Food Research International 89 (2016) 997–1003

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Food Research International

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foodres

Consumers' preference for the origin and quality attributes associated

with production of specialty coffees: Results from a cross-cultural study
Wilmer S. Sepúlveda a,⁎, Louiza Chekmam b, María T. Maza b, Nelson O. Mancilla a
a
Universidad Libre, Seccional Socorro, Campus Majavita, El Socorro, Santander, Colombia
b
University of Zaragoza, c/ Miguel Servet 177, 50013 Zaragoza, Spain

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Specialty coffee is one of high quality coffees which have grown faster these past years. As a possible consequence
Received 17 November 2015 of this fast growth, it is still difficult to understand the dynamic of this coffee segment with respect to its different
Received in revised form 11 March 2016 definitions, market trends and its impact on producers' and consumers' decisions. As a main objective of this
Accepted 29 March 2016
work, Spanish and Colombian consumers' preferences toward the origin and some specialty coffee attributes
Available online 7 April 2016
such as: Fair Trade, sustainable, organic, and gourmet were studied. It was used a choice experiment method
Keywords:
as a quantitative technique to carry out this study. It has been found that Spanish and Colombian consumers
Fair Trade are ethical consumers; they highly value Fair Trade coffee. However, Spanish consumers prefer organic coffee
Sustainable than Rainforest certified coffee in comparison with Colombian consumers. In both countries, the consumer pref-
Organic erence for Colombian origin coffee was recorded.
Gourmet © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Rainforest
Colombian coffee

1. Introduction
Coffee is the leader in the hot drinks industry in terms of value, and
this dominance is expected to continue (Mejia Rincón, 2013). According
to the World Coffee Organization (ICO, 2014), the world coffee con-
sumption increased at an average annual growth rate of 1.9% over the
last 50 years. Robusta (Coffea canephora) and Arabica (Coffea arabica),
are the two main varieties of coffee traded internationally. Robusta is
a resistant variety, less susceptible to diseases, with a higher content
of caffeine and lower quality than Arabica. It is used in different forms
as soluble coffee, or a base for blends with Arabica coffee, and in the
new trend of espresso preparations to produce the crema on top of
the beverage (Rueda & Lambin, 2013). On the other hand, washed Arab-
ica coffee is of highest quality, milder, and rich in flavors and aromas. For
the crop year 2012/13, close to 38% of the coffee traded internationally
was Robusta, while 62% was Arabica (ICO, 2013). Arabica coffee is
more appreciated than Robusta coffee by consumers (Maietta, 2005).
Colombia, Ethiopia, Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, and Peru make up
most of the trade in mild, washed Arabica coffee (Rueda & Lambin,
2013). In the late 1990s, coffee bean prices started to decline and by
2002 they were on average more than 60% lower than in 1997.
Among consequences of the price collapse, there has been a large drop
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: webwilsep@gmail.com (W.S. Sepúlveda), mazama@unizar.es
(M.T. Maza).
in export revenue for several developing countries and the impoverish-
ment of many coffee farmers (Durevall, 2005).
In order to find solutions for this situation, the industry has experi-
enced a process of product differentiation beyond the two traditional
varieties. One of the lines in which the coffee industry has focused on
a global level is specialty coffees. New ways of consuming coffee that
focus on quality, differentiation and value-adding coffee characteristics
have created a specialty coffee market segment that has grown dramat-
ically since its formative years in the 1980s (Roseberry, 1996). Specialty
coffee has moved from a niche to an industry (Kwast, 2010).
The specialty coffees involve a number of components and produc-
tion systems aimed to produce high quality coffee that is optimal for
the international markets (SCAA, 2015; Roseberry, 1996). It is still
very difficult to define exactly the term “specialty coffee”. Definitions
are different from consumers to professionals and within the same seg-
ment also. There are many definitions of specialty coffees and we will
summarize three official ones developed by the Specialty Coffee Associ-
ation of America (SCAA), Specialty Coffee Association of Europe (SCAE)
and the Colombian Coffee Growers Federation (CCGF). In general, defi-
nitions of specialty coffees include two aspects that make them special.
On one side, the extrinsic aspects linked to production systems, and on
the other hand, the intrinsic aspects of the product such as taste. Within
production systems, primary level, specialty coffees refer to sustainable
coffees. These include the certified coffees (organic, FLOCert, Utz,
Rainforest, etc.) aimed to balance the social, economic and environmen-
tal aspects involved in coffee production, in order to guarantee the

