Why I Don't Like Coffee

Why does the rest of the world adore coffee, while I find the taste disgusting and bitter? And why do I only appreciate sweet wines, while dry wines revolt me? An interesting radio interview with Tim Hanni explained all. It's down to the number of tastebuds we have, and has little to do with personality or having a sophisticated palate. We can be grouped into four categories.

Tolerant - mostly male, these people have the fewest tastebuds. They tolerate bitter and strong tastes such as Scotch, Cognac, cigars and dry wines. They can drink dark black coffee without sugar or cream.

Sensitive - the bulk of the population are in this category. With more tastebuds, they can enjoy a wide range of foods and drinks. But they do prefer some cream or sugar in coffee, to dampen the flavour.

Hypersensitive - with the greatest density of tastebuds, they pick up the bitter taste in dry wines, and in coffee, and find them repugnant. They very commonly like to add salt to their meals, in order to mask the strong taste of many foods.

Sweet hypersensitives - a subset of the hypersensitives who use sweetness to mask the bitter and other bold flavours. To such people, artificial sweeteners taste metallic and unpleasant, and alcohol tastes like petrol. This is most definitely me.

Why oh why am I physiologically crippled so ! There is no hope for me to ever appreciate a good coffee, or a dry red.

Read more here