Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Good Coffee Is Now Bad

meltedcheeseonwhitefish.substack.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 128 posts

Re: Good Coffee Is Now Bad

#71

Post by blfr »

pydry wrote: post #69
blfr wrote: post #48

Most people/customers don't really have a good taste. This is why high quality stuff, even when competitive price-wise, have a hard time in the market. In Warsaw, one of the best cafes, I mean world class, they make their own tonic for tonic espresso, is a short stroll away from Starbucks[1]. Yet, that Starbucks does just fine. Same with clothing. Luxury brands clothes are now more expensive than custom tailored, bes…

>In Warsaw, one of the best cafes, I mean world class, they make their own tonic for tonic espresso, is a short stroll away from Starbucks[1]. Yet, that Starbucks does just fine. I read an article once about a starbucks moving next door to a specialty coffee shop. They freaked out initially, but counterintuitively, sales actually went up. I think these markets may actually be more separate and complementary than we r…

I've never been there but I don't mind the Starbucks. I'm just pointing out that plenty of people still go there when a vastly superior choice is easily available.

Re: Good Coffee Is Now Bad

#72

Post by Terretta »

Maursault wrote: post #17

Starbucks makes delicious cappuccinos and mocha espressos probably by dumping a month's worth of recommended daily allowances of sugar in them. But they are yummie. Their house blend drip coffee of various roasts, however, is burnt. Starbuck's signature flavor for their drip coffee is burned coffee. I don't know how Starbucks thought that burning their coffee was a novel idea, and I don't know how anyone can drink it…

Every Dunkin will make a half Dunkaccino half black coffee that is far less terrible than the Dunkaccino straight.

Interesting note on the "burnt", just commented same above. Read why somewhere, can't find it now.

Top suggestion for "why does starbucks taste" is "burnt".

Re: Good Coffee Is Now Bad

#73

Post by tyjen »

debacle wrote: post #59

I almost never eat steak in restaurants. The most critical part of a steak is the butcher + the aging. Yes, you can screw up a steak on the grill or in the pan, but you're not going to turn a poor steak into an incredible steak, and you're not going to ruin an incredible steak unless you burn it. So I buy good steaks, and I prepare them exactly how I like them - a little pink, a ridiculous sear, a bit of thyme, and t…

Yep, we're the same with steaks and coffee. Buy a terrific cut of meat from the local butcher and cook via reverse searing or sous vide.

My family and I went through the coffee experimentation phase while living in Seattle. Prior to this we simply bought coffee from an assortment of shops or huts, narrowing which local vendors produced the most consistent quality cups. After calculating the costs, relative to the quality though, we swapped to trying various beans from local roasters and home brewing methods--some of which took considerably more time and effort than what's reasonable for a single cup.

Presently, we use a Moccamaster and purchase beans from a small-scale roaster on the West coast, even though we moved to the East coast. We swap bean type based on seasonality and try "new" beans to see if we want to rotate them into our normal lineup. Matches our lifestyle and provides consistency in quality. Maybe we're just becoming old and don't want to risk a bad cup from a vendor as well.

The wife still buys her pumpkin spice latte one-pump with soy milk once a year on the first day of fall.

Re: Good Coffee Is Now Bad

#74

Post by pydry »

blfr wrote: post #71
pydry wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>In Warsaw, one of the best cafes, I mean world class, they make their own tonic for tonic espresso, is a short stroll away from Starbucks[1]. Yet, that Starbucks does just fine. I read an article once about a starbucks moving next door to a specialty coffee shop. They freaked out initially, but counterintuitively, sales actually went up. I think these markets may actually be more separate and complementary than we r…

I've never been there but I don't mind the Starbucks. I'm just pointing out that plenty of people still go there when a vastly superior choice is easily available.

I know a few people who do this. They tend to value consistency and familiarity, I think - not just with coffee but with other areas of their life.

Theyll usually order the same drink every time they go.