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2016.03.039
0963-9969/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
998 W.S. Sepúlveda et al. / Food Research International 89 (2016) 997–1003
future of the people and communities that grow coffee (Bacon, 2005).
According to the International Trade Center, certified coffee beans
make up more than 8% of all the green coffee exported worldwide.
Consumer demand for product attributes that suit their tastes and
social priorities have driven growth in product differentiation across
the food industry. This trend drove the growth in the specialty coffee
market (Kwast, 2010). In this sense, from the point of view of the con-
sumer, coffee is considered specialty when it is perceived and valued
by consumers for a set of unique characteristics that differentiate it
from other conventional coffees (CBI, 2014). Therefore, any effort to
highlight the quality of coffee to consumers and generate differentiation
either via the product certification, or by the intrinsic quality of coffee,
or both, will only have a positive effect if consumers value them as
such and are willing to pay a premium price for these attributes in spe-
cialty coffees.
For specialty coffee, there exists literature about quality attributes
that generate the greatest impact on the willingness to pay of con-
sumers for them. Several studies (e.g., Donnet, Weatherspoon, &
Hoehn, 2007; Teuber & Herrmann, 2012; De Pelsmacker, Driesen, &
Rayp, 2005; Cranfield, Henson, Northey, & Masakure, 2010) found that
issues such as coffee rating in tasting events, the ranking obtained dur-
ing specialty coffee fairs, country of origin, variety, altitude, and sustain-
ability labels are aspects that influence positively on the willingness to
pay for specialty coffees. The majority of studies about specialty coffees
from the point of view of consumers were carried out in North America
and in the European Union (Arnot, Boxall, & Cash, 2006; Doherty, Smith,
& Parke, in press; Cicia, Corduas, Del Giudice, & Piccolo, 2010; Figueroa &
Meneses, 2013; De Pelsmacker et al., 2005; Loureiro & Lotade, 2005;
Cranfield et al., 2010; Langen, 2011). However, the literature related
to specialty coffee from the point of view of consumers in developing
countries is limited. Within these studies there are highlighted studies
conducted in Mexico (Aragón-Gutiérrez, Montero-Simó, Araque-
Padilla, & Gutiérrez-Gutiérrez, 2013), China (Yang, Hu, Mupandawana,
& Liu, 2012), Brazil (Fonseca da Silva, Rodrigues Minim, & Moreira
Ribeiro, 2005; Macchione & Spers, 2006), Korea (Monirul & Hui Han,
2012) and India (Krishnakumar & Chan-Halbrendt, 2010). In addition,
unlike some studies such as those carried out by Galarraga and
Markandya (2004) and Cranfield et al. (2010), most of the reported
studies about consumers' preferences for different aspects of quality
for specialty coffees, dealt with a limited set of attributes; most of
them focused on ethical certification.
In this sense, the aim of the present cross-cultural study conducted
in a developed country and one developing country, was to analyze
the differentiating effect that can be generated for consumers, by vari-
ous attributes of specialty coffee associated with production systems
and origin.
2. Material and methods
2.1. Data collection and sample description
In order to collect the data a choice experiment was developed in
which consumers participated from two countries: Colombia and
Spain. Colombia is one of the largest producers of coffee and specialty
coffees in the world. In Colombia, specialty coffee value added com-
prises 36% of Colombia's total exports (Lopez, Gilbert, & Pinzon, 2014).
This condition led to the development of the study in a country where
the culture around coffee and specialty coffee is highly relevant
(Cataño, 2012). Also, in the case of Colombia, the study helps to contrib-
ute to the little literature on the Global South on ethical production from
the point of view of consumers (Doherty et al., in press). For its part,
Spain is a representative country of the European Union and it is
renowned for its consumption of coffee.
Bucaramanga (Colombia) and Zaragoza (Spain), were the two cities
where the information related to consumers used in this study was col-
