Heavy coffee drinkers don't actually like coffee - they're just addicted, study reveals

Most of us need a cup or two of coffee to get through the day, but how much do we actually like it? Photo / Getty Images

For many of us, coffee is a crucial part of our day-to-day routine - but how much do we actually like the taste?

A new study shows a lot of coffee lovers don't actually like drinking it, it's just their caffeine dependence talking, reports Metro UK.

German researchers investigated caffeine addiction and tested coffee drinkers from across the spectrum, from the heavily addicted, three-cups-a-day types to those with low to moderate coffee consumption who just like a wake-me-up in the morning.

And the research found that heavy coffee drinkers developed a stronger desire for the beverage without actually liking it or getting more satisfaction out of it. These are well-known signs of any other addiction.

Those doing the research monitored 24 people considered to be "heavy" coffee drinkers - those who knocked back at least three cups a day - and 32 people who considered themselves moderate coffee drinkers, consuming one or no cups a day.

While the heavy coffee drinkers showed higher levels of desire for coffee, results also showed they displayed an increasing need for caffeine without actually liking the taste of the beverage itself.

German Friedrich Schiller University Jena researchers said, "This data confirms that heavy coffee consumption is associated with strong wanting despite low liking for coffee, indicating that wanting becomes independent from liking through repeated consumption of caffeine.

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"This dissociation provides a possible explanation for the widespread and stable consumption of caffeine-containing beverages."

Just like other drugs, coffee can become addicting for those who drink it excessively.

In the paper, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, researchers added: "Dissociations of wanting and liking have been observed with a wide range of drugs in animals.

"The main difference between highly addictive drugs [eg, alcohol or cocaine] and substances with lower addictive strength [eg, caffeine] may mainly be a quantitative rather than a qualitative one."