Does Auditory and Visual Also Influence the Taste of Coffee in Addition to Olfaction?
Contents:
1. Auditory Perception vs. Gustatory Perception
2. Visual Perception vs. Gustatory Perception
3. Olfaction Perception vs. Gustation Perception
The comprehensive interaction of senses profoundly affects the experience of coffee tasting, making the same cup of coffee either more bitter or sweeter. Music, vision, and olfaction can all adjust gustatory perception. Experiments have shown how music alters coffee flavors through high and low frequencies, and the presentation style of visual plating also affects taste evaluation. Olfaction plays a crucial role in flavor perception, enriching the taste of food with its aroma. Through the interactive influence of the four senses—auditory, visual, olfactory, and gustatory—the experience of coffee tasting becomes richer and more unique.
Auditory Perception vs. Gustatory Perception
Listening to music while drinking coffee can indeed influence gustatory perception. This phenomenon involves the interaction of multiple senses, known as sensory interaction. Music can affect one's psychological state and emotions, which may influence taste perception. For example, upbeat music may induce pleasure, potentially enhancing the sweetness of coffee. Conversely, low-pitched music may create a dense atmosphere, possibly making coffee taste a bit more bitter.
Charles Spence, a professor of experimental psychology at the University of Oxford, and his team introduced "synesthetic sounds," where one sense triggers another sense perception. In a 2012 experiment, participants used half-sweet and half-bitter toffees while listening to low-frequency music, increasing bitterness perception by 10%. Conversely, listening to high-frequency music increased sweetness perception by 10%. Spence and his team studied the relationship between music and food flavors, suggesting that sour and sweet foods match high-frequency notes, while bitterness pairs well with low-frequency notes.
The above excerpts are from "Music and Taste Buds' Revelry—The Association between Auditory Perception and Gustatory Perception."
The Justin Coffee team experimented with the influence of high and low-frequency music on coffee using the same beans. For pour-over coffee “Rwanda NPR Rulindo Juru A1 Sc 15+ Honey," the usual taste profile includes osmanthus oolong tea notes at high temperatures, transitioning to cranberry and light roasted tea aromas as it cools, with hazelnut chocolate sweetness in the finish, smooth and mellow. When low-frequency music played, the coffee intensified bitterness and became dominated by hazelnut chocolate notes. Conversely, with high-frequency music, the coffee enhanced its acidity and sweetness, with prominent cranberry and citrus notes, while the previous bitterness disappeared.
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Visual Perception vs. Gustatory Perception
Visual cues also influence gustatory perception, including the appearance, color, shape, and arrangement of food, which can affect people's perception of taste and gustatory experience. For example, the color red may evoke sweetness, while green may evoke freshness and nature.
The Crossmodal Research Laboratory at the University of Oxford conducted an experiment called "A Taste of Kandinsky," where sixty participants tasted a dish. The dish was the same, but presented in three different plating styles: regular, neat, and "artistic." The "regular" plating involved placing all the food in the center of the plate, arranged in a circular shape; the "neat" plating separated each ingredient into rows, aligned neatly (it didn't look very appetizing, but at least you knew what you were eating); as for the "artistic" plating, it resembled the work of the painter Wassily Kandinsky, specifically his painting "Painting Number 201." There were sixty servings of the dish, twenty for each plating style, but the diners were unaware of the other two plating styles.
Before and after tasting the dish, participants had to fill out a questionnaire, which included their preferences for the plating style, their anticipated level of deliciousness, and their thoughts after finishing the meal. The questionnaire results for the three plating styles were vastly different. The food presented in the "artistic" plating was perceived as more delicious, and participants were willing to pay more for it; preferences for the "regular" plating were moderate, while the "neat" plating was least favored. Interestingly, there was a discrepancy between people's expectations of the taste of the food and their evaluations after eating it. Participants who experienced the "artistic" plating expected the salad to be delicious and found it even tastier after eating it. In contrast, evaluations declined after eating the "regular" plating, while expectations and post-meal evaluations remained the same for the neatly arranged "neat" plating.
The above excerpt is from "Crossmodal Psychology: Unlocking the Perception Code Behind Behavior, Changing Others, and Enhancing Performance in Life."
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Olfaction Perception vs. Gustation Perception
Olfaction also plays a significant role in gustation, as much of our perception of food flavor relies heavily on our sense of smell. Gustation primarily involves the perception of taste by the taste buds, which can detect five basic tastes: sour, sweet, bitter, salty, and umami. However, olfaction can perceive thousands of different smells, which directly influence how we perceive the taste of food.
There are two pathways through which olfaction detects odors: through the nasal cavity, known as orthonasal olfaction, and through the mouth and throat, known as retronasal olfaction. Orthonasal olfaction detects external odors, such as when smelling the "dry aroma and wet aroma" while tasting coffee, whereas retronasal olfaction detects odors inside the mouth, which contribute to the flavor perception of coffee.
When we pinch our nose shut, the only taste sensations we experience in our mouth are the basic tastes of sour, sweet, bitter, salty, or umami. However, releasing the pinched nose immediately reveals the full range of aromas of the food, which explains why food tastes bland when the nose is congested due to a cold. For instance, when tasting Ethiopian coffee, pinching the nose shut might accentuate the sourness and sweetness, but it may be challenging to discern whether it's the acidity of berries or citrus. Releasing the nose allows for a more nuanced experience, revealing hints of tropical fruits like passionfruit or grapes.
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In summary, auditory, visual, and olfactory cues all have significant impacts on the perception of taste. These interactions among the senses enrich and complicate the coffee tasting experience, explaining why food may be perceived as more delicious in certain environments. When tasting coffee or other foods, further exploration of these sensory interactions can deepen the enjoyment of culinary experiences. Why not conduct a unique sensory experiment with friends and family?
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