Americans love their coffee. We drink 400 million cups of coffee a day. This makes the U.S. the top coffee consumer in the world.
No two coffee flavors are alike! Can your favorite coffee roast give clues about your personality? Read on to find out what your choice says about you.
Dr. Alan Hirsch of the Smell and Taste Treatment and Research Foundation in Chicago is a neurologist and psychiatrist. He argues that our food preferences are very revealing about our inner thoughts and personality.
People who like comfort foods such as bread and pasta like to stay within the rules. They feel more comfortable when they have boundaries to operate within.
A taste for salt suggests a need for instant gratification. They are competitive, reward seekers. These rather impatient personalities love a potato chip or salty nuts.
Spicy food lovers are looking for a little spice in their lives. They are thrill-seekers with a taste for adventure and it's not just sky diving that turns them on. They're probably more flirtatious than the average bland food lover.
Do these links between food preferences and personality translate to the world of coffee? Can you know someone better by checking out their coffee order?
Before you get into analyzing people's personalities, you need to know something about coffee.
Before coffee beans are roasted they are green in color. Roasting completely changes the character of the coffee bean. Both the physical and chemical properties are transformed. It's roasting that turns an unpleasant rather acidic green bean into the brown delicious flavored bean that coffee lovers crave.
Coffee beans vary in flavor according to the variety and source. The humidity, soil, and temperature of the source make a marked difference. The origin of the coffee is as critical to the flavor as the origin of the grapes are to wine.
Another important factor in determining coffee flavor is the roast. Coffee can be roasted for different amounts of time and so produce light, medium and dark roasts. Each has a distinct character.
A lighter roast means that there is less chemical change within the coffee bean. It retains more of the original character of the coffee bean. A darker roast means the bean undergoes more change and so has more roast character.
The roast character is the result of oils and sugars in the bean being brought out. Instead of the flavor of the bean itself, the longer roasted beans reveal caramelized flavors and even the taste of burnt sugar.
Whether you prefer a light, medium or dark roast may say something about you and your approach to life. Observing other coffee drinkers may give you an insight into them. You'll never order a coffee at work again without listening out for what other people are ordering.
As a light roast retains more of the original character of the coffee beans there is an opportunity to pick up subtle flavors. These subtle coffees tend to lose their distinctiveness when mixed with sugar, flavorings or cream. They are therefore better drunk unadulterated, pure and black.
A light roast coffee drinker enjoys subtlety. They are never happier than when they can savor life's pleasures, quietly, and thoughtfully. They are not brash, flamboyant or excitable.
Light roasts retain the differences between coffee beans. A light roast drinker may have preferences for a Colombian, Sumatran or Kenyan coffee and value their unique taste. The individuality may not be to everybody's taste but they know their own mind, in coffee terms and perhaps in life too.
Dark roasts can taste of chocolate, caramel, and even smoke. The strong flavors are robust and dark.
There is little in the way of the subtle citrus or floral character retained from the unroasted bean. Instead, the dark roast coffee drinker enjoys the effect of the roasting, appreciating the art of the roaster as well as the coffee bean.
The darker roasts are often enjoyed with the addition of another complementary flavor. Milk or cream acts as an enriching element and creates more possibilities for different coffee drinks such as the latte and cappuccino.
There is a wide range of syrups that blend with the more robust coffee roasts. Chocolate or caramel add a further twist and excitement. Only a dark roast has a big enough flavor to still be tasted after this much adulteration.
A dark roast drinker has to be more adventurous and willing to experiment. Stronger flavors and stronger emotions may go together. There might be little room for subtlety.
Robustness, extravagance, and extraversion are the predominant features of this coffee drinker. They may have a willingness to experiment more in coffee, relationships, and life.
A medium roast is a meeting of two worlds. The subtle flavors of the coffee bean are melded with the light caramelization of roasting. There's none of the burnt characteristics of the dark roasts and rarely any chocolate notes.
A discerning coffee drinker can detect citrus or floral flavors if present because they are not overpowered by roasting. The medium roast is a compromise between the light and dark roast. This compromise may also be reflected in the personalities of the medium roast drinker.
The medium roast drinker combines an interest in the sophisticated flavors of lightly roasted beans with an appreciation of the balance created by caramelization. Their appreciation of different perspectives may make them easy-going. They may be likable and comfortable with a range of different people.
Rather than being bland and middle of the road they are alive to the possibilities of different world views. They are appreciative of all that life has to offer.
Does your coffee order match with these character traits? If not, perhaps you should try ordering a different coffee. You might find that you like it.
Alternatively, stick to your coffee roast but try on a different personality. Sometimes your behavior is a habit rather than a true reflection of your real self. Behave differently and you might feel different and you might even like yourself more.
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