What’s More Important, The Cup or The Coffee?
I was at a graduation a couple of months ago and the president of the university used a story that really hit home with me, something happened today to remind me again of the story so I thought I’d share…
Here’s the story:
A professor calls an early study group for his students, when they all get there he offers them coffee to get the morning started. He lays out a series of cups (all different kinds), some very nice and others pretty ugly.
As the students start going to get coffee, they grab a cup and make their way to the coffee.
What the professor noticed right away was that each student was choosing the nicest glass currently available at their time of selection. The last student even seemed a bit dissapointed to be “stuck” drinking from the simple styrofoam cup.
As the students sipped their coffees, the professor asked them WHY they had chosen the best cup available even the coffee was exactly the same for everyone.
None of the students could answer the question, as a matter of fact, they seemed to get confused themselves!
They hadn’t “conciously” looked for the nicest cup, it was innately built into them!
The point of the story is that we should all take a step back and think about what it is that we’re REALLY going after (the coffee) and not waste time worrying about the other things around it that are just helping you get there (the cup).
Afterall, in the end, the coffee is the same, right?
Popularity: 4% [?]
Tags: goals
July 29th, 2008 at 1:25 am
Too bad that the premise of this old yarn is completely false.
Cups do matter when it comes to coffee. As the Espresso Italiano Tasting (http://www.assaggiatoricaffe.org/en/books) manual puts it…
The design of the cup affects:
* the appearance of the coffee and thus our appreciation of its creamy head (or crema),
* our olfactive appreciation by dispersing or concentrating the aroma,
* the taste because of its contact with our lips,
* the sensation of heat, and
* the quantity of coffee allowed into the mouth.
There’s a reason quality restaurants present their food on warmed china instead of paper plates. If drinking vessels truly didn’t matter, we’d all be sipping fine wines out of disposable plastic beer cups. And if I’m shelling out $2 a cup for beans that cost less than $2 per pound as greens, you had better believe I expect to be treated as if I’m at something other than a three-year-old’s birthday party.
And scientific research is on the side of this argument. The Journal of Consumer Research published results from a study that asked, “Does coffee in a flimsy cup taste worse than coffee in a more substantial cup?” (http://www.redorbit.com/news/science/1299662/study_touch_does_affect_flavor/index.html). The answer to that question was “yes”.
In a series of four experiments, the researchers discovered that people’s judgments of a drink’s taste and quality were influenced by the container in which it was served. The firmness of the cup was apparently a big indicator of quality and a better perceived taste.
So it’s a cute yarn and all, but it’s completely founded on a bogus premise.
[Reply]
July 30th, 2008 at 12:28 am
Tedl,
I can definitely see your point too. Perception does lead to a better experience in many cases as you say with your “restaurants making things look nice.”
In my business we follow the same rule, everything looks great – I guess what I’m saying is that in the end it should NOT be that way. If you think about it completely logically, the contents ARE really the same.
The Fighter
[Reply]
August 4th, 2008 at 12:36 am
It’s not just about the perception, or fooling customers into thinking they’re getting something better than they are because the presentation looks great.
It’s about the experience.
See, when we enjoy the experience of something — when we get jacked up emotionally, and really appreciate or feel extreme gratitude for what we’ve got (even if it’s a simple cup of coffee) we are better able to manifest the life we want.
Why? Simple… it’s not about thoughts (“thoughts become things”, “think and grow rich”, “the power of positive thinking” etc)… the strong manifesting ingredient is the emotion (gratitude, joy, and love are among the strongest).
So if we are grateful for the wonderful coffee in the beautiful cup, if it makes us happy, if we love the experience of treating ourselves to something pleasurable that we deserve, we’ll have powerful manifesting emotions working for us. Whatever we’re thinking or doing at the time is enhanced by that amazing experience (and the more we focus on loving it, the better).
BUT… if we’re let down because of a crappy styrofoam cup, our emotions will be negative, focused on what we don’t want, and we’ll manifest more of what we don’t want.
The skilled manifestor will appreciate the coffee no matter what vessel it comes in (although styrofoam does taint the taste too)… but for most people, the TOOL of having a nice cup to drink from (like a fancy martini glass, which makes us feel prosperous, rather than just drinking vodka from a plastic cup, which makes us feel like trailer park trash) really does make a huge difference to the experience.
cheers
Heather Vale
“The Unwrapper”
[Reply]