lected. These medium size cities are representative of the corresponding
country. They are commonly used for the development of market re-
search (Camarena, Sanjuan, & Philippidis, 2011; García-Díaz &
Sepúlveda, 2012). Likewise, Bucaramanga is located in the northeastern
part of Colombia, a region where there is a lot of special coffee
initiatives.
The criteria for inclusion of participants in the choice experiment
were: people who drink coffee, who have some responsibility for buying
food in their households and who buy roasted coffee to be prepared at
home in the traditional way. Therefore, from an initial total sample of
708 interviewees (400 in Colombia and 308 in Spain) asked on coffee
consumption habits, only 383 consumers (230 consumers resident in
Colombia and 153 resident in Spain) participated in the choice experi-
ment for fitting the inclusion criteria previously explained. In both
countries, the same survey and choice experiment with the same attri-
butes and attribute levels were applied to consumers. Although Spanish
is the native language in both countries, some modifications of expres-
sions were made to the survey and the choice experiment adapted to
each country while maintaining the same meaning of expressions.
Data collection took place during 2014.
The sample used for the implementation of the initial 708 surveys on
coffee consumption habits was simple random type, carried out in var-
ious high turnout places such as commercial streets, parks, shopping
malls and universities. All interviewees were informed about the pur-
pose of the study and the extreme confidentiality of information that
could reveal the identity of persons. In Table 1, the socio-demographic
characteristics of the samples corresponding to consumers who partic-
ipated in the survey related to coffee consumption habits were present-
ed. By comparing the respondents' socio-demographic information
with the corresponding population data in each city where the study
was conducted, it can be seen that the samples are representative of
the population in terms of gender. Finally, participants in the choice ex-
periment, that is, those who were fitting with the inclusion criteria, re-
ceived an incentive consisting of a roasted and ground coffee packet for
their participation in the study. We opted for the roasted coffee because
it continued to be the dominant form of consumed coffee, representing
77.4% of the total consumption compared to 22.6% for soluble coffee
(ICO, 2012). Besides, it was opted in the study for the roasted coffee, be-
cause are the ways in which small producers can differentiate their pro-
duction easily. In terms of location of coffee consumption, coffee is
mostly consumed at home (ICO, 2012).
2.2. Theory/calculation
Goods are made up of attributes and the total utility gained from a
product or service is the sum of the individual utilities provided by
the attributes of that good (Gravelle & Rees, 1992). The choice exper-
iment simulation is a technique that has been most used in recent
years in agro-food to analyze the utilities that can be generated for
consumers and various product attributes (Chen, Anders, & An,
2013; Resano, Sanjuán, & Albisu, 2012). Choice experiment is a sim-
ulation of a real situation of purchase through the presentation of
several products while respondents were asked to make repeated
choices between different consumption bundles that include differ-
ent attributes.
The model assumes that the utility (U) generated for the attri-
butes (X) and the attribute levels of an alternative of election (j),
for a person (i), within a set of alternatives of choice (j), have two
components. One observed (Vij) which includes the factors consid-
ered by the researcher, it is a linear combination (B′Xij) of the explan-
atory variables (Xj ), and another component (εij ), which was
supposed to be random and reflect the particularities of each person
and the errors of observation; thus:
Uij = Vij + εij; where j ∈ J/J is the finite set which includes k possible
election alternatives.
Within a framework of mutually exclusive alternative choices, peo-
ple will choose the products to be more in line with their preferences
 W.S. Sepúlveda et al. / Food Research International 89 (2016) 997–1003 999

