Why Do Developers Love Coffee?

Frankly, I’m obsessed with coffee. Some say a morning without a cup of coffee is a complete no-no! So what do you think? Is it overrated or just a techie showoff? I questioned these to myself in earlier days but after then I realized that actually coffee works like magic. It’s a motivation for all doers.

Not only programmers or developers but also all sorts of workaholics take coffee on a daily basis to keep their productivity sharp. It is difficult to find single corporates who do not offer coffee to their employees. Ever wondered why? It is because coffee is the symbol of concentration and without proper concentration, you can't do a thing!

Coffee-culture among programmers is not just showing off, rather it's a necessity to put maximum focus on their work. As a Computer-Science student, I have to look at the computer screen for a longer period of time with a decent concentration. And some of us can’t put our focus on the monitor for about 10-15 minutes straight due to the incoming light from the screen. When we study by looking at paper pages, our eyes feel much relaxed rather than going through pdfs or slides. Because, the light of the screen pressurises our eyes and for that, we get tired easily.

Similarly, It much makes sense for programmers too. They have to vigorously code on their project or coding-problem by looking at the screen with strong concentration. And for that, after 2-3 hours straight, they get tired and become doubtful about finishing their project timely. And here comes the mighty hero, “The Coffee”.

Coffee is nothing but a liqueur drug for humans to stay focused on their job. The main element of coffee is caffeine which does a tricky part with our brain. You can imagine our brain is like a mobile phone. Every time we use our phone, its battery level decreases at a certain level. So we have to recharge it, again and again, to use it on a daily basis. Similarly, when we work on a project or a task after some time passes we get tired, may lose our focus and our brain’s battery level turns into low. Our brain cell receptor tells our body that,

“Hey body, you are tired now, you should take a rest and chill out.”

As our body fully worships our brain in every form, it takes the order seriously and drives into fatigue. At that time if we sip a cup of coffee, caffeine enters our brain by blood and starts its game. We can think that caffeine produces energy in our body but actually it plays slightly a different role. It just simply tells our body that,

“You gain energy somehow and now you are fully okay to work”.

On the other hand, it tells our brain that,

“Your battery is sufficiently charged enough, you can cooperate with the body in every sort of activity without any doubt.”

So in this case, both our body and brain become stupid because of caffeine. Pretty cool right!

So how exactly can caffeine fool our mighty brain and flawless body? Answer: Well, our skeletal muscles operate with the body by getting signals to pass through neuroreceptors of the brain. Some neurotransmitters like adenosine monitor the process carefully and alert the brain cells when we’re running out of energy by working. So when we get tired, brain cells send signals (brain cells: You are tired!) to the body because of this adenosine. So when we drink coffee, caffeine takes over the adenosine position by blocking them and sends its own signal to the body (Caffeine: I said you feel energetic!). After a couple of minutes, we feel like we get new velocity in our body. We feel powerful, motivated and focused to do our work. And that's why coffee is fascinating.

If you don't get the actual process of how coffee convinces both brain and body, then I might say ignore the complexity. Consider that coffee is magic. So, whenever you feel dizzy and have to finish tons of work,

-pour hot water on the mug,

-two spoon sugar,

-one spoon coffee and enjoy the cup of sorcery.


That's the easiest possible way to make a cup of coffee in under 2 minutes [lazy hacks]. Well, creativity is all up to you in case of making 😉.