eli5: What is it about coffee and beer that makes people love both so much as adults but hate them as kids ?

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I am personally not a big beer lover, but I do dig some beer with good meat. However, I am an avid espresso lover. As a kid I hated both, especially coffee.

Frankly speaking, I would expect someone who first drinks either of those drinks to not really like their taste. Somehow, I still can’t do without at least 4 shots of espresso a day.

Is it a social thing ? An awareness(caffeine) thing ?

In: Biology

6 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

I’d also add that coffee is addictive. It’s kind of how cigarettes smell terrible to non-smokers and OK to smokers. You get used to something plus you physically start feeling the desire/urge for the product. 4 espressos a day sounds excessive. I mean, if you can go a week without any coffee without any discomfort, then you have no problem. But if it was a challenge then you are officially an addict.

Beer.. I don’t know if I’d say that it tastes great to most people. It really doesn’t. But it’s a cheap alcohol so adults get used to the taste. I don’t know a lot of people who drink non alcoholic beer often because it tastes good. On top of that, most adults will drink beer only to complement their food. Beer alone isn’t that tasty at all.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that there is nothing special about coffee and beer. Kids don’t eat or drink a lot of things because they taste bad, like mayo or eggplant.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Both coffee and beer are bitter drinks. We naturally dislike bitter tastes. This is an instinct we have devolped because rotten things are often very bitter as well. However because there are a lot of healthy food which is also bitter we are able to develop a taste for certain bitter foods. Essentially your primitive brain remembers the taste of the food from previously and ignores that it is bitter. But this only works if you can learn that the specific food is safe to eat.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Do adults love the taste of coffee and beer or is it more the effect? In my experience most adults view them as caffeine and alcohol delivery systems and just try to find one that tastes tolerable.

Anonymous 0 Comments

In general kids’ sense of taste is way better, especially when it comes to things that are bitter in taste. Also coffee and beer are both things that you learn to like because our brains aren’t wired to like the taste naturally.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Kids love sugar because sugar is energy, and as they are growing they need the energy. When an adult becomes fully grown, they don’t need this sugar as much anymore and begin to prefer bitter taste. Since beer and coffee are bitter, adults tend to enjoy it more than kids.

For more explanation, the episode Undercover Veggies in Alton Brown’s show Good Eats explains this further. Check it out below starting at 1:40

https://youtu.be/C67ORd9jRmE

Anonymous 0 Comments

Tannins

Tannins are a chemical component found in both beer and coffee. Specifically they are responsible for the bitter taste/flavor. Children’s taste buds are still developing and the first ones that usually power up are the bitter receptors, it’s why children typically hate bitter vegetables and favor super sweet things. There are also some people (me) who are very sensitive to tannins and even as an adult cannot stand very bitter food or beverages. For instance all wine no matter age, brand, flavor, etc, just tastes like rubbing alcohol to me.