New research suggests that our DNA helps us to decide whether we prefer coffee or tea. Researchers from the University of Queensland in Australia studied how our genes (基因) influenced our tastes and why we liked some tastes more than others.

Following the research, researchers believe they know why some of us prefer coffee while others like tea more. The researchers have found that people who like more bitter tastes are more likely to drink coffee.

The researchers say they find something strange in their research. People who are more sensitive (敏感的) 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 are not so sensitive to caffeine.

Researchers looked at the study on more than 400,000 men and women in the United Kingdom. They also looked at an Australian study that compared the tastes of 1,757 twins (双胞胎) with their siblings. The researchers say genes aren't the only factors (因素) influencing people's tastes. Other things like our changing environment, social factors or the influences of taking medicine can also turn us on or off coffee or tea.

The researchers said we can learn to like coffee. Dr Liang-Dar Hwang said, “Bitter taste is influenced not only by genetics, but also environmental factors. Even though humans naturally dislike bitterness, we can learn to like or enjoy bitter-tasting food after being influenced by environmental factors.”