George Van Doorn
Psychologist and first author of the study that served café latte from transparent, white and blue mugs.
Who they are
Van Doorn's mug experiment is the most quoted demonstration in this area and the easiest for a reader to repeat at home.
The design detail that matters is the second experiment. Because the original mugs differed slightly in shape, the study was run again using identical glass mugs wearing coloured sleeves, which removes the most obvious alternative explanation.
Key papers
Van Doorn, G., Wuillemin, D., & Spence, C. (2014). Does the colour of the mug influence the taste of the coffee? Flavour, 3, 10.
Key ideas
Coffee was rated less sweet from a white mug than from a transparent or blue one.
Simultaneous contrast was ruled out, since ratings from the transparent mug did not differ significantly from the blue one.
The authors suggest the white mug alters the perceived brownness of the coffee, which in turn alters its perceived intensity and sweetness.
Concepts on this site
Sources
- doi:10.1186/2044-7248-3-10