Think your coffee is tasting particularly bitter this morning? Then you might want to take a closer look at the mug it's in rather than the brew you're drinking. A new research has found that the color of your coffee mug could have an effect on how you perceive its taste. Crazy, right? Turns out our brain associates various characteristics with different colors and that, in turn, changes how we taste our drink. Read on to find out what color would make your coffee taste sweetest.
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A study inspired by a barista and released by online journal Flavour has discovered that the color of a coffee mug has a very real effect on the taste of the drink. It's not because it somehow seeps into your drink, but because your brain is wired to associate different flavors to colors. For example, the stark contrast between coffee and the white on your mug will make you believe the coffee is darker, stronger, more bitter. On the other hand, if you pour yourself a cup of jo into a clear glass, it'll taste sweeter to you. The brew might be exactly the same, but your brain will play that little trick on you, which if you ask me sounds like a great way to get that sweet taste without piling on the sugar!
Participants in this experiment were also asked to drink from a blue mug, which intensified the coffee's sweetness as well as bitterness resulting an overall stronger drink.
It's almost unfortunate that researchers didn't take this study even further by testing all kinds of drinks in mugs of all colors of the rainbow. I think it's fascinating how the mind perceives colors and how it translates into other senses. How many times have we heard how the colors of a room's walls affect the mood we're in, how quickly hospital patients recover, or if we feel warm or chilly? I wouldn't be surprised if baristas started paying closer attention to the mugs they serve their java in.
Image via Jaci XIII/Flickr
