Abstract Product sensory information, an external cue, could greatly influence consumer enjoyment of hedonic products like coffee. The question is what type of sensory information, subjective (e.g., aroma, flavor and body) or objective (e.g., origin, varieties and production practices), has a higher impact on consumer product experience accounting for heterogeneous taste sensitivity. We examine this question using a between-subject experiment where participants were either given subjective, objective or no sensory information of a specialty coffee. Participants were classified as either supertasters or other tasters using the 6-n-propylthiouracil (PROP) paper strip. The results indicate that, compared to objective sensory information and no information, subjective sensory information results in a higher taste rating and a higher preference level for the coffee. More importantly, subjective information positively influences PROP supertasters’ purchase likelihood for coffee, without necessarily affecting their bitterness perception of the coffee tasted.

中文翻译：

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味觉敏感度重要吗？咖啡感官品尝信息和口味敏感性对消费者偏好的影响

摘要 产品感官信息是一种外部线索，可以极大地影响消费者对咖啡等享乐产品的享受。问题是哪种类型的感官信息，主观（例如，香气、风味和身体）或客观（例如，原产地、品种和生产实践）对消费者产品体验具有更大的影响，以应对异质味觉敏感性。我们使用受试者之间的实验来检查这个问题，其中参与者被给予主观、客观或没有精品咖啡的感官信息。使用 6-n-丙基硫氧嘧啶 (PROP) 纸条将参与者分类为超级品尝者或其他品尝者。结果表明，与客观感官信息和无信息相比，主观感官信息导致更高的口味等级和对咖啡的更高偏好水平。更重要的是，主观信息对 PROP 超级品尝者购买咖啡的可能性产生积极影响，但不一定影响他们对所品尝咖啡的苦味感知。