Why is coffee such a popular drink among scientists?

[ehrenfest]

Recently, I have noticed that essentially everyone I know regularly drinks coffee. I have never drank coffee and I just find this an interesting historical trend. A lot of the people I know seem to drink in the fashion of Paul Erdos's famous quote: "A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems" but the trend seems to be just as popular outside of the mathematics community as well. I guess one obvious reason people drink it is that it helps keep you awake in the morning or late at night. However, just eating breakfast usually wakes me up in the morning and if I want to stay up late to finish an assignment or something I usually just push myself through it. Furthermore, I have always disliked the taste of plain coffee. Of course, the Starbucks renditions taste amazing with their overwhelm-the-drinker-with-sugar taste.

Anyone have any insights into this?

 

[G01]

I, personally, am absolutely addicted to the stuff. I usually have at least one cup in the morning and possible one after dinner, maybe more if the events of the day prescribe it!

Today, I have already had two cups, with another one tempting me! I love coffee. That is why I drink it. I like the taste and it helps wake me up in the morning. I think that's all there is too it. People like the drink, so they drink it.

 

[Mororvia]

To answer the thread topic question, no I don't drink coffee. Its mostly because I don't like the taste. Some sort of coffee/chocolate combo drink is nice occasionally though.

I almost think that coffee is an addiction problem for many people... especially those who say, "I can't function in the morning without my coffee!" and then giggle like its no big deal.

 

[BobG]

My name is BobG and I'm a coffee addict.

There's ways to quit, but they all carry the potential to destroy civilization as we know it: http://www.energyfiend.com/wp-content/dil.gif

 

[elephantorz]

Nope, don't drink it, only decaf because I like it with milk now and then.

Caffeine isn't good for me, I get shaky :D.

 

[makethings]

I stopped drinking coffee 8 months ago after I realized that it was acting as a laxative for me.

 

[waht]

Once in a while I might gulp a cup of coffee. Everyone I know is addicted, and they give me trouble for not joining their club.

 

[Moonbear]

Yep, definitely an addict here. I've always liked coffee since the first time I tasted it, though. I've known people who really don't like it and pour in the sugar and milk to make it palatable just so they can get the caffeine...that I don't quite understand. Even stranger is my boyfriend who drinks nothing caffeinated and somehow manages to still function on only about 5 hours of sleep at night...I keep looking for where the battery door is.

 

[Doc Al]

I've known people who really don't like it and pour in the sugar and milk to make it palatable just so they can get the caffeine...that I don't quite understand.

Pure and black is the only true path! While I've switched to green tea at the office, I more than make up for it on the weekends.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

I've pretty much had a cup of coffee in my hand since I was twelve years old.

 

[Moonbear]

Pure and black is the only true path! While I've switched to green tea at the office, I more than make up for it on the weekends.

Well, I do like a little milk and sugar, but mostly that's because it's difficult to get really good coffee around here. I LOVE a really good cup of espresso, though, if it's made right (if you have to do it as a "shot" or add milk and sugar, it's not made right).

 

[Moonbear]

I've pretty much had a cup of coffee in my hand since I was twelve years old.

Hmm...it might be a bit cold by now. Maybe it's time to get a fresh cup.

 

[turbo]

I've pretty much had a cup of coffee in my hand since I was twelve years old.

Victim of a superglue prank?

 

[turbo]

Every morning I fire up the Espresso-maker and I load grounds to the maximum and fill with enough water to make 4 (demitasse) cups. Into my big National Zoological Park mug if goes - strong, hot and black. Usually, I have just one cup, but I'm feeling pretty crappy today after being exposed to some perfume yesterday, so I'm having a second mug now as a pick-me-up.

 

[G01]

Personally, I like my cup(or gigantic mug if we're being realistic) with a medium amount of cream. Not enough to make the coffee a tan color, only enough to make it brownish. I also hate sugar in coffee. I think the mix between sweet and bitter just doesn't work. I like coffee more when it is just bitter. It's a drink that's meant to be bitter, and that's the way i drink it!

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I drink coffee for the taste. Used to work at a coffee house and drink variations of it all day long. Currently having a night cap of espresso and irish cream. mmmm

 

[mattmns]

I have never had coffee, not even a sip, and don't plan on ever trying it.

 

[robphy]

http://www.javacabana.com/images/products/display_bustelo.jpg
...sometimes with sugar.

 

[nabki]

i don't drink coffee, although i am addicted to tea made with a high sugar ppm, yebra-matte and occasionally a cup of nescafe (gold).
there is a type of coffee, iconic in Arab countries that makes you go _as terry pratchett puts it_ knurd (opposite of drunk). people who drink that stuff in mugs don't have the physical ability to go to sleep. it actually turns solid when it cools.

 

[Mk]

A mathematician is a machine for turning coffee into theorems

There's a joke among hackers identical to that, but with nicotine. Not sure why.

I personally, hate coffee.

 

[Dr Transport]

A cup of Starbucks everyday, if not a pot of some other variety. Also, none after lunch, I get too jittery.

 

[Moonbear]

http://www.javacabana.com/images/products/display_bustelo.jpg
...sometimes with sugar.