Re: Good Coffee Is Now Bad

#75

Post by rhino369 »

porknubbins wrote: post #25
sneak wrote: post #3

Everything that starts with snobs and crosses over to the mainstream (with "quality" pricing) will eventually revert to lowest common denominator crap quality (while retaining quality branding) because the marks can't tell the difference. Why not cut costs and increase margin if most of your customers don't notice? Apple is one of the few companies in a position to do this who doesn't consistently do it, because qual…

This is true in the US but not universally true. We are a commercial society where the money matters more than the prestiege or whatever other reward for making a great product. There are places I’ve been to in Italy or Japan where this is not the case, in fact I wouldn’t even know what good coffee was if not for those countries.

It’s about food culture. When there is a long history, it is preserved.

American food culture is essentially industrial. I’m interested why that is, but I assume it’s because the pre-industrial revolution America food culture wasn't that well rooted.

A lot of Europeans drink nasty instant coffee though.

Re: Good Coffee Is Now Bad

#76

Post by nindalf »

I tried really hard to find a point somewhere in there, but couldn’t. It felt like the author was padding out his complaint, whatever it was, for the sake of word count. Was this written by GPT-3?

Re: Good Coffee Is Now Bad

#77

Post by steve_adams_86 »

drcongo wrote: post #42
neogodless wrote: post #8

> I consider myself an expert on this sigh > the part that’s more offensive than the price is that a lot of times it isn’t good So don't go there and don't buy it. > wish that I took that much interest in the coffee I make. But I don’t So you're saying you don't care enough about coffee to make it yourself, but you have a whole ton of options close to home and some you like and many you don't, and you want to complai…

Substack seems to have turned everyone into an expert on things they know nothing about. This article is terrible.

I kept waiting for the part where compelling information would be presented. It boils down to “some businesses don’t care to make great coffee because people will buy mediocre coffee”.

The entire article could be about any other food or drink and would be just as true, but also similarly obvious.

I felt a little ripped off after getting to the end. I was looking forward to expert information to provide some interesting insights.

I got the equivalent of “some places make a bad ribeye, but they’ll still charge you $50!”. Of course, and you just make a mental note and go somewhere else next time. That’s it.

Re: Good Coffee Is Now Bad

#78

Post by iamdamian »

ctrlmeta wrote: post #58
drcongo wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Substack seems to have turned everyone into an expert on things they know nothing about. This article is terrible.

Agreed! Makes me wonder if all these blogging platforms are solving problems or creating new ones. For every discerning reader who may be wise to not trust what they read, there are thousands of gullible ones who would believe anything they read just because it is written.

> Makes me wonder if all these blogging platforms are solving problems or creating new ones.

Why is this a new problem? The same complaint has been made since the invention of the printing press (and, later, with the advent of the Internet).

Re: Good Coffee Is Now Bad

#79

Post by michaelt »

3pt14159 wrote: post #20

Theres this Orwell piece that just absolutely resonates with me. https://www.orwellfoundation.com/the-orwell-foundation/orwel... My favourite bit in there is: > All the organs of his body were working –bowels digesting food, skin renewing itself, nails growing, tissues forming–all toiling away in solemn foolery. His nails would still be growing when he stood on the drop, when he was falling through the air with a ten…

Eh, when it comes to important things in life I'd say good food and drink is right up there with friends, family and good health.

I don't personally have great taste in coffee - but a person's gotta have some things in life that they enjoy, otherwise what's the point?

Re: Good Coffee Is Now Bad

#80

Post by lm28469 »

Maursault wrote: post #17

Starbucks makes delicious cappuccinos and mocha espressos probably by dumping a month's worth of recommended daily allowances of sugar in them. But they are yummie. Their house blend drip coffee of various roasts, however, is burnt. Starbuck's signature flavor for their drip coffee is burned coffee. I don't know how Starbucks thought that burning their coffee was a novel idea, and I don't know how anyone can drink it…

> Starbucks makes delicious cappuccinos and mocha espressos probably by dumping a month's worth of recommended daily allowances of sugar in them. But they are yummie.

It's only yummy if you're addicted to sugar in the first place, it's closer to a soda than coffee for me and I definitely can't drink more than a few gulps without feeling disgusted

Post reply on HN