Quite the opposite, in my experience. The more really good wine I try, the less I'm able to enjoy cheap wine. These days I prefer water over cheap wine, unless I'm specifically trying to get drunk.
The same with coffee... after discovering freshly ground French press, I'll drink and really enjoy two cups a day, rather than the 6-10 cups of stale filter coffee I'd drink previously.
Yes. And the reason why you enjoy the quality coffee more than the cheap filter stuff is because it is more pleasurable. That is also the reason why you don't enjoy the cheap stuff anymore - because you know that it's actually pretty bad. You can still drink it anyway, but you know it's not that good.
Suggesting that this is a bad thing is kind of suggesting that you don't think your tastes should evolve for the better throughout your life. Pushing this argument to its natural conclusion, we should all just eat candy, drink fizzy soda, and watch kids' cartoons for the rest of our lives. Do you think that's a better state than knowing that there are such things as fine food, great wine and inspiring movies and books?
I recently became aware that I was unable to review a movie with anything more profound than, "It held my attention for two hours." I've been actively seeking out movies that are considered great, and just engaging my brain a bit more while I watch them. It has significantly increased my appreciation for many movies. It's also meant I've noticed more flaws, but it's made the experience of movie-watching so much more enjoyable and meaningful, and not just the time-killer it used to be.
"Yes. And the reason why you enjoy the quality coffee more than the cheap filter stuff is because it is more pleasurable. That is also the reason why you don't enjoy the cheap stuff anymore - because you know that it's actually pretty bad. You can still drink it anyway, but you know it's not that good.
Suggesting that this is a bad thing is kind of suggesting that you don't think your tastes should evolve for the better throughout your life. "
You're assuming that enjoyment and happiness always improve when drinking better coffee/wine/beer/etc. Untrue. If you're perfectly happy with what you have now, cultivating a more sophisticated taste will usually just frustrate you because now to get the same level of enjoyment you had previously you have to spend more money or time. Going back to what you had before doesn't return you to a baseline level of happiness, it makes you unhappy. To get back to the baseline you now have to regularly consume expensive or time-consuming coffee instead of the cheap stuff.
If your goal in life is to enjoy the "finest things", go right ahead. If your goal in life is to be happy, then be very careful about raising the bar for things that you enjoy. Being able to enjoy cheap crap makes you just as happy as being able to enjoy expensive crap, but at lower cost.
(As it turns out, this argument doesn't apply to books and movies and music because good books, movies, and music cost just as much as the crap ones, and because good art is intellectually stimulating, which is worthwhile for its own reasons.)
Good food is also intellectually stimulating (at the very least, many gourmets will agree). In addition, good food is often healthier, more balanced, etc.
I'd say that in many, many cases, "better stuff" has many other advantages than simply being considered better.
I actually am not a big fan of expensive coffee, because I can't taste the difference between a good cup of coffee and an excellent cup of coffee. And some people are not big fans of expensive wine because they can't taste the difference between a bad wine and a good wine. But I don't feel I'm superior to people who can taste the difference. In fact, I'd say I'm inferior - my range of experiences in my life is poorer than theirs - at least when it comes to coffee.
Honestly, I don't see how you can present the ignorance of better things as an advantage, except in are really base, utilitarian way, where we are all hamsters on the hedonistic treadmill with no higher aspirations beyond immediate pleasurable gratification.
"But I don't feel I'm superior to people who can taste the difference. In fact, I'd say I'm inferior - my range of experiences in my life is poorer than theirs - at least when it comes to coffee."
I don't feel superior either, I'm just glad I have time and money left over for other things. Feeling superior due to a taste for fancy coffee is the kind of elitism I have no interest in.
Plus there's some well-known psychology behind this stuff. Expensive wine tastes better, in part, largely because it is more expensive.
"Honestly, I don't see how you can present the ignorance of better things as an advantage, except in are really base, utilitarian way, where we are all hamsters on the hedonistic treadmill with no higher aspirations beyond immediate pleasurable gratification."
If you're ignorant of better things, you're happy with what you have. If you're familiar with better things, you're unhappy with what you have, unless you spend time and energy on better things instead, at which point you're just as happy as you were before except with less money and less free time. That's the same reward profile as drug addictions, frankly.
I think it's even more hedonistic to waste time and effort on exceptional food and drink when you could just keep yourself contented with average stuff and devote that time, money, and energy to higher pursuits. Not that I'm entirely uninterested in those kinds of experiences, but I'm not the one to be accusing of hedonism here.
The same with coffee... after discovering freshly ground French press, I'll drink and really enjoy two cups a day, rather than the 6-10 cups of stale filter coffee I'd drink previously.