So I realize that (in North America at least, and probably Europe), coffee is the possibly the most popular breakfast drink. The questions here is why?
Personally, I can’t stand the stuff. The only reason I drink it is because I’m on the graveyard shift at work and the coffee machine is free. Even then, I make mine a lot closer to café-au-lait than coffee. With lots of sugar. Otherwise it tastes like tar to me.
So who likes coffee? What about it do you like so much (or dislike)? Why did you start drinking it, or why do you avoid it like the plague?
I started drinking coffee in college. Partly to be sociable, and partly to stay awake. Never drink it black. I like strong coffee, but not flavored coffee. With milk and Sweet and Low (or other substitute sweeteners like Splenda). I love the café-au-lait in New Orleans and European cities.
I started drinking coffee when my uncle and I began taking cross-country highway trips at night. No matter where you go, there is always coffee (at least in the U.S.). It was an acquired taste, but I thought it would be a good idea to acquire that taste for convenience. Now I like it.
I never learned to drink or like the stuff, either. Tastes like someone burned the kettle and then then poured water in and out again. It does smell good, though. And waking up goes fine without it.
I agree with you completely about the taste. OTOH, I dislike the smell too. It was great fun living with my parents, as fresh, aromatic pots of coffee were ubiquitous in that house. :rolleyes"
I love the stuff, and I drink it all the time (well, not quite). I like it black, but I also like it other forms. My roomate and I recently got an espresso machine, and I can’t believe I’ve lived so long without one.
For the record, I didn’t always like it. In fact, I hardly drank a cup before college. Since then, though it’s really grown on me.
Extra Credit: Place this coffee quote:
“Black as midnight, hot as Hell, and sweet as a lover’s kiss.”
I absolutely and totally love the taste. I first tried it when I was about six years old. My mother had a friend who was an artist and we’d go to her place to visit; they’d drink coffee, and they’d give me a cup with a dash of coffee and lots of milk and sugar. They called it “pink coffee.”
But I loved that coffee flavor. I still do; it’s not the stimulant effect that has me hooked. In fact, I rarely if ever feel jazzed up after drinking coffee (should point out that I sometimes go a week or more without coffee with no ill effects). I just immediately loved that taste the first time I tried it.
I’ve been drinking two or three cups a day since I was about 14 (that’s 17 years ago), and I still get immense pleasure from it. What a wonderful beverage.
Just want to point out there is a world of taste difference between your common ‘cup of ass’ that you most likely get from your work, street vendors, and the like and preimum coffees.
If you have a Dunkin Donuts near you I suggest trying a cup there and taste what coffee is suppose to taste like.
I never liked the stuff very much. I’ll drink it occasionally to be sociable, but I find it generally gives me loads of gas and makes my mouth dry for hours, so I end up chugging water anyway.
When I was little (4 or 5), the grown-ups were always drinking it and I wanted to try, 'got the slightly diluted version.
Going to grandmas in Virginia was a favorite because the house had a certain smell, fresh coffee, cigarettes, baked bread and grease. It may not sound pleasant but it was.
As I got older I’d drink it once a week. By the time I was 19, it was a pot a day at minimum.
Many years later…I usually drink it black, occasionally with cream and sugar if the pot was too strong.
The why of drinking coffee? Habit. The caffenine affects me only in that if I don’t have it I get headaches and very cranky. But that will pass in about a day. I can drink coffee 24 hours a day, it doesn’t keep me awake but it helps me wake up (a little).
I like a strong, full bodied coffee, don’t care for the flavored crap (or creamers).
Would love a neapolitan espresso. Something in the water made it the best espresso in Europe. (My theory is sulphur in the water.)
The best coffee with cream and sugar was in the Netherlands. I imagine the coffee it’s self was average but the cream was amazing. Too bad Europe doesn’t grasp the concept of free refills.
I never learned to like the stuff - nor did any of my sibs, which is strange considering my parents always drank coffee. Same with my husband - his folks like it, but none of their sons do.
When I was stationed in Sicily, I had cappucino a few times and espresso once - it was OK, but not something I’d go out of my way to get. I’ve tried regular coffee with variations of cream and sugar - I just don’t like the flavor. I’m nearly 50 and I don’t expect I’ll develop a taste for it now.
Always loved the coffee fragrance growing up.
Been drinking it since high school, for taste as well as the ‘kick,’ been drinking it regularly since I joined the working world in my 20’s (two decades ago.) Bit of milk, no sugar.
After visiting Europe as a young adult, got my first espresso maker and ever since then have cappucino every morning.
Can’t drink coffee at night though.
When i was small my parents used to have coffee and chocolate after dinner. I wanted the chocolate, but my mum said i could only have the chocolate if i had the coffee too! I didn’t like it at first, but forced it down so that i could have the chocolate. As i grew older i actually started liking it.
I tend it have it fairly strong, with lots of milk, almost like a cafe latte. Sometimes i might have a black expresso though.
I guess i like good coffee because of the strong rich smooth taste, and the stimulant effect.
Ah, coffee…the blissful nectar of blackest midnight, the essence of night captured and purified into a burning liquid of dark desire, staving off sleep to let one linger in the loving embrace of the dark enshrouded world. Oh, how I love thy deep roasted essence as it graces my tongue, dancing its way deeper in to my soul, caressing my spirit with the gentle touch of a long-time lover…
…ok, really, I’m not that pretentious. Honest. Promise! But since my username is an anagram for Worshipper Of Espresso Gods, I suppose it could go without saying that I love coffee. Straight coffee, black as it can be, no cream, no sugar, is how I usually take it, though I do like a cappuccino now and then (the real stuff, not the powdered variety).
I don’t know why I love coffee so much…I just always have.
I love coffee. Cream, no sugar, please. Preferably with freshly ground beans from a local coffee shop. As long as it ain’t that swill Char, er, Starbucks passes for coffee.
If I’m at home, I still take it with cream and no sugar. I’m partial to Illy, Trader Joes and some of the beans they sell at Whole Foods. Freshly ground, of course.