Table 1
Socio-demographic characteristics of the sample.

Sample — Spain Sample — Colombia

Percentage Percentage
Variable Variable
Sample Populationa Sample Populationb

Gender Gender
Men 50.0 48.7 Men 46.0 46.2
Women 50.0 51.3 Women 54.0 53.8
Study level Study level
Without studies/primary studies 8.1 24.2 Basic/primary 16.9 32.7
Compulsory secondary school 10.1 26.4 Secondary 27.7 35.4
Secondary school certificate and course/vocational training 31.5 34.6 Technician/technological 28.6 14.0
University 50.3 14.8 Superior 26.8 17.8
Age Age
≤20 years 18.5 6.1 ≤20 years 23.9 13.0
21–30 years 12.7 13.6 21–30 years 29.9 24.6
31–45 years 24.6 28.7 31–45 years 19.6 29.8
46–60 years 22.1 23.5 46–60 years 14.8 19.2
≥60 years 22.1 28.1 ≥60 years 11.8 13.4
Household income/per month Household income/per month
Less than € 900 9 n.a. Less than COPc 1,000,000 (€ 276.5) 38.4 n.a.
Between € 901 and € 1800 35.4 Between COP 1,000,001 (€ 276.5) and COP 1,500,000 (€ 414.7) 28.6
Between € 1801 and € 3000 41.5 Between COP 1,500,001 (€ 414.7) and COP 2,500,000 (€ 691) 14.6
More than € 3000 13.6 More than COP 2,500,000 (€ 691) 18.4

Note: n.a. = information not available.

a
Estimations from the Aragon Institute of Statistics (IAEST).
b
Estimations from the Administrative Department of Statistics and Census (DANE) and Ministry of National Education (MINEDUCACION).
c
COP 3617 = € 1.

