
Ask HN: Why do we drink coffee? - jiux
This morning an interesting shower-thought came to mind...why do we drink coffee?<p>Caffeine is the first thing I think of when I hear the word &quot;coffee&quot;. Is that why we tend to drink it though? Let&#x27;s create a thought experiment:<p>Product: average cup of coffee<p>Cup size: 8oz<p>Caffeine amount: ~95mg<p>Price: ~$2.50 USD<p>For fun, let&#x27;s now double our cup size to be around 16oz, rough the caffeine amount to be ~200mg, and call it the average coffee drinker&#x27;s cup size in the morning. These numbers are a rough estimate. Focus on what we are after here, not the average coffee drinker cup size per se.<p>If our sole purpose of drinking coffee were for ingesting caffeine, we are not being as efficient as we could be. Caffeine tablets are on the market. Here is what I found at my local grocery store:<p>Product: box of caffeine tablets - 40 count<p>Caffeine amount per tablet: 200mg<p>Total price: $8.29 USD<p>Price per tablet: $0.21 USD<p>If our sole goal here is caffeine intake, we just now found an alternative for caffeine ingestion for $0.21 USD per 200mg of caffeine, or one tablet in this case. Now we are being more efficient.<p>Now think of all of your typical morning interactions where you and others may be drinking coffee and replace that mental visual with all of you ingesting caffeine tablets instead. That picture does not look right to me. It would be and feel weird, would it not?<p>So why do we really drink coffee? Is it more than just for caffeine? It is for social acceptance? Is it a preconditioned cognitive response? Is it something else entirely?<p>What do you think?
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aguyfromnb
$2.50 for a cup of coffee? Only if you're paying for the "convenience" of
take-out like Starbucks.

I buy locally roasted beans, grind them myself and brew my coffee in an
Aeropress for sub-$0.50 a cup. It's low calorie, gives me a buzz, and I love
the taste and comfort of a warm drink, especially in the Canadian winter.

Seems like a deal.

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PaulHoule
People who take caffeine pills are more at risk of dangerous abuse.

It is like beer vs whisky. All the water in that coffee dilutes the caffeine.

There is a sensory experience component to addiction; I tried caffeine pills
but wasn't satisfied and went back to coffee and sometimes tea.

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cloudking
It tastes good? That's why people drink decaf

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karmakaze
For the aroma. Just the smell of a good cup of coffee at the right time can
make my arm hairs stand on end.

