Integrating a Real-Life Experience with Consumer Evaluation: Sensory Acceptance and Willingness to Pay for Coffee Drinks in a Real Café

Abstract Consumer experiments in real-life environments that capture consumer responses in context and link them to consumers' daily habits are valuable for reflecting multi-faceted decision environments, reducing consumer cognitive burden, and other empirical biases. The objective of this study was to investigate and link consumers’ sensory acceptance and willingness to pay (WTP) in a real-life study situation by taking the example of oat and pea protein milk. A total of 144 German consumers were recruited in a café in a middle-sized town in Germany. Under blind conditions, consumers were asked to indicate their hedonic liking, willingness to pay a premium for cappuccino prepared with plant-based milk, and their adaptability and motivation for integrating the plant-based milk alternatives into their daily diet. The sensory evaluation of this study showed good acceptance of cappuccino prepared with oat milk and pea protein milk; high acceptance was reflected in reasonable and realistic WTP estimates.