(Abebe, Bijman, Kemp, Omta, & Tsegaye, 2013). Therefore, one person included in the study were Colombia, Mexico, Guatemala and Brazil.
selects the alternative j with respect to any other alternative k, According to the results reported by Teuber and Herrmann (2012)
and Cranfield et al. (2010), coffees originating from Guatemala, Brazil
if : U ij NU ik;∀ j≠k : and Colombia are the most valued by consumers. Also, Brazil and
Colombia are the two biggest producing and exporting countries of cof-
Because utilities include a random component, the probability that a fee with quality labels, especially Fair Trade and Rainforest Alliance la-
person i chooses alternative k, would be given by: bels. For its part, the origin Mexico was included in the study as the
  largest producer of organic coffee globally (Potts et al., 2014). Inclusive
j
prices for the production of profiles obey real prices for a pound of
Probi ¼ Prob V ij þ εik NV ik þ εik ; ∀k≠j:
k roasted and ground coffee available in the Colombian market and real
prices for 250 g for the Spanish market. Table 2 shows the attributes
Under this assumption, to model the probability, a commonly condi- and the attribute levels considered in the study and included in the
tional logit model is used (McFadden, 2001): respective coding models.
With predefined attributes, they were the cards to be presented to
eB0X ij the participants of the experiment. To reduce the number of hypothet-
Probi; j ð jÞ ¼ :
Σk∈ j eB0X ik ical products (profiles) to present to consumers, it conducted an orthog-
onal design using the SPSS software, resulting in a total of 16 profiles.
Finally, the estimated parameters B indicate the utility generated for These 16 profiles were calculated for the first hypothetical product (pro-
consumers by the attribute or the level attribute associated with each B. file A) of each card. (Profile B) To set the profiles in each of the 16 cards,
According to the proposed objective, the choice experiment was
used to test the hypothesis that the attributes (X) associated with the Table 2
production of specialty coffees such as: coffee type, Rainforest certifica- Attributes and attribute levels included in the models.
tion, certified organic, Fair Trade certification and origin, have a signifi- Attribute Levels (Spain) Levels (Colombia)
cant effect on consumers' utilities (U). The coffee type refers to gourmet
Coffee type 0 = ordinary coffee 0 = ordinary coffee
coffee against the current coffee, this in order to highlight a coffee with
1 = gourmet coffee 1 = gourmet coffee
outstanding organoleptic properties. This attribute was included taking Rainforest shade 0 = without Rainforest label 0 = without Rainforest label
into account the results obtained by Donnet et al. (2007). On the other grown 1 = with Rainforest label 1 = with Rainforest label
hand, the Rainforest, organic and Fair Trade certifications were included Ethical production 0 = without Fair Trade label 0 = without Fair Trade label
in the study, because they are initiatives of specialty coffee that can pro- 1 = with Fair Trade label 1 = with Fair Trade label
Organic 0 = without organic 0 = without organic
vide opportunities for small farmers (Bacon, 2005), while at the same production production label production label
time are quality labels in coffee that are the most used in the Global 1 = with organic production 1 = with organic production
North (Loureiro & Lotade, 2005; Potts et al., 2014). label label
The Rainforest label guarantees that the coffee is grown on farms Country of origin Colombia Colombia
Mexico Mexico
where forests, rivers, soils and wildlife are protected and workers are
Guatemala Guatemala
treated in ethical conditions (Rainforest Alliance). Fair Trade is a label Brazil Brazil
that guarantees that the products have been produced under ethical Price 2.15 = 2.15 8 = COP 8000
economic, social and environmental conditions. For its part, the organic 3.23 = 3.23 12 = COP 12,000
label certifies that coffee is mainly produced without using chemicals 4.30 = 4.30 16 = COP 16,000
5.37 = 5.37 20 = COP 20,000
that can be potentially harmful to the environment. The origins of coffee
1000 W.S. Sepúlveda et al. / Food Research International 89 (2016) 997–1003
Fig. 1. Example task.
strategy 5 proposed by Street, Burgess, and Louviere (2005) was used. In
Fig. 1 it was presented as an example of the cards displayed to con-
sumers in the choice experiment.
Furthermore, to add more realism to the experiment and not force
the interviewee in his choice, a third choice alternative, which is none
of the two previous alternatives, was proposed. Hence, each individual
in the sample (n = 1, …, 153 y n = 1, …,230) faced t choice tasks
(t = 1, …, 16). In each choice situation, they faced three alternatives:
two alternatives with different combinations of level attributes, consid-
ered as two separate products, and the third alternative identified as the
non-choice. According to the previous statement, the specification of
the model is presented as the following (McFadden, 2001):
