What Your Coffee Choice Says About You

As coffee lovers, we all have our own coffee preference (for the author, it’s an oat-milk magic) – it’s the one we drink every day in the mornings, at brunch, after a meal… or the one we order, almost without thinking, when we’re on a date in a coffee bar.

When you come to think about it, that particular type of coffee you love is a part of who you are, and it defines you, to some extent. In this week’s post, you’ll learn how the type of coffee we like to drink relates to certain aspects of our personality.

Dogs or Cats, Coffee or Tea

Before diving into our preferences on coffee, let’s discuss tea lovers. In the same way that most of us are either a dog person or a cat person, with few saying that they REALLY love both, you’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who commits to drinking both coffee and tea every single day. But, have you ever wondered why that is?

Well, according to Irish philosopher David Berman, it’s because there’s a fundamental difference between the essences of coffee and tea that is reflected in the personality of tea drinkers and coffee drinkers. Coffee is identified by one single compound, caffeol. Without it, our brew would be unrecognizable as coffee. On the other hand, there’s no single substance that defines tea, it’s all about how different compounds complement each other. According to Berman, coffee reflects the “Western tendency to draw boundaries between the body and spirit” whereas tea recalls the Eastern concept of all beings being interconnected.

In other words, liking coffee or liking tea may well be a consequence of looking at life in different ways.

The Genetics Behind Our Perception of Coffee’s Taste

When we narrow it down to coffee alone, scientific evidence suggests that our different coffee drinking habits may well be founded on our genes. A study published in Scientific Reports last November conducted on over 400 thousand coffee, tea and alcohol drinkers, proves that coffee consumption is related to how sensitive our taste buds are to bitter-tasting caffeine. Surprisingly, the more we are genetically prone to perceiving caffeine, the more we like to drink coffee, even though we evolved to avoid bitter foods.

So, what does all this have to do with lattes and macchiato?

What science is telling us is that there is a reason why we like some things better than others, and that the same reason may also define how we think, how we behave and ultimately who we are. If you’re the kind of person who always orders an espresso, even if it’s late in the afternoon, that says something about you. Clinical psychologist Dr. Ramani Durvasula set out to find exactly what, and we’ll let you in on the gist of what she uncovered:

-Black coffee and espresso drinkers tend to be straightforward, abrupt, dismissive and perhaps a little stubborn.

-Latte drinkers seem to find joy in helping others more than they do in taking care of themselves.

–Cappuccino lovers, or, in general, those who like really foamy coffee drinks, show a higher tendency to be detail-oriented, controlling and slightly neurotic.

-The ones that like sweet coffee drinks the most are usually childish and enjoy getting a lot of attention, pretty much like overgrown kids.

-Those who like instant coffee… we’ll leave those to your imagination.

The bottom line is that it appears our personality does, in fact, determine what type of coffee we prefer. Try to remember what type of coffee your ex liked the most or see for yourself if latte, espresso or cappuccino drinkers have something in common. Keeping all this in mind could help you find your soul mate, or perhaps not, but it’ll sure make for some interesting conversation with your friends at NOC’s coffee shops.