A multi-country citizen-science study on what makes us enjoy a cup of coffee
Many coffee preferences are known, but studies that comprehensively integrate simultaneous contributions to coffee enjoyment are lacking. An online citizen-science questionnaire designed to identify those factors associated with momentary coffee liking, surveying demographics, extrinsic/intrinsic qualities, and coffee-related habits, is presented (N = 2987; 5 continents; 7 languages; 11 countries; 77 nationalities). The results indicate a higher liking for coffee consumed black, during spring, in the morning, on Wednesdays, and from ceramic cups. Higher-priced coffee is appreciated significantly more, and liking-consumption quantity appears best-optimised at 4-5 cups/day. Several key characteristics for coffee-dislike are evident: waking-up late, drinking from a cup with a lid on, at noon during autumn, with cream, and, potentially implying a possible coping mechanism for bitterness-disliking, adding sugar to coffee. These results constitute the first multi-country cross-context integration of momentary coffee liking and provide an empirical foundation for context-sensitive models linking sensory/behavioural/temporal factors in beverage preference research.
Authors
- George Van Doorn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7311-7099)
- Fabiana M. Carvalho
- Kosuke Motoki (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7803-2713)
- Ana‐Maria Andrei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3914-4576)
- Georgiana Juravle
- Valentina Goglio (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6341-4815)
- Delia Elena Diaconaşu
- Simone Schmidt
- Felipe Reinoso-Carvalho
- Charles Spence
- Ceyhun Uçuk
- Simon D’Alfonso
Institutions
- Ştefan cel Mare University of Suceava (RO)
- Alexandru Ioan Cuza University (RO)
- Federation University (AU)
- Universidad de Los Andes (CO)
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) (BR)
- Keio University (JP)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- İstanbul Gelişim Üniversitesi (TR)
- University of Turin (IT)
- Gaziantep University (TR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Science of Food
- Published
- 2026-04-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41538-026-00832-5
- Primary Topic
- Coffee research and impacts
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00