eV ij
Probi; j ð jÞ ¼
Σk∈ j eV ij
where;
Vi(A,B) = None + β1*Gourmet + β2*RA.shade.grown + β3.Fair
Trade + β4*Organic + β5.Colombia + β6.Mexico + β7.Brazil +
β8.Guatemala + β9.Price
where:
- None = non choice is the constant of the model, take value 1 when
the option C is selected and 0 when option A or B is selected
- Gourmet takes the value 0 if it's ordinary coffee and 1 when it is
gourmet
- RA shade grown takes 0 if it doesn't have the label Rainforest Alli-
ance and 1 when it has the label Rainforest Alliance
- Fair Trade takes 0 if it doesn't have the label Fair Trade and 1 when it
has the label Fair Trade
- Organic takes 0 when it doesn't have the organic label (convention-
al) and 1 when it has the organic label
- Colombia takes value 1 when the origin is from Colombia and 0 if the
origin is different
- Mexico takes value 1 when the origin is from Mexico and 0 if the or-
igin is different
- Guatemala takes value 1 when the origin is from Guatemala and 0 if
the origin is different
- Brazil takes value 1 when the origin is from Brazil and 0 if the origin
is different
- Price is a continuous variable.
The value of α captures the effect given by the option “None”, which
means it captures the effect generated by the attribute levels not includ-
ed in each choice set (Gracia, López, & Virué, 2011). The estimation of
the model parameters was performed by the Sawtooth Software Market
Research Tools. To analyze and adjust the model, the chi square and the
index RHL (root likelihood) of the model were used when all the effects
are equal to zero. For its part, the RLH is a measure of fit, where a value
close to 1 indicates a good fit of the model. To analyze the significance of
the estimated parameters the t-ratio for each estimated parameter is
taken into account.
3. Results
Table 3 shows the results of the choice experiment. The signs of the
parameters indicate the direction in which the utility of consumers ori-
ented as the independent variable associated with the parameter in-
creases. T corresponding to the ratio value indicates whether each
estimated parameter of the two models is statistically different from
zero and therefore has a significant effect on consumers' utilities.
Both in Colombia and Spain, the results indicate that the gourmet
coffee versus ordinary has a positive and significant effect on con-
sumers' utilities which increases the probability that the coffee will be
purchased (see Table 3). Likewise, the presence of the three quality la-
bels in coffee, Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance and organic, has a positive
and significant effect on consumers' utilities. In both countries, the Fair
Trade label is one that has a greater effect on consumers' willingness
to pay, which increases the likelihood of purchasing a specialty coffee.
However, while in Spain the second most valued quality label is organic,
in Colombia it is the Rainforest Alliance label which is in the second
position. Finally, within the quality labels less valued it is the Rainforest
Alliance in Spain and organic in Colombia.
Regarding the country of origin of coffee, both in Spain and in
Colombia, the Colombian origin is the only source that has a positive
and significant effect on consumers, resulting in greater probability of
purchasing coffee from Colombia. At the other extreme, it was recorded
that Mexican origin has a negative effect on both Colombian and Span-
ish consumers' utilities. However, while in Spain the origins Guatemala
and Brazil do not have a significant effect on consumers utilities, in
Colombia these two origins and Mexican origin too, have a negative
and significant effect on consumers' utilities. In line with economic the-
ory, in both models, the price has a negative and significant effect on
consumers' utilities. Therefore, as the price of coffee increases the likeli-
hood of purchasing a specialty coffee is decreased. The negative value of
the constant (None) indicates that a person gets more utility if he selects
option A or B facing the possibility of not selecting either.
4. Discussion
This study analyzed what the differentiating effect can mean to con-
sumers and various attributes associated with specialty coffee produc-
tion systems in two countries: Spain and Colombia. While the former
is a country belonging to the European Union, one of the leading im-
porters of specialty coffee economic blocs, the second is a major produc-
er and exporter of specialty coffees (Potts et al., 2014). Among the many
attributes that can make a special coffee, we chose in this study the anal-
ysis of gourmet coffee, quality labels such as Fair Trade, organic and
Rainforest and origin.
The results indicate that gourmet coffee in front of ordinary coffee, is
an attribute that has a positive impact on consumers' utilities, although
the gourmet coffee has usually higher prices than ordinary coffee
(Carlson, 2010). These results appear to be consistent with the recent
 W.S. Sepúlveda et al. / Food Research International 89 (2016) 997–1003 1001

