Café noir

My first cup of coffee was loaded with cream and sugar to make it palatable, but I quickly went minimalist. Coffee, black, got me through dozens of all-nighters in college.

The 2+cup habit persisted throughout my working life, and the only reason I'm not 20 pounds more overweight is because I'm part of a dwindling minority who drink it black.

Starbucks history: no sugar, no milk

In a nation awash in Pistachio Cream Cold Brew and Iced Chocolate Almondmilk Shaken Espresso with Chestnut Praline Syrup, black-coffee drinkers like [Alex] Wicker are becoming a rare breed.

What lovers of straight black consider simple, easy-to-pour orders can wind up stuck behind a jam of customized, multipump concoctions, they said. Sometimes their pristine black joe is lightened with sugar or cream anyway. Some baristas seem bewildered by the concept of coffee taken plain.

Mr. Wicker said his purist take on coffee makes him feel like an outcast. “I don’t know a single person within my age range that enjoys drinking black coffee,” he said.

Coffee is loaded with antioxidants. Having a daily cuppa joe is a healthy habit, as long as the drinker foregoes dairy and sweeteners.

And coffee sans accoutrements is a lot cheaper, too.

Black is better.