It's pure boredom.
Compare it to BBQ culture. In simpler times, one would have a cheap metal grill and throw some raw meat on it. By the time it almost turns black, you'd eat it.
Now people have a design baking skirt, a machine that can grill 50 things at once, temperature management, a slow cook schedule lasting days, hipster recipes for the sauce, and this doesn't even begin to describe what is now a "science".
Back to coffee, the standard stuff is fine. Most machines at work now grind beans at the spot and mixes it under high pressure. It's much better compared to the work coffee from decades ago where you could see the bottom of the cup.
The only meaningful difference with high-end coffee is that those have a softer, smoother taste. Less bitter. That's it. Yet you'd only notice if you pay attention, drink your coffee strong, with no milk, and very little or no sugar.
To mess with me, my g/f regularly switches beans in our machine at home, and won't tell me that she did. Unknowingly, I was exposed to many types of beans. I did not notice any change whatsoever.
Why not? Because I don't pay attention to coffee when I drink it. I don't analyze it, I just drink it.
One time she did directly ask: how's the coffee? I asked why...did you change it? Yes. As I had already drank it and didn't notice a difference, I made up a reply: does seem to taste a little bit better.
"Well, they're the cheap ones".
Ok then. Feeling like an idiot, I then started to pay attention and actually analyze the taste, which is something a normal person doesn't do. I can now tell the beans apart consistently, without prior knowledge. But only by actively focusing on it.
The only detectable change is softness. The problem is, now you're aware of it, and internally associate it as superior. And this is how new coffee snobs are born.