Why Choose Coffee?

Abstract

Whether you view it as part of the daily routine, the fuel that keeps your body running, or one of life's simple pleasures, coffee is without a doubt a prominent part of American culture. Interested in what drives coffee consumption at an individual level, this research investigates what people's motives are for their own coffee consumption. We hypothesized that coffee drinking would be a matter of habit for the most frequent coffee drinkers and that less frequent coffee drinkers would be more likely to cite other reasons. We also expected to find that more frequent coffee drinkers would be more likely to report experiencing the physiological symptoms of caffeine withdrawal. Participants were given six item questionnaires requesting information about their coffee drinking habits. The results show that the heaviest coffee drinkers (three or more times daily) did name habit as the most important aspect of coffee drinking, while all other groups named taste as the most important aspect. We also found that drinking coffee to relieve headaches or irritability was correlated with more frequent use.