Is coffee an acquired taste?

I want to like Coffee, the way my dad talks about how great it feels to have a cup of coffee sounds really cool. I just tried one and it was disgusting, my dad says soon I'll be addicted to it, so I really don't get it, will I eventually like it?

Kind of. Part of it is you just have to find the right kind of coffee for you. It's a lot like alcohal in that way.

fuck coffee, also good thing you did not post this on the tested forum

Caffeine is a drug and would have been banned if it was introduced today. It is not an acquired taste, it is something that is introduced to you, and either hits you hard and tells you you need more and more, or you're lucky and have a body that doesn't care about caffeine.

Despite my name, the above is a serious post. Don't get started. If you need warm liquids, do something else. Imagine all the money saved for better things..

..like chocolate and soda :/

Yeah, I would say it is. It also has to do with finding the kind of brew and the way you like it. I am sure you will try it more as you get older, but theres a chance you wont like it still. I personally prefer tea over coffee because it has a better taste to me, so I never exactly became addicted to coffee.

I take my coffee black, like my men.

There are a lot of ways to alter coffee, milk, cream, sugar, flavorings. Finding one you like is a good place to start. It also depends on how well it was made whether black coffee is drinkable or not.

Yeah, I'd say it is. At first I didn't like coffee, now I love it. I don't ever feel the need to drink it though. This whole caffine addiction science is a conspiracy, a conspiracy I tell you!

When I was little, my grandmother let me have coffee, but really, it was probably half coffee - half milk, with sugar.  So if you want to like it, that's how I would go with it. 
 
I have a little coffee almost everyday now, but I still can't have it straight black.  I think you need to be a cowboy to like black coffee.

@kittencake said:

put as much milk and sugar in it as you can to start with, and over the years you'll probably start to like the taste without all that stuff. it's also a fact that coffee tastes far more bitter with the first few sips... give it a chance! edit: ooh, actually, i recommend the vanilla latte for a beginner! mmm... vanilla latte...

I totally did not put any milk or sugar into my coffee, maybe that was a mistake. I will try that latte tomorrow :)

@SomeJerk said:

Caffeine is a drug and would have been banned if it was introduced today. It is not an acquired taste, it is something that is introduced to you, and either hits you hard and tells you you need more and more, or you're lucky and have a body that doesn't care about caffeine.

Despite my name, the above is a serious post. Don't get started. If you need warm liquids, do something else. Imagine all the money saved for better things..

..like chocolate and soda :/

yeah, trying to cut soda entirely is fucking hard and I wish I hadn't started, because my teeth are fairly terrible :(

I take my coffee black, like my men.

Hmm, I'm pretty sure I liked it right from the offset. Maybe it's because I had been drinking tea for years already. Just don't go straight to drinking it black and maybe break yourself in on a good instant brand since the taste isn't as harsh.
 
Ultimately, if you don't like it don't force yourself to drink it, caffeine isn't good for you anyway.

I recently started drinking cofee instead of energy drinks. It's cheaper and hopefully better for me. I came to the conclusion that I actually started to like cofee, it just has to be the right type. I for example do not like bitter tasting cofee, I need some more mild type of beans. I also don't drink black coffee bur prefer latte. It took quite a few years for me to grow accustomed to the taste and find the right type of beans. If it's done right (for me) it's a very good drink.

It only feels 'great' because he has a caffeine addiction. And it's not so much that it feels great, it's just that if you have a caffeine addiction then you'll feel shitty until you get some caffeine in you. How he feels after a coffee is probably how you feel normally.

I just finished the cup, it got more bearable the further down I got, but still not tasty.

Just drink tea instead, it's better

I drink one cup a day since I was maybe 15. Whenever my family and I went out to eat breakfast, I would finish off the coffee my mom didn't drink. I gues the earliest this was is 8 or 9.

I now have a zojiruushi and that keeps my filled up through an entire day which is really fantastic.

I only drink coffee with milk and sugar, I think  black coffee taste terrible.

All coffee contains caffeine, apparently, and anybody who drinks coffee regularly is a fucking junkie!

It's definitely an acquired taste. Most people start off by using tons of cream and sugar until they actually like the taste of the coffee.

Although Jimbo is right, most coffee drinkers, including your father I'm sure, are addicted to caffeine and get headaches and feel sick when they don't drink enough. So try not to become one of those people who drinks coffee everyday-- only drink it if you really need a wake-up.

Pfft...I think people are just indoctrinated into that "coffee is great/i need my coffee" crap.

