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> I drink it because I enjoy the taste and that's where it ends. Coffee is a very bitter drink. I don't know you of course, but my guess is that what you like

> I drink it because I enjoy the taste and that's where it ends. Coffee is a very bitter drink. I don't know you of course, but my guess is that what you like more is the dopamine caffeine releases in your brain, which you've now associated with the taste. You can try and experiment with good decaf coffee to see if it is actually the taste that you like.

mirsadm 2y ago
I drink decaf in the afternoon. Otherwise I'll have an Americano with a little bit of milk at least twice a day. I'll happily drink espresso and filter coffee though. Personally I don't find well made coffee bitter at all.
BirdieNZ 2y ago
Coffee isn't inherently bitter, but overextracted coffee is bitter. If you ever have the chance to try a well-extracted specialty drip coffee I encourage you to try it, it's quite an eye-opening experience as to what black coffee can taste like!
- themadturk 2y ago
  Twenty or thirty years ago (the time flies!) the Starbucks closest to me in downtown Seattle obtained a very limited amount of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. They sold beans and brewed it for day or two before running out. It was the smoothest, most flavorful coffee I've ever had.
pipe2devnull 2y ago
Coffee isn’t all that bitter if it’s a decent cup of coffee. I love coffee but mostly drink decaf and also like 90+% dark chocolate. What makes you think people don’t like bitter things?
jameshart 2y ago
A strange sentiment. Do you think in general people can’t like ‘bitter’ flavors? Bitterness is very loosely defined in general - we know what ‘sweet’ and ‘salt’ are; bitterness is sometimes associated with some sort of acidity, but a lot of people seem to just describe things that have strong flavor but lack sweetness as ‘bitter’. Lemon, chocolate, kale, and red wine are all sometimes described as ‘bitter’ and they have virtually no common flavor compounds. It’s definitely possible to like the taste of coffee. My evidence for this is that when I drink coffee that tastes bad, I don’t like it as much.
- denton-scratch 2y ago
  Acidity causes things to taste sour, not bitter. Bitterness is associated with alkaloids (many alkaloids are poisonous, so the fact we have taste-buds for bitterness is an advantage). I experience lemons as both sweet and sour, but certainly not bitter. [Edit] Perhaps the peel is bitter; the white pulp is certainly bitter.
  - taejo 2y ago
    Some acids are bitter, e.g. in hops https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00253-021-11329-4 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00253-021-11329-4 and in bile https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-023-04971-3 https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-023-04971-3.
klyrs 2y ago
If you like coffee, dark chocolate, grapefruit, kale, arugula, etc., you might just love bitter flavors. Many people cut their coffee with milk and sugar to complement the bitterness. But then they typically enjoy the resulting flavor, too. I've known plenty of people who loved caffeine but not coffee. They drink soft drinks or take caffeine pills. Believe people when they say they like the flavor of coffee.

mirsadm 2y ago

I drink decaf in the afternoon. Otherwise I'll have an Americano with a little bit of milk at least twice a day. I'll happily drink espresso and filter coffee though. Personally I don't find well made coffee bitter at all.

BirdieNZ 2y ago

Coffee isn't inherently bitter, but overextracted coffee is bitter. If you ever have the chance to try a well-extracted specialty drip coffee I encourage you to try it, it's quite an eye-opening experience as to what black coffee can taste like!

themadturk 2y ago
Twenty or thirty years ago (the time flies!) the Starbucks closest to me in downtown Seattle obtained a very limited amount of Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee. They sold beans and brewed it for day or two before running out. It was the smoothest, most flavorful coffee I've ever had.

pipe2devnull 2y ago

Coffee isn’t all that bitter if it’s a decent cup of coffee. I love coffee but mostly drink decaf and also like 90+% dark chocolate. What makes you think people don’t like bitter things?

jameshart 2y ago

A strange sentiment. Do you think in general people can’t like ‘bitter’ flavors? Bitterness is very loosely defined in general - we know what ‘sweet’ and ‘salt’ are; bitterness is sometimes associated with some sort of acidity, but a lot of people seem to just describe things that have strong flavor but lack sweetness as ‘bitter’. Lemon, chocolate, kale, and red wine are all sometimes described as ‘bitter’ and they have virtually no common flavor compounds. It’s definitely possible to like the taste of coffee. My evidence for this is that when I drink coffee that tastes bad, I don’t like it as much.

denton-scratch 2y ago
Acidity causes things to taste sour, not bitter. Bitterness is associated with alkaloids (many alkaloids are poisonous, so the fact we have taste-buds for bitterness is an advantage). I experience lemons as both sweet and sour, but certainly not bitter. [Edit] Perhaps the peel is bitter; the white pulp is certainly bitter.
- taejo 2y ago
  Some acids are bitter, e.g. in hops https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00253-021-11329-4 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00253-021-11329-4 and in bile https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-023-04971-3 https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-023-04971-3.

klyrs 2y ago

If you like coffee, dark chocolate, grapefruit, kale, arugula, etc., you might just love bitter flavors. Many people cut their coffee with milk and sugar to complement the bitterness. But then they typically enjoy the resulting flavor, too. I've known plenty of people who loved caffeine but not coffee. They drink soft drinks or take caffeine pills. Believe people when they say they like the flavor of coffee.