Friday, January 04, 2013

Time to Buy an Orange Cup to Drink Hot Chocolate In?

Now this is one strange quirk in the human brain.

To see how hot chocolate enjoyment was affected by cup color, Piqueras-Fiszman and her colleagues asked 57 participants to rate samples of the same delicious beverage in four colors of plastic cup: white, cream, orange and red. (All cups were white on the inside.)

The participants said the drink was more flavorful when served in a cream- or orange-colored cup. Interestingly, participants rated the orange- and cream-colored cups of cocoa tastier despite the fact that participants didn't say there were any significant differences in sweetness or aroma between the colored cups.

I wonder if the dark brown of the hot chocolate and the orange of the cup formed some sort of connection in the brain. Also it would be interesting to see what other cup or dish colors enhance flavors as well.

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