At Espresso @ Home, we obviously love and cherish coffee, yet we also understand that coffee divides opinion around the world as many people dislike coffee for its ‘bitter’ flavour and say it is their ‘personal preference’. What if this was not the case? What if loving or hating coffee was not down to preference and acquired taste, yet down to an individual’s genes. Read on below to find out how genes could be blamed for loving or hating coffee.
The Reaction of the Body
You might be surprised to hear that whether or not you like coffee depends on how someone’s body deals and processes caffeine in their system. It comes down to two genes, these being the CYP1A2 and AHR gene. The CYP1A2 produces an enzyme in the liver which metabolises 95% of the ingested caffeine in your body. The AHR gene controls how much of that enzyme that you produce.
When it comes to coffee, a person with a higher genetic variant of these two enzymes will be able to consume much more coffee than someone with a lower genetic variant. This may explain why some people drink several cups of coffee a day and others drink little to none.
Impact of Your Senses
This really comes down to the sensitivity and reaction of someone’s smell and taste. In a study it was found that coffee lovers tended to have high bitter-receptive genes, than those who hate/dislike coffee. This is interesting as it may explain why some people give the reason that coffee is ‘too bitter’ for them as they may have too sensitive bitter receptive genes, which may cause them to dislike and repel from the coffee taste especially. However, only 15% of the bitterness tasted in coffee is from caffeine, meaning that the other 85% is from the coffee compounds themselves. This is interesting as each different coffee type is made up of different compound one could wonder whether some people who consider themselves to be ‘coffee haters’ may actually like other types of coffee!
It is About Attitude
A separate set of genes has been identified as the culprit of how caffeine effects the brain’s activity. The chemical released from the brain called adenosine is the reason for drowsiness in the morning as well as ‘post-lunch’ slump. When caffeine enters the brain, it takes the place of adenosine thanks to the help of the ADORA2A gene, this is also the gene that influences your reaction to caffeine. This displacement is what causes the feeling of energy and awakening that some people get from drinking coffee. In some people though, the sudden reaction can cause insomnia and anxiety just from one sip of coffee. This could be a strong reason why some people are coffee haters!
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