Ooh, I like that brand for making real espresso. Can't drink that too late in the day though, or I'll be up all night! (Great when I have to stay up late working on something though...like trying to beat a deadline where I just don't have a choice about getting to sleep early and continuing the work the next day.)

 

[scorpa]

I really like coffee but usually go with tea instead. There is a starbucks inside the hospital where I go to school and it is entirely to tempting, and way to expensive. I see my friends go there everyday (spending at about 5 bucks on a silly coffee) and then complain how they have no money. I find starbucks coffee much to sweet as well, to much other stuff in it, although once in a while it is a nice treat. On the opposite end of the spectrum the hospital cafeteria coffee is pretty bad hence the reason I usually just have tea.

 

[moe darklight]

The only time of the day you will find me not drinking coffee is between sips.

 

[Moonbear]

The only time of the day you will find me not drinking coffee is between sips.

LOL! Now I'm craving an espresso, but it's WAY too late at night to drink it.

 

[Cyrus]

I don't drink coffee, but I've been buying a lot of mochachino's from smoothie king. I usually get caffeine from soda.

 

[robphy]

Starbucks tastes burnt to me. I have to load it up with sugar (and wait for it to cool down) to get it down.

 

[Evo]

Starbucks tastes burnt to me. I have to load it up with sugar (and wait for it to cool down) to get it down.

Starbucks tastes like their coffee is filtered through a dirty ashtray. Nasty stuff.

The best coffee I have ever had was the guy in DC and he made it in an old aluminum coffee pot on the stove. Fabulous. Of course spending so much time in remote jungles around the world I guess he got really good at making coffee out of a similar pot over a fire between time spent sucking spiders up a rubber hose.

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

Starbucks tastes burnt to me. I have to load it up with sugar (and wait for it to cool down) to get it down.

Starbucks tastes like their coffee is filtered through a dirty ashtray. Nasty stuff.

Starbucks double roasts all of their beans because this supposedly brings out the flavour. It results in all of their coffee having that same nasty ashtray taste as french roast whether its a dark roast or not. I don't like starbucks.

 

[G01]

Starbucks is crap, and ridiculously overpriced. I would take a 50 cent cup of coffee at the local diner over starbucks any day.

 

[d1ff30m0rf1zm]

Coffee with no milk or sugar for me. I don't know about its effects on my performance -- coffee or no coffee, I'm procrastinating. =D

 

[Moonbear]

Yeah, I don't like Starbucks either. If I have to resort to getting coffee there, I get a latte, because the coffee is diluted with enough milk that you don't notice the burnt taste.

The best coffee I ever had was in a little hole in the wall Middle Eastern restaurant. If you stopped in late in the evening, the owner of the place would make you a little pot of Turkish coffee (never charged for it, he just liked having his coffee and chatting with anyone who would put up with him I think)...you could practically stand up a spoon in it it was so thick, but it was SO smooth. But, you had to beware that if you accepted his offer, you'd be at the restaurant chatting with him until 3 AM (not that it mattered, since you'd be wide awake that late from drinking that coffee anyway). He'd then tell you your fortune from the sludge left behind in the cup when you were done. :rofl: It was a fun way to spend an evening if you had nothing else better to do.

 

[Integral]

I've pretty much had a cup of coffee in my hand since I was twelve years old.

That's what that is! I always thought you just had a deformed hand. :rofl:

 

[Integral]

Yeah, I don't like Starbucks either. If I have to resort to getting coffee there, I get a latte, because the coffee is diluted with enough milk that you don't notice the burnt taste.

The best coffee I ever had was in a little hole in the wall Middle Eastern restaurant. If you stopped in late in the evening, the owner of the place would make you a little pot of Turkish coffee (never charged for it, he just liked having his coffee and chatting with anyone who would put up with him I think)...you could practically stand up a spoon in it it was so thick, but it was SO smooth. But, you had to beware that if you accepted his offer, you'd be at the restaurant chatting with him until 3 AM (not that it mattered, since you'd be wide awake that late from drinking that coffee anyway). He'd then tell you your fortune from the sludge left behind in the cup when you were done. :rofl: It was a fun way to spend an evening if you had nothing else better to do.

This falls into one of those missed opportunity story's for me. I was barely 20, and just barely drinking coffee, and in the Navy. Where were we?? I can't really remember, somewhere Greece I think. I was on Shore Patrol and had been assigned to rove with a local Police officer, he spoke English as much as I spoke Greek, so there wasn't much conversation, but he did stop into a local coffee shop. Of course being a dumb American I didn't even try the Espresso offered but did have a cup of American coffee, that is instant Sanka :yuck:

In retrospect I sure wish I had tried the local stuff.

 

[motornoob101]

Can't stand the taste of coffee. It takes so bitter, how can you guys take it without sugar and milk?

A little can of pop contains almost as much as caffeine as a cup of coffee. (Well is a bit less, but I top it off with 1 or 2 caffeine pills) so everytime I am having a pop, I am taking about 200-300 mg of caffeine. Kept me going..

But.. then you become too caffeine tolerant. I remember the days during the exam where I can sleep normal with like 400-500 mg of caffeine inside me. Not fun. Hence I don't drink coffee during the summer, to kill the caffeine habit so when september comes around, I will be ready with some new caffeine effects.