Economy
The Economics of Latte Art
A new study shows that people are willing to pay significantly more for those milky swirls.
Science has now confirmed what supple-wristed baristas have known all along: People are suckers for latte art. According to a new study published in the Journal of Sensory Studies, customers both expect and are willing to pay more for coffee drinks with a frothy finishing touch.
The study—whose authors include Oxford experimental psychologist Charles Spence and three-time U.K. Barista Champion Maxwell Colonna-Dashwood—consisted of a series of experiments. In the first, participants were shown photos of cappuccinos with and without milk-based art and asked to rate the likability and the expected price of the drinks. Survey respondents expected to like the embellished drink better—and also to pay 11 percent more for it.