Why do People Drink Coffee

Wherever you may be in the world, you will find people looking forward to enjoying their morning pick me up cup of coffee. Coffee is so popular as a beverage that our consumption is said to account for a third of our total consumption of free tap water.

For a lot more people, especially those in desk jobs, coffee may command an even bigger share of their liquid intake.

It is the mildly stimulating effect of the caffeine in coffee that gets us going for the day. That is probably what appeals to most people about coffee and there is little doubt that the caffeine is a mildly addictive drug as well. However, there is more to the taste of coffee than that as caffeine by itself is tasteless and colorless.

There is a complexity about the taste of coffee that has given wide scope to coffee blenders, roasters and makers to turn your cup of coffee into something close to a work of art. Today you can choose from such a variety of styles, flavors and presentation of coffee that almost everyone has developed their own personally preferred brew. Our choice of our cup of coffee has become yet another way for each of us to declare our own individuality.

Just take a look at the menu in a popular Starbucks coffee shop and you will see some of the huge variety of ways coffee can be presented. Your choices have come a long way from the traditional Middle Eastern style of coffee where it all began - a hot inky-black sharp and bitter tasting sip in a small cup.

Coffee beans from all different growing conditions over the world are blended in different ways and roasted in different styles to give many varying flavors, taste sensations and even appearance to your cup of coffee. Your coffee can then be brewed in so many different ways, although the ubiquitous high-pressure espresso coffee-making machine has become a dominant presence wherever coffee is served in western countries over the last decade or so.

You can choose your coffee in varying strengths, from the traditional small and strong cup of coffee preferred by Europeans to the large mug full preferred by many Americans. And then there are the additions, most notably milk, either plain or frothed, and perhaps a shot of your preferred liqueur. The main variations in how your coffee is presented have developed a unique language all of their own: short black, long black, cappuccino, mocha, flat white, latte, and many, many more.

And we should not overlook that a vast amount of coffee is processed to be available as an instant mix in a variety of flavors, to make and drink anywhere.

A cup of coffee also an excellent excuse to pause and relax for a moment in our busy day to catch up with friends and have a chat, which has to be good for us. Ever since the foundations of that great insurance firm Lloyds, when members would meet and do business in London coffee houses, coffee has also lubricated the wheels of commerce.