Table 3
Results of the models.

Variable Result model — Spain Result model — Colombia t ratio

(intra-groups)
Effect Std err t ratio Effect Std err t ratio

Gourmet 0.14 0.03 4.33 0.15 0.02 6.14 −0.28

RA shade grown 0.19 0.03 6.07 0.22 0.02 9.94 −0.83
Fair Trade 0.48 0.03 14.98 0.25 0.02 10.40 6.38
Organic 0.41 0.03 11.97 0.19 0.02 8.73 6.10
Colombia 0.22 0.06 3.66 1.29 0.05 26.25 −13.70
Mexico −0.30 0.07 −4.54 −0.59 0.04 −13.53 3.60
Guatemala 0.02 0.06 −0.25 −0.45 0.05 −9.86 6.02
Brazil 0.07 0.06 1.02 −0.24 0.05 −4.88 3.97
Price −0.92 0.04 −23.26 −0.06 0.01 −10.27 −20.86
None −0.78 0.06 −13.04 −0.51 0.04 −12.24 −3.74
Model adjustment Log likelihood = −1835.17 Log likelihood = −3362.27
measures Chi square = 1708.48 Chi square = 1361.24

trend. For example, in the United States in recent years it has seen a
growing demand for gourmet coffee drinks (Murray, 2014). This could
be due to the importance that generally represents for people to have
coffee with a good taste, flavor and aroma (SCAA, 2012). In fact, con-
sumers tend to associate a specialty coffee with the intrinsic character-
istics of the product (SCAA, 2012). Aromatic quality, fruitiness, acidity,
body and bitterness are some desirable sensory characteristics of coffee
by consumers (Bertrand et al., 2012). Besides the variety and cultivation
level, the temperature conditioned in coffee producing countries by the
height above sea level where the crops are grown, plays an important
role in the sensory quality of coffee (Bertrand et al., 2012). Bertrand
et al. (2012) pointed out, that the ambient temperature during the peri-
od in which the seeds of Arabica coffee are developed is negatively relat-
ed to the sensory profile of coffee. Therefore, as the cultivation height
above the sea increases, temperature decreases which positively affects
the development of desirable aromatic compounds in coffee. Donnet
et al. (2007) found that coffee beans from Arabica crops grown at
heights above 1600 m above sea level, tend to get a better quality sen-
sory profile. Therefore, there is a strong relationship between a gourmet
coffee represented by a better sensory profile and the height at which
the Arabica coffee is grown. The gourmet attribute has a significant ef-
fect on both Spanish and Colombian consumers.
There is a growing trend in the demand for ethical attributes in food
by consumers (Langen, 2011). Ethical attributes deal with various di-
mensions. For example, while some forms of ethical attributes are
linked to the environment (environmentally friendly production sys-
tems, animal welfare) others benefit individuals (e.g., products free
from child labor, Fair Trade products) (De Pelsmacker et al., 2005). As
such, credence attributes and the use of quality labels plays an impor-
tant role (Sepúlveda, Maza, & Mantecón, 2013). This study addressed
the analysis of three quality labels commonly used in specialty coffee
linked to ethical attributes: Fair Trade, organic and Rainforest. Within
these, Fair Trade has a greater positive effect on Spanish and
Colombian consumers' preferences. Several studies (De Pelsmacker et
al., 2005; Cranfield et al., 2010) have suggested that the Fair Trade
label is highly valued by consumers of coffee more than the Eco and
Bio-labels. The results reported by Yang et al. (2012) and those obtained
in the present study in the case of Colombia are going in the same direc-
tion, suggesting in all, a demand for the Fair Trade quality label in devel-
oping countries.
The organic quality label is the second most valued by the Spanish
followed by the Rainforest label. However, in Colombia the opposite
was found, Colombians tend to value the Rainforest than the organic
label. According to results obtained by Cranfield et al. (2010) and Basu
and Hicks (2008), in developed countries, the second quality label of
specialty coffees most valued by consumers is organic, so that the re-
sults obtained in this study for Spain are consistent with previous re-
sults reported by other authors. In the case of Colombia, this higher
valuation could be because it is common to find on the coffee packaging
sold in the country, without openly supporting the use of a quality label.
They use allusive statements such as, organic coffee, “100% organic”,
“100% natural”, “organic”, among others. These statements on the pack-
aging of coffee without using quality labels have a significant effect on
consumer preference (Della Lucia, Minim, Silva, & Minim, 2007).
When considering the organic label as a specialty coffee implicit attri-
bute, it could lead to this attribute being less valued than shade grown
production. In Colombia, attribute statements in roasted and ground
coffee which refer to agro-forestry quality (shade grown) are less
employed than those associated with organic coffee. There are areas in
Colombia where weather conditions force the establishment of agro for-
