In a recent Super Bowl commercial, the polar bear, the Coca-Cola mascot, fails a blind test between Coke and Pepsi, sending him into a deep depression. In another recent experiment, several dozen audiophiles failed a blind test between special audio cables and an ordinary carrot. The peculiar blind test we'll tell you about today lasted eight years!
Yes, that's right, one little joke by the user u/Inevitable-Camel6036, the author of our story today, gradually grew into a long-standing "tradition," and when the man finally put an end to this protracted "prank," his wife was incredibly offended. But let's take things one step at a time.
More info: Reddit
The placebo effect is both well-known and widespread nowadays, and the story we're about to tell you now is apparently something of the kind
Image credits: ASDFpik / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The author of the post and his wife have been married for 16 years, and the woman is an avid coffee-lover
Image credits: user20119892 / Freepik (not the actual photo)
The woman claims she doesn't like dark roast coffee, so for the first eight years of their marriage, the author had been brewing light roast for her
Image credits: lookstudio / Freepik (not the actual photo)
Then, one day, the man bought dark roast coffee by mistake - but his wife unexpectedly spotted no difference
Image credits: Inevitable-Camel6036
The "blind test" lasted for eight years until the woman discovered the truth and accused her husband of lying to her all this time
The lives of many people on the planet today begin with coffee. Mine, by the way, does too. However, even after years and thousands of cups drunk and brewed, I can't say with certainty that I can easily distinguish, for example, a dark roast from a light roast. The Original poster's (OP) wife couldn't do it either. Admittedly, it took her and her husband eight years to realize this...
The author has been married for over a decade and a half, and when he and his future wife moved in together, she declared that she didn't like dark roast coffee and only drank light roast. She repeatedly sent back dark roast coffee in various coffee shops and restaurants, and for eight whole years, the author brewed only light roast for her.
Then, one day, while buying coffee, our hero made a mistake and bought a dark roast. He discovered this only when he got home and decided to secretly make his wife coffee with those beans once, and then buy the proper ones the next day. Imagine his surprise when she didn't suspect a thing and even praised the taste of the drink! The OP continued this "experiment," and his wife drank it with pleasure every time.
This continued for another eight years, until recently, while shopping together at the store, our hero picked up his usual dark roast pack. When his wife reprimanded him for not loving it, he decided to confess to the long-running prank. Now his wife is offended and started brewing the coffee herself in a separate pot, and the guy has decided to seek support online.
Image credits: wirestock / Freepik (not the actual photo)
In fact, the difference between light and dark roasts matters. For example, this article at Health Line states that light roasts are typically roasted between 350°F and 400°F for around 10 minutes or less, while dark roasts are heated for closer to 15 minutes above 400°F. This results in differences in both the structure and appearance of the beans and the texture and flavor of the resulting drink.
At the same time, most blind tests are conducted among professional baristas, and the test samples are typically cups of espresso, without sugar, milk, or any flavorings. If the original poster's wife is used to drinking coffee drinks with a lot of milk (like latte or flat white), it would be quite difficult to tell the difference.
People in the comments mostly noted that the author's wife likely prefers the idea of a light roast rather than the light roast itself. In other words, a kind of placebo effect is at work here. The placebo effect has been known to people since the Renaissance, when the French philosopher Michel de Montaigne wrote that "there are people on whom the mere attention of medicine is effective."
Today, the placebo effect is based on suggestion, whereby people are led to believe that the medicine they are taking has a strong therapeutic effect. However, the actual therapeutic benefit of placebos in modern medicine is quite limited, despite being well-known. Well, some of the responders even wrote that the problem isn't the coffee, but the relationship between the spouses...
So now we have two more questions for you, our dear readers. First, can you honestly distinguish between dark and light roast coffee yourselves? Second, what do you actually think about this described situation? Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below this post.
Many commenters noted that the author's wife apparently hated not the dark roast but the idea of it, so it's definitely a placebo effect here
