A new study published in Nature Scientific Reports suggests that it's not the taste of the black coffee that makes you crave it. It's in your blood. (Well, technically "It's in your genes"—but that sounds weird if you say it out loud.)
The findings appear to show a link between certain genes that allow the body to process caffeine more efficiently and people who prefer black coffee to coffee with cream and/or sugar.
So if you take your coffee black, there's a good chance your great grandparents did too.
And interestingly, these are not taste-related genes we're talking about, so it seems like a "taste" preference for black coffee may be all or mostly due to our genes telling us to seek bitter substances that might contain caffeine.
It's a gene thing—they wouldn't understand.
Caffeine itself is a bitter-tasting compound. While some people are more tolerant of bitterness than others, some show a marked personal preference for the more bitter-tasting variants of things containing caffeine.
According to the new study, people who metabolize caffeine more quickly are more likely to enjoy the bitter tastes of black coffee and dark chocolate. The research was conducted by studying the differences in how different people metabolize caffeine.
The author of the study was Dr. Marilyn Cornelis, an associate professor of preventive medicine in nutrition at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
People with certain genes metabolize caffeine faster, meaning that the stimulating effects kick in faster, but they also wear off faster. And those people need to drink more coffee than other people do to feel the more uplifting effects of caffeine.
Previously, scientists were using certain genetic markers to represent coffee drinkers in general, but the new findings suggest they are stronger markers for specific types of coffee drinkers, such as black coffee drinkers.
"Our interpretation is these people equate caffeine's natural bitterness with a psycho-stimulation effect," she said in a university news release. "They learn to associate bitterness with caffeine and the boost they feel. We are seeing a learned effect. When they think of caffeine, they think of a bitter taste, so they enjoy dark coffee and, likewise, dark chocolate."
"Drinking black coffee versus coffee with cream and sugar is very different for your health," said Dr. Cornelis. "The person who wants black coffee is different from a person who wants coffee with cream and sugar. Based on our findings, the person who drinks black coffee also prefers other bitter foods like dark chocolate."
Now we can feel even more justified in our black coffee and dark chocolate consumption, because hey, it's genetic, right?
We’re so much better than everyone else.
By drinking black coffee, you're getting all the benefits that coffee—and the caffeine and antioxidants it contains—has to offer, without all the "empty calories" of coffee additives like sugar and cream. So drink your coffee black and strong, and remember that the way you take your coffee is in your blood.
(Well, it's in your genes, but those are in blood... right? They're in chromosomes, which are in cells... some of which are in the blood! The same way a speck of dust is "in the solar system." See? I was right the first time.)
