi Kubo and Atsunori Ariga, from the Department of Psychology at Chuo University in Tokyo, published a study in the journal Multisensory Research showing that touch directly shapes how coffee tastes to us.
Across three experiments, blindfolded participants drank black coffee at 68°C, and the researchers found that touching a smooth surface lowered the coffee's perceived acidity compared to touching a rough one. Surprisingly, the effect held even when the touched surface wasn't the cup itself but a separate object held in the other hand — as long as the touching happened at the same time as tasting.
The study, run under lab conditions and limited to black coffee and Japanese participants, still points to an intriguing direction for the industry: cup and packaging design may quietly shape how we perceive a coffee's taste.
Source: Daily Coffee News