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. 2021 Mar 18:12:586983.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2021.586983. eCollection 2021.

Virtual Terroir and the Premium Coffee Experience

Francisco Barbosa Escobar  1   2 , Olivia Petit  3 , Carlos Velasco  2
Affiliations

Virtual Terroir and the Premium Coffee Experience

Francisco Barbosa Escobar et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

With its origin-centric value proposition, the specialty coffee industry seeks to educate consumers about the value of the origin of coffee and how the relationship with farmers ensures quality and makes coffee a premium product. While the industry has widely used stories and visual cues to communicate this added value, research studying whether and how these efforts influence consumers' experiences is scarce. Through three experiments, we explored the effect of images that evoke the terroir of coffee on the perception of premiumness. Our results revealed that online images that resembled the broad origin of coffee (i.e., a farm) could influence premiumness expectations of coffee (Experiment 1). Similarly, a virtual reality environment that depicted this broad origin (vs. a control but not a city atmosphere) could enhance the perception of coffee premiumness for non-expert consumers (Experiment 2) and the enjoyment of the experience for coffee professionals (Experiment 3). Importantly, we found that congruence between the coffee and the virtual reality (VR) atmospheres mediated how much non-experts enjoyed the experience (Experiment 2). VR atmospheres also influenced expectations of sweetness and acidity for non-experts (Experiment 2). These findings serve as a steppingstone for further exploration of the effects of congruence between visual cues and product/brand attributes on premiumness expectations and perception, and more generally on consumer experience. From a practical standpoint, this study provides insights into key aspects for the development of immersive virtual product experiences.

Keywords: atmospheres; coffee; consumer experience; origin; premiumness; terroir; virtual reality.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Example of stimuli used in Experiment 1. The factors broad origin, specific origin, and label take the values of farm, from origin, and label, respectively.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mean fit ratings between visual cues and coffees in Experiment 1. Ratings of fit on a 1–5 scale. Error bars: 95% CI.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Mean ratings of (A) fit and (B) premiumness in Experiment 1. Ratings of fit and premiumness on a 1–5 scale. Error bars: 95% CI.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Panel (A) presents the instruments used in Experiment 2: Oculus GO virtual reality (VR) headset and sample coffee bag. The remaining panels show partial snapshots of the VR atmospheres used in Experiments 2 and 3: (B) farm, (C) city, and (D) control.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Mean ratings of (A) familiarity with the coffee, (B) sense of presence, (C) coffee-virtual reality (VR) atmosphere fit, (D) enjoyment of the experience, (E) premiumness, (F) intent to purchase, (G) acidity, and (H) sweetness for Experiment 2. Ratings of (A–C,E) on a 1–5 scale. Error bars: 95% CI. Significantly different comparisons: ***p <0.01.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Instruments used in Experiment 3: Oculus GO virtual reality (VR) headset and brewed coffee.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Mean evaluations of (A) familiarity with the coffee, (B) sense of presence, (C) coffee-VR atmosphere fit, (D) enjoyment of the experience, (E) premiumness, and (F) intent to purchase for Experiment 3. Ratings of (A–C,E) on a 1–5 scale. Error bars: 95% CI. Significantly different comparisons: ***p <0.01.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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