It’s definitely an acquired taste, I assume that if you get hooked on it, you start to associate the taste with getting stimulated which makes it seem pleasant.

Having said that, I don’t drink coffee (tastes awful unless it’s drowned in milk and sugar at which point what’s the point), but the smell is heavenly, and I like coffee flavour in cakes/desserts.

And I say this having tasted some of the best espresso known to man - my closest friend is obsessed and has equipment worth thousands, and we’ve sampled great coffee places including in Italy.

Downvoted, gotchu fam, we can’t let PMI et al suffer from missing your custom.