estry cultivation of Arabica coffee. In these areas, the Rainforest certifi-
cation has an innate potential. However, this potential seems to not to
be in line with the preferences of consumers in the domestic market
and less on foreign markets. This situation can cause producers to be
forced to process more than quality label to align production with con-
sumer preferences.
With respect to the origin, coffee from Colombia is the most valued
by Spanish and Colombian consumers. These results are consistent
with those obtained by Cranfield et al. (2010). However, Donnet et al.
(2007) and Teuber and Herrmann (2012) found that considering
Brazil as a reference source, Guatemala was rated as the best quality cof-
fee origin than coffee from Colombia subsequently obtaining higher
prices. This could be explained that studies conducted by Donnet et al.
(2007) and Teuber and Herrmann (2012) were based on the Cup of Ex-
cellence auctions where those conducted by Cranfield et al. (2010) were
based on direct investigation with consumers. So apparently, the origin
Colombia is valued positively by consumers in general, though, it is pos-
sible that in other countries such as Guatemala they can get coffee of
highest quality. The particularly high effect of Colombian origin in the
Colombian market, suggests high ethnocentrism of Colombians about
their coffee. The origin attribute on consumers tends to be greater in
the same country or region of origin (Grunert & Aachmann, 2016), re-
sults that are consistent with those obtained in the present work. Ac-
cording to Potts et al. (2014), Colombia is the country that produces
the biggest global amount of coffee with Fair Trade (FLO) certification.
In this sense, the bi-labeled coffee with Colombian origin and Fair
Trade certification can be an advantage for coffee growers in Colombia
to sell coffee beans both in the domestic and exterior markets.
5. Conclusions
This study of cross-cultural type carried out in Spain and Colombia,
assessed consumer preferences for various attributes of specialty coffees
linked to primary production and origin. For this, a choice experiment
was carried out using as attributes: gourmet coffee type, Fair Trade
label, Rainforest label, organic label, origin (Colombia, Mexico, Brazil
and Guatemala) and price. Gourmet coffee has a significant effect on
consumers' utilities. Therefore, for farmers located in areas of low
1002 W.S. Sepúlveda et al. / Food Research International 89 (2016) 997–1003
mountains it is a challenge finding differentiation via intrinsic quality
grain. This situation can worsen if coffee is grown under the shade of
the trees, since this condition can limit the formation of desirable senso-
ry attributes of coffee beans (Bosselmann et al., 2009). In addition, it was
found that the three certification labels have a positive and significant
effect on consumers' utilities. Nevertheless, the results of the study
show that in both countries where the study was conducted, Fair
Trade certification is enjoying greater preference for consumers. There-
fore, the results provide a light to guide the way to where the certifica-
tion processes of the coffee crop in Colombia should be focused,
enabling greater interconnection between production and consumer
preferences. On the other hand, in coffee producing regions in
Colombia where there is a greater willingness to use the Rainforest
and organic labels such as a differentiation strategy of production facing
consumers, an evaluation or reevaluation of the commercial use of such
labels, might be interesting in order to improve access to markets by
small producers. On the other hand, within the country of origin of cof-
fee, coffee from Colombia exerts the greatest positive and significant ef-
fect on the consumers' utilities in both countries.
One of the study's limitations, the type of the used sampling. This not
having been done by some form of multiple proportional allocation ac-
cording to sociodemographic characteristics, made the sample not en-
tirely representative of the population. Also, although in both
countries a representative city of each of them was taken into account,
a study covering more cities in each country might be interesting to clar-
ify the obtained results. Finally, future research that addresses the rela-
tionship or not between socio-demographic variables and the formation
of consumer preferences for various attributes of quality and origin,
could contribute with important information that will help further in
making decisions around the marketing of high quality coffee from
small producers.
Acknowledgments
This study was developed from the research project entitled
“Analysis of high quality attributes associated with coffee production:
a perspective from consumers”, funded by Universidad Libre Seccional
Socorro (Colombia), Grant: PIDI-01060101.
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