If you feel tired and lethargic without coffee than to me that is a bigger problem to solve. I find the view on coffee here so strange. If I don't drink coffee I still get up and go for a run, I can still do everything just the same. My performance at work is the same. I drink it because I enjoy the taste and that's where it ends.
> 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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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!
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.
