Context effect of environmental setting and product information in acceptability testing of tea and cola: A study comparing sensory engagement in a traditional sensory booth and a study commons

摘要

Sensory evaluation of food relies heavily on the eating context. The objective of this study was to determine how the context effect, created from differences in environmental setting and product information, affects consumer's acceptability of two types of beverages. Participants of this study rated five ready-to-drink tea products and five diet cola products on a 9-point hedonic scale. Environmental setting differences were created by altering testing locations, and product information differences were created by serving the same samples with or without product name and image. Self-reported sensory engagement was measured in each location. Tea samples showed significantly higher appearance liking ratings in the sensory booth location as well as higher flavor liking ratings when product information was provided. Cola samples did not show a significant effect of testing location but did show a significant product information by sample interaction, where well-established brands received higher ratings when product information was provided. Overall, results were product-specific; testing location does not appear to have a large influence on hedonic scores for certain beverages, and the impact of product information varies largely depending on the product type and brand. The laboratory sensory booth setting provided higher panelist engagement overall. Additional research on the combination of external context and meal, sample, or social context is needed to fully explore the effect of eating context in sensory tests.