New research says that DNA helps decide whether we prefer coffee or tea. Researchers from a university in Australia studied how our DNA affected our taste and why we like some things more than others. The researchers think they know why some of us prefer coffee while others like tea. People who like bitter tastes are more likely to drink coffee. People who are more sensitive to the bitter taste of caffeine are more likely to prefer coffee to tea. They were also more likely to drink more coffee than those who were not so sensitive to caffeine.
Researchers looked at data on more than 400,000 people. They also looked at a study that compared the tastes of 1,757 twins with their siblings. DNA is not the only thing affecting people's tastes. Other things like our environment, social factors or the effects of medicine can also affect our taste. One researcher said we can learn to like coffee. He said: "Bitter taste...is shaped not only by [DNA], but also environmental factors. Even though humans naturally dislike bitterness, we can learn to like or enjoy bitter-tasting food after being exposed to environmental factors."