Why Do We Love Coffee So Much?
Coffee is a global phenomenon, do you realise we drink over a billion cups of this tasty drink around the world every day? Yes that is billion in a day! We can’t get enough of this innocent little drink, yet why do we love it so much, let’s look at the top reasons.
Caffeine - This is probably the main thing that comes to mind when you think of coffee, the injection of energy that it gives you. Yet not everyone loves caffeine and about 10% of the coffee consumed is decaffeinated, I got off the caffeine rollercoaster years ago so I fall into that camp too.
Caffeine is a stimulant which is why people crave it so much, when we wake up in the morning and we have to drag ourselves out of our warm bed and into the cold of the morning to get to work? then it is nice to jumpstart our senses with a cup of coffee. Then the caffeine enters our system and squashes our tiredness and makes us more alert, it also raises our dopamine levels like an amphetamine, which makes you feel good (until it wears off).
What most people don’t realise though, is that caffeine is actually classed as a psychoactive drug and you can get addicted to it. This is especially true because after the initial ‘high’ where you have more energy and you feel good, then after an hour or so (longer if people are not used to it) then you will ‘crash’ and start to feel worse than before you had a cup. The only solution to that is then to have another cup to pick yourself up, and the cycle begins again.
Taste - We have access to all sorts of fizzy and sweet drinks in our daily lives, but coffee is an altogether different taste sensation. Coffee is more of a savoury taste than a sweet taste, and the fact it is warm is a great comfort on a cold winter evening.
Social reasons - Coffee is so popular that almost everywhere you go you’ll be offered a cup, it is part of the social side of our lives, we all get together round a good brew and have a chat. Plus you can get it almost anywhere now so you never have to struggle to get a cup.
Temperature - Coffee is strange because it is served hot, I mean apart from tea then there is very little else that you can really enjoy hot, apart from hot chocolate which is not something you can drink all day. There is something comforting about sitting down with a hot drink, and you are even more grateful for it on a cold day!
There is no doubt that the world is in the grip of coffeemania, and these are the reasons why. I think that as time progresses then we’ll only grow to love this drink more, and now I’m off to get a cup of coffee?
If you like coffee then I bet you love espresso too, but you need a quality machine if you want to make a good espresso, something like the Delonghi EMK6 would be a great choice.