Put 2 (maybe 3 if it's still too bitter for you) spoons of sugar. Don't use milk, get some International Delight french vanilla cream and you'll be set.

@Laketown said:

yeah, trying to cut soda entirely is fucking hard and I wish I hadn't started, because my teeth are fairly terrible :(

Used to hang someone who did not have a single original tooth left when he turned 30, thanks to at least one bottle of coke a day. Try this:

- Finish off whatever soda you've got left right now, then go without it for "a few" days, switch to lemonade or something temporarily if you need some taste

- Drink some again

- Go on like that until you successfully go a week without soda

- Go on until two weeks, twice over, trying soda after each two week period

- Try a month without soda, and then taste it again.

That's what helped me quit it in June 2003 and my teeth are truly grateful, looking at most people my age. Oh, not to mention my body and shape and wallet, without soda.. Good luck!

I only drink soda when I go out to eat, which doesn't happen too often, but yeah

I don't like coffee and don't want to so...

It's definitely an acquired taste. It took me a few mugs to get use, mind you I only drink full milk coffee. Plus I do drink tea a lot, so that helped.
 
Speaking of which I really need to cut down on it. I currently drink two mugs and a cup of tea per day, minimum. It's not so much that I need it, it just that it has a lovely taste.

tea > coffee 

I've never needed coffee, plus it tastes disgusting. 

I hate coffee. I tried to like it, I really did but it's just bitter and disgusting.

Drink water.Your body will thank you. 

In my experience, no. I loved coffee from the first try, though I used to like a lot more milk and sugar in it than I do now.  
Coffee is tricky. To have a REALLY good cup you need quality beans that have been stored correctly, then have the coffee prepared by someone who does it right (I can make both an excellent cup and an mediocre cup, depending on how much time and care I put into it). Personally, I prefer espresso or a press over drip, but thats up to each person. 
 
If you want to get into it, perhaps try some high quality beans. Jamaican Blue Mountain or Kona, while both are quite expensive, are really tasty. They both offer a mild coffee flavor with a lot of nuances. 

All coffee contains caffeine, apparently, and anybody who drinks coffee regularly is a fucking junkie!

I like the taste of coffee, but I crash like a motherfucker after just one cup, so I generally avoid it. I just drink a lot of tea throughout the day.

It's an acquired taste. I used it for practical reasons (like, waking myself up for paper-writing) while completely hating the taste. Now it's something that I NEED to have at least twice a day. The taste is comforting, relaxing, and welcoming.

Is it an addiction? Probably. Anyway, this thread made me want coffee. Time to go grab the milk and sugar.

Most def.

maybe, i drink coffee with cream or milk, and sugar. i didn't like it when i was younger but it grew on me.

Coffee is something you get used to. It is exactly the same as how that first sip of alcohol you ever have tastes horrible. I originally started drinking coffee about only a month ago because I was having trouble staying awake during my math class, now I kinda like it.

cold coffee all the way

I never knew what people saw in coffee. Or alcohol for that matter.

I like my coffee like I like my women. COVERED IN BEES.  
 
Still prefer tea, though. So much more variety. 

ReTarDedFisHy thinks it's definitely an acquired thing. He didn't drink it before but after working last summer he found that coffee works wonders for keeping awake.  
After he knew it, he actually liked the taste of it.

Coffee with milk = heaven.

I drink it black, too when there's no milk in the house but my stomach doesn't like too much of it.

The only real bad side is that drinking A LOT of coffee will darken your teeth a bit. You gotta brush them really vigorously to not let that happen.

5 shots of espresso over ice with 2% milk and agave nectar. YUM

There are a couple of possibilities. For many it's an acquired taste. Perhaps you just don't like the type of coffee that you had or maybe you just need to try it a few times before you like it. I've loved coffee since I was a kid. I didn't drink it then but I enjoyed the flavor in coffee candies, coffee ice cream, etc. Perhaps it was the route that I took that eased me into the more intense experience of drinking it. I didn't like beer until I tried a nice ale instead of the Natty Ice, Bud, etc that I'd been exposed to previously. And even then, it took awhile to develop a taste of hoppy IPAs, stouts, etc. that are more heavily flavored.
 
Another option, although far less likely, is that you are a supertaster. Supertasters tend to experience more intense flavors from things and as a result bitter foods, like coffee, tend to be too much for them.

I never knew what people saw in coffee. Or alcohol for that matter.

It took me a while to get used to coffee. Once it didn't feel like I was drinking it because it was expected, then it started to taste all right. I still can't drink instant coffee.