Coffee is popular worldwide and consumption is increasing, particularly in non-traditional markets. There is evidence that coffee consumption may have beneficial health effects. Consumers’ beliefs in the health benefits of coffee are unclear. The study aimed at analyzing consumers’ perceptions of coffee health benefits, consumption and purchasing motives of coffee consumers with positive perceptions of coffee health benefits, and willingness to pay for coffee with associated health claims. Data were collected through a face-to-face survey with consumers, resulting in a convenience sample of 250 questionnaires valid for data elaboration. Results were elaborated with factor analysis and logistic regression analysis. Findings revealed that a relevant minority of consumers believed that coffee could have positive health effects. The consumer with a positive perception of coffee health benefits is mostly male, young, works, is familiar with non-espresso-based coffee, consumes a limited amount of coffee (generally not for breakfast and often in social settings), and buys coffee at retail outlets. Consumers drink coffee for its energetic and therapeutic effects. Coffee consumption is still price-driven, but consumers are interested in purchasing coffee with associated health claims. There is the opportunity to improve the perception of coffee health benefits in consumers’ minds.

Purpose: Food companies and consumers are increasingly interested in healthy food and beverages. Coffee is one of the most commonly consumed beverages worldwide. There is increasing consensus that coffee consumption can have beneficial effects on human body. This paper aims at exploring Twitter messages' content and sentiment towards health attributes of coffee.Design/methodology/approach: The research adopted a utilitarian and hedonic consumer behaviour perspective to analyse online community messages. A sample of 13,000 tweets, from around 4,800 users, that mentions keywords coffee and health was collected on a daily basis for a month in mid-2017. The tweets were categorized with a term frequency analysis, keyword-in-context analysis and sentiment analysis.Findings: Results showed that the majority of tweets are neutral or slightly positive towards coffee’s effects on health. Media and consumers are dynamic Twitter users. Findings support that coffee consumption brings favourable emotions, wellness, energy, positive state of mind and an enjoyable and trendy lifestyle. Many tweets have a positive perception of coffee health benefits, especially relating to mental and physical well-being.Research limitations/implications: The high number of users and tweets analysed compensates the limited amount of time of data collection, Twitter messages' restricted number of characters and quantitative software analysis limitations.Practical implications: The research provides valuable suggestions for food and beverage industry managers.Originality/value: This work adds value to the literature by expanding scholars' research on food product attributes perception analysis by using social media as a source of information. Moreover, it provides valuable information on marketable coffee attributes.

Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages worldwide. Over the last decades coffee has become a specialty product. Drinking a coffee beverage entails several mixed factors, such as pleasure, experience, lifestyle, and social status. It can also provide an emotional pick-up, both mentally and physically. Only a few studies have explored the motives and emotions of coffee consumption and not consumption. There is limited understanding of consumers’ emotional approach towards coffee, and what influences a positive and negative inclination towards coffee consumption. This research fills the current research gaps by addressing three main questions: (i) What are the emotions and habits of coffee consumption? (ii) What are the motives of coffee consumption and non-consumption? and (iii) How relevant is the coffee health impact perception of consuming or not consuming coffee? The research activities include 467 face-to-face interviews with consumers. Interviews are performed in two different countries, Italy and Portugal. Data elaboration includes a principal component analysis carried out to identify latent factors on motives and emotions of consumption in both national groups, and to explore the relationship between the main emotions and consumers’ habits and socio-economic characteristics. Results support that consumers have positive emotions from coffee consumption. Perceived emotions are energy, satisfaction, and pleasure. Non-consumption is mainly driven by taste and fear of coffee’s health impacts. There are limited differences in the countries analysed. Socio-economic characteristics limitedly influence perceived emotions and consumption motives. To conclude, consumers are increasingly interested in new coffee products. Understanding the functional and emotional factors of coffee consumption contributes to supporting new coffee product development and commercialisation.