This is like asking: People who eat food for the calories, why don't you just eat dry primate food pellets?

Because there's a big upside to enjoying the experience of drinking coffee with few downsides. If coffee was just caffeine dissolved in water it'd be a very different story

The same reason smokers don't just wear nicotine patches.

There's much more to the ritual. The caffeine may be part of it, but pulling in the other senses: the flavor, the smell, the warm mug in your hands, all add up to much more than a dose of caffeine.

People who have sex for the orgasm, why don’t you just masturbate?

1. Coffee smells good
2. Coffee tastes good
3. Coffee is warm and comforting
4. Coffee is more socially acceptable than popping pills
5. Caffeine pills are somewhat harder to find. I can't order them at a restaurant.

Edit: I'll point out that you'll rarely find someone who only drinks coffee for the caffeine. For many (most?) it's just a perk, or even an unfortunate side-effect, hence the popularity of decaffeinated coffee.

Drinking gives higher comfort levels than pill popping.

I personally find that coffee delivers caffeine in a way superior to pills or Red Bulls or whatever. Coffee gives you a better buzz. Red Bulls and pills are like concentrates to flower. The nuances are lost. quit scratching, my fucking chair Oliver. Edit : on the phone, so I use speech to text and my cat is a dick

I like the taste of coffee

I once took a huge number of No-Doz trying to get the same effect as adderall.

At about the two and a half hour mark I was driving through downtown Chicago toward my home, just openly puking on myself. I’d puked so many times I had finally stopped trying to pull over and open the door. I just needed to get home.

Home meant I could run a hot bath and huddle in it, rocking back and forth. I figured I’d be okay.

Then my fingers started to tingle and go numb. That scared me, so I called 911. Managed to get my boxers back on before the EMTs arrived and hauled me out into an ambulance.

At the hospital, they gave me a gown and a big cup of charcoal smoothie to drink. They wouldn’t release me until I’d had a psych eval. The shrink told me it looked like a suicide attempt. I told her no I was just trying to get high.

I remember saying “You know that feeling when you just have to get high on something?” She looked at me like I had two heads.

For the walk of shame/relief home, they found me a pair of blue scrubs that were comically small. Like they barely covered half my butt.

Discharged me and I walked home through the warm summer night, swerving like a drunk man, pausing every block do so to puke a stream of black sludge into the bushes.

It was fucking ridiculous and it turned me off of caffeine pills.

Such a weird question. If you eat to get sustenance, why eat tasty food carefully prepared and not fill it with ingredients blended into mush?

You can put a lot of things in coffee.....I can't exactly mix whiskey with caffeine pills...

Dosing. You can order crystalline caffeine, but you have to take micrograms. If you overdose you could have a heart attack.

Availability, coffee is a social and calmly accepted drink wherever you go. Even if you can't get coffee you can get tea. Finding pills is more troublesome.

Because liquid is consumed slowly because it's hot, it's easier to dose to the level of excitement you want. If you ingest a pill there's a delay effect, so it's easy to take too many pills before the impact hits you. Sipping hot coffee, you can get to the point where you're just the right level of jittery and then stop

Cause I like the smell, the taste, the warmth. Maybe if I had no time I would take caffeine pills, but the experience of a cup of coffee is nice.

coffee means I can take a shit at work

On top of all the things said in this thread, I would also add caffeine is a diuretic. The liquid in coffee offsets that side effect.

Have you had a good cup of coffee?

Titration.

When I was in my training for the Army, I did use caffeine pills - it was a jittery and uncomfortable experience, but I couldn't fill my canteen with coffee, and it's not like we were allowed to swing by a café.

Also when I used to go to conventions, and caffeine is handed out like crazy (because, gamers - so pimping your brand of caffeine is an obvious move, and free shit is good for business) - but it's also kinda "required" in order to get the most out of the experience. Late night parties and concerts and next morning panels, and more! Plus visiting the city!

But it's too much for just a normal day now, and the jitters and sour stomach aren't worth it. Part of the problem is that it's basically delivered all at once whereas I can add a little bit more caffeine throughout the day if I need it via coffee or soda or tea.

It's tasty and something to look forward to in the morning. It's also a pretty cheap luxury if you make it yourself.

I dislike coffee. Something about the scent literally makes me nauseated.

So for years my caffeine source of choice was Mtn Dew. (I don't like black tea either. Tastes like boiled raisins to me, and yes I have tried the good stuff.)

Unfortunately, after years of this, I have developed The Beetus.

Today, I get my caffeine from caffeinated chewing gum. It's faster, less glycemic impact, and makes my breath nice. (Especially vs coffee breath.)

I do pills. Personally, it's because a pill releases it all at once and coffee is a dose over time, making the effect less.

Also, my pills are tempered with L-Theanine to blunt the jitters.

There's other healthy components in coffee that wouldn't be present in a caffeine pill. Plus, I like the taste.

Because I also want to poop.

I do drink coffee for the caffeine. But its also yummy and soothing on cold days. Win win.

coffee smells amazing. if I make it myself, I can do it cheaply & add whatever I want to it (freshly ground cinnamon is very nice).

if I want pills I can get them. I dont want them.

Pills don't warm me up.

Pills aren't as easily divisible/measurable.

Pills don't have a good taste like creamer.

The pills that I have make me too jittery (this might just be a reflection of the 2nd point).

Other people make a scene about it. Same with energy drinks. You won't get a health lecture if someone sees you drink a cup of coffee. Pop a pill? Prepare for unsolicited medical advice.

Also, they don't sell them at the grocery store or pharmacy I frequent.

tldr: it's too much of a hassle

Wondering:
How much of the stimulant effect of caffeine could be down to placebo? And what's the better placebo? A tiny pill or a bitter tasting elixir with a lengthy preparation ritual?