I am thinking this has got to purely pyschological, but then again?
I used to be a big coffee drinker, but now I’ve got my caffeine fix down to two cups of coffee in the morning when I wake up.
But I noticed when I wake up the first cup of coffee is REALLY good, my second cup isn’t so good. Why? I use the exact same coffee, Equal and half and half.
So I am thinking it must be a psychological thing right? But could there be another reason? Like your taste receptors are fresh from a nights sleep without any other influence?
I’m thinking it’s a little bit psychological (Yeay, I get to have COFFEE!), and a bit purely physical, since your body finally gets to have caffeine after a whole night of none.
Some medo-type will come in soon and thrash us for our opinions.
In my case it IS better, because it’s a little fresher and a little stronger (because I poured it before the drip cycle was finished) and hasn’t sat on the warmer plate getting all of the goodness burned up. But YMMV.
It’s better because it’s fresh. Somehow, we got in the habit of finishing off yesterday’s pot before starting today’s pot. The first cup from today’s pot is (duh!) much better. Sometimes, though, we brew today’s pot but don’t get to it as soon as it’s done. If it’s been done a while, that first cup isn’t as noticeably good as when it’s just finished brewing.
I guess I’m going to have to go against the grain here and say that for me, the second cup is actually better. I can’t defend it and I can offer no conclusive explanation why it is so but that’s the way it is. My best guess is that by the time my second cup rolls around and I’ve finished the LIVING section of my newspaper and I’ve moved on to the headlines my brain is more alert, focused and less like some creature from a George Romero zombie movie.
What I find striking is the level of (apparent) caffeine jolt I get from the very first sip. Seriously, if I’m groggy, one sip of brewed coffee makes me feel almost halfway to alertness. It has to be a placebo effect; that one sip doesn’t have that much caffeine, and I suspect my body can’t even process that little bit so quickly.
I know there are coffee experts here who can give you exact details of the chemistry but that first cup is good because it hasn’t broken down yet. The longer it sits the more it will break down. For example, buy some really cheap coffee and make half a pot. Drink the first cup right away. Come back for the second and you’ll find it has turned into battery acid. It takes no longer than 15-20 minutes for this to happen.
If you’re using a drip maker and leaving it on the burner you might be burning the coffee. I’ve found I can usually drink around 1/2 a pot before it starts tasting burnt and chalky but I drink rather quick.
I’ve recently started pouring the coffee into a carafe instead of leaving it on the burner. That seems to improve the longevity.
Sometimes on the weekend, when I’m away from my office coffee pot, I get a headache that will last all day if I don’t go to 7-Eleven and get a cup of fresh brewed coffee, pronto.
Instant coffee Will. Not. Do.
So is that a sign of physical addiction, or is it all in my head?
It’s not psychological - for me, at least - because I always brew just one cup at a time. But, the first cup in the morning is absolute heaven - a second cup doesn’t ever come close & tastes very different. Same goes for a cup in the afternoon. And, it makes me crazy that I can only get the great taste once a day!
It’s a real addiction, albeit a mild one. I gave up caffeine two months ago and had strong cravings, a headache for a week, and a mouthful of ulcers for two weeks. But it was worth it: my chronic insomnia problems have all but evaporated.
I agree about instant: that’s not coffee, in my book - it’s some kind of soup.
