Consumers’ Preferences for Coffee Consumption: A Choice Experiment Integrated with Tasting and Chemical Analyses

This study proposes an innovative approach for analysing consumer preferences for coffee by integrating a choice experiment with a guided tasting and chemical analysis. Firstly, two types of coffee were chosen from the mass market retailers with different sensorial profiles (100% Arabica, and Arabica and Robusta blends); subsequently, a guided tasting has been included to analyse the role of the sensory descriptors. An optimal design for the choice experiment was planned in order to achieve the joint purpose of the efficient estimation of the attributes, and the assessment of the information obtained from the guided tasting. The same choice experiment was administered twice, e.g. before and after the guided tasting. Random Utility Models were applied for better evaluating the consumers’ behaviour.