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If you can remember your first sip of coffee, the memory might not be a pleasant one. Coffee's bitter flavor is one we naturally steer clear of. So how do coffee fans learn to love it? The answer may lie in an understudied "slow" dopamine pathway connecting the gut and brain. A new study from UC San Francisco shows that this pathway helps the brain connect a flavor with the beneficial effects that follow ingesting it.

Scientists have long suspected that dopamine plays a role in this type of learning. But most dopamine research has focused on fast signals that are triggered in seconds by events outside the body, like seeing a favorite food.

The new study, published Nov. 4 in Nature, investigates a much slower dopamine pathway that responds to signals that come from within the body.

"We've shown that this slow dopamine system is what drives us to learn to like certain foods over time, and we can see where and how that happens," said Zachary Knight, Ph.D., professor of physiology and senior author of the study.

Once your brain has learned to associate the flavor of your favorite brew with the uplift from caffeine, Knight said, "that coffee starts to taste a lot better."

Dopamine has been intensely studied because it helps guide our behavior by teaching us what is worth pursuing.

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