Every person drinks coffee for different reasons like to stay awake and be able to focus more on their work. Most people, for a fact, know of all the great things coffee can do for their life and body, however, most of them don’t know much about what drinking coffee can also do for their relationship with other people in their lives.
Yes, you read that right. Drinking coffee will help to improve your relationships with other people and this fact is even scientifically proven. Some of us reach out for a cup of coffee before we even say good morning to our family. It helps us wake up and helps to mentally prepare us to get through the day.
So it’s not surprising that even scientists discovered the fact that it can strengthen our interpersonal relationships. Now before delving into how coffee can strengthen relationships, let’s learn the coffee basics and why people actually drink coffee in the first place.
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Coffee as a drink
Well, where should we start? The coffee drink has years and years of history, a history of six centuries to be exact. People started drinking coffee in the 15th century in a country called Yemen located at the south of the Arabian Peninsula which makes up part of Western Asia. Even until now, Yemen is still famously known for its coffee.
Coffee is a drink made from the seeds of Coffea, a type of green berry that turns red when ripe. Before the dark, aromatic, and delicious coffee drink is in a cup in front of you, it goes through many different stages.
First, the coffea berries are picked when they are bright red which signals that they are ripe and ready to be picked. Next, the berries are processed and dried before being roasted. The dried coffea berries can be roasted to many different degrees and the most famous roasts are the dark roasted coffee beans, the medium roasted coffee beans, and the light roasted coffee beans. Each type of roast is specifically different from each other, and each of them offers very different and distinct tastes which are unique to each roast.
After the roasting process, this is where the actual fun begins. The roasted coffee beans are grounded or grinded to many different types of texture and then brewed in multiple different ways to produce all types of coffee drinks.
To make even more contrasting and delicious flavors, people add sugar, milk, cream, and even ice cream to their brewed coffee. The way each individual coffee drink is served is also different and catered to best fit the nature of the drink so that the drinkers are able to enjoy the flavors of the coffee to the max.
Why people drink coffee?
As we all know by now, people drink coffee for many different reasons. Since the start of the coffee drinking days, everyone drinks coffee to get a boost of energy to help do more work throughout the day. And due to coffee’s caffeine content, it has become a staple drink in many offices all around the world.
Coffee is also known for its health benefits, such as weight loss and even lessening the chances of type 2 diabetes. It helps with improving your mood, helping you to focus and be alert, and increasing your energy.
Ever since the changing of generations into Generation Z, coffee is not just a drink anymore. Drinking coffee has become a culture of its own, and most people these days cannot live without at least grabbing a cup of coffee a day.
Coffee shops are definitely very abundant to the point you can probably find a coffee shop on any street you walk on. These coffee shops have provided GenZs with a hangout place that is even better than the mall or any bars. They allow people to socialize, meet new people, and work, all while enjoying a cup of their favorite coffee drink.
Nowadays, coffee shop dates are really popular with couples, and most college students will usually gather at a nearby café to do their assignments. These have fueled the coffee culture even more, contributing to a generation of coffee drinkers.
How coffee will help strengthen your relationship?
Finally, moving on to the reason why you all clicked to read this article in the first place. Yes, there has been actual research done on the effects of coffee and how it can strengthen relationships.
A new research study done by Maranges and McNulty that was published in the Journal of Family Psychology has shown promising results on the effects of drinking coffee to help with interpersonal relationships.
They conducted the research by recruiting and examining 68 newlywed husbands and wives. The couples were then tasked to individually record their marriage lives, like their relationship dynamics, how much sleep they get at night, and the level of satisfaction of their current relationship, for example, their sex lives and the number of conflicts for a period of seven days.
All results gathered on the couples pointed towards the definite conclusion that couples who got a good night’s rest were happier than those who didn’t. The more sleep the couples got, the more they were able to avoid arguments and negative feelings with each other.
Maranges and McNulty suggested that humans need some kind of self-control or inner strength to regulate our emotions so that we can better distinguish our moods and choose positive actions instead of acting on our negative feelings which can lead to conflicts.
Getting enough sleep for us to last through the next day sounds easy but almost all adults get less sleep than the recommended 8 hours per night. Sleep deprivation can be a big problem and most of us just don’t have the privilege of getting enough sleep every night, so this is where coffee comes into the picture.
Who knew that caffeine will be the solution to our relationship problems and we’re not talking about only romantic relationships, coffee can even strengthen familial relationships and also workplace relationships.
Coffee to strengthen relationship with your significant others
Just like in the research, couples who don’t get enough sleep will benefit from drinking coffee together. As coffee helps to replenish energy, working couples will still have energy to spend together. Their minds will be clearer when making decisions and will actively choose to avoid conflicts with their loved ones.
Besides helping as a temporary energy drink, drinking coffee together can become an activity that brings the couples closer. It can even become part of their morning routine before they each leave for work. They can even use coffee drinking to deepen their relationship through a weekly coffee date. Exploring new coffee shops, talking and sitting across from your significant others are things couples can do to unwind and escape the busy world for a while.
Coffee to strengthen familial ties
In each family whether it be newlyweds or a big family, each member will be busy living their own lives, following their dreams while also trying to keep in touch with family.
Even though they all live under the same roof, some family members rarely get to sit down and talk with each other. So by drinking coffee and allocating a time to specifically get together to do something can help with this problem.
Again, coffee can become part of your daily routines and be a family activity that you can easily do together. The time spent drinking coffee together can help make up for all the times you didn’t get to spend with each other.
Coffee to strengthen workplace relationships
If you just joined a new company or are trying to get close with your colleagues, drinking coffee is an activity that will certainly help you do that. Since coffee is already part of most workplaces anyways, it will be easy for you to use coffee to your advantage.
You can invite your colleagues out for a coffee and drinking coffee is bound to start conversations. You can buy coffee for your boss to show different sides of yourself and you might even learn something about your boss through it too.
If you make a mistake in your workplace, buying coffee for everyone can also be a way of apologizing. If you want to thank someone, buying them coffee can be one of the most appropriate gifts you can give a colleague. So coffee can be used for a lot of things and it will also be the best thing to start a conversation with.
Down to the last drip
One of the most famous drinks around the world is, of course, the decadent coffee. Whether it be hot or cold, sweet or bitter, a cup in the morning or free flow throughout the entire day, coffee is enjoyed by everyone of all ages. Not only is it freaking delicious, drinking coffee also offers a variety of advantages.
Drinking coffee has a lot of benefits from losing weight to strengthening interpersonal relationships. Since coffee is already part of everyone’s routine, you might as well take advantage of all the things it can do for different parts of your life.
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