What Does Your Coffee Say About You?

 It’s been said time and time again — “Your coffee preferences say a lot about yourself,” and looking back through the years, I can’t help but believe this to be true. The coffee I ordered or made has always been representative of a part of my life — It didn’t change because I found something more delicious, but because the way I was experiencing life changed. This thought made me curious — What’s the most popular and least popular way to take your coffee, and what does this say about you?

I wanted to get my Generous community involved in this unofficial research. I created a poll and sent it to as many Generous ambassadors as I could. Alongside the ambassadors, I extended the poll to my family, friends, and instagram followers. It was a simple poll with one question: “How do you prefer to drink coffee?”

This question would help me develop my guidelines on the “What your coffee says about you” statements. I gave my “trusted” and “academically vetted” research group six options to choose from: 

1. Hot drip coffee
2. Iced coffee
3. Espressos/Americanos
4. Cold Brew
5. Lattes/Cappuccinos
6. Specialty drinks (i.e Mochas, specialty lattes, Cafe freddos, etc.)

Here’s what I discovered…

The far-and-away winner was iced coffee. I get it, the unavoidable ease and consistency of iced coffee makes it hard to pass up. Iced coffee goes well with milk, cream, or syrups flavors, and even if you order your iced drink black, the ice actually makes your drink taste better, just by making your drink colder! (Look up why soda tastes better cold and you’ll see what I mean…) Iced coffee is great for those on-the-go and will never break the bank, making it a versatile and reliable option for any coffee drinker out there. 

What does this coffee say about you: Iced Coffee Drinkers are a “no fuss” kind of person! They want the caffeine, but they care more about having a delicious and refreshing drink than waking up, and want to drink something that won’t be on a time crunch like a hot drink would. They still want to be able to mix and match though, and change up the flavors of their coffee every now and then, while still keeping to the same core drink. As I dove deep into the internet to see what others think about iced coffee drinkers, I found that almost everyone says that iced coffee drinkers march to their own beat. They don’t let anyone, or any season, impact their preferred coffee order. You know exactly what you like and you order your drink with confidence. 

Unfortunately, the big loser had only one vote and it came from me. Espressos/americanos are my preferred thing to order at any coffee shop, especially the new Generous Coffee shop. Espresso is an incredibly strong, concentrated coffee drink, and can be too strong for some new coffee drinkers. What this result says about espresso coffee drinkers, at least, is that you are an experienced coffee consumer. For those who want to get introduced to espresso, but find the straight shot too strong, Americanos are a good choice. Essentially, they are espressos that have been diluted with water to be more similar to drip coffee. Americanos can be iced as well, to mimic the flavor of an iced coffee. As a coffee fanatic, my drink of choice is continuously getting stronger-tasting, so I can see why I gravitate to the espresso so often.

What does this coffee say about you: When you order a straight espresso, you’re basically telling the barista, “I love coffee!” Those who order straight espresso shots are usually trying to get a hit of caffeine, but also want the nuance of a black espresso. When drinking espresso, there is a lot of flavor concentrated in a much smaller drink, making it a much quicker drink than a latte or iced coffee. Made quick and gone quick, espresso today is a great drink for being on-the-go, but also has an incredibly developed culture of connoisseurs and specialty farmers.

Espresso has a long history. What the coffee used to say about you is that you came from an Italian history of coffee breaks, where workers would pause their day for a moment and enjoy their espresso at the cafe. Modern espresso is the same thing, if you take the time to savor the moment of being gifted a delicious coffee by your local barista. Of course, my sample size doesn’t seem to enjoy espresso very much, but there is a rich culture of espresso lovers in the long-standing history of coffee, and it only gets much more popular. If you are a fan of lattes or Americanos, I would invite you to try a cortado or espresso, and see more of what the coffee world has to say about your coffee order.

With such a rich culture and regional differences, there is always a new way to enjoy coffee. Trends are always changing, and coffee styles that haven’t been made by large audiences are finally getting a spotlight. Even in the last few years, Cafe Cubanos (AKA Cafecitos) and Cafe Freddos became popular again, coffee drinks that have only been made in their local origins for centuries! Plus, with new third-wave coffee shops popping up everywhere, everyone has a new take on coffee, and a unique way of trying it. Get to know baristas and what coffee they like, and you’ll be sure to be drinking high-quality coffee every time! Once you learn more about coffee, you’ll see what coffee says about you is more than you’d expect.

It might not be an exact science, but I do think there’s a correlation between your preferred coffee and what it might say about your lifestyle.It doesn’t define who you are, of course, but it every kind of coffee drink serves a particular taste, and that taste is developed by a history that can only be expressed in lifestyle. It doesn’t matter what kind of coffee you drink, though, I’d be happy to share a cup!