Want to make your hot chocolate taste better? Pour it into an orange cup. A team of scientists (from the Polytechnic University of Valencia and the University of Oxford) recently found evidence that imbibers of the sweet drink found the flavor to be better when served in an orange or cream-colored cup.
The researchers put the same hot chocolate in four different colored cups—white, cream, red, and orange. The 57 participants included in the experiment "mentioned the chocolate was slightly sweeter and more aromatic" in orange and cream-colored cups. One researcher explained: "There is no fixed rule stating that flavor and aroma are enhanced in a cup of a certain color or shade. In reality this varies depending on the type of food, but the truth is that, as this effect occurs, more attention should be paid to the color of the container as it has more potential than one could imagine."
Other studies have also found that the color of a container can influence the perceived flavor; for example, a soda served in a blue cup "seems more thirst-quenching."
Just to make sure science is right, we'll be testing out this hot chocolate theory at Jacques Torres today.
