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The case for bad coffee (2015)

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Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#231

Post by bufordtwain »

xioxox wrote: post #25

I certainly like instant coffee and prefer it over many other types I have tried. It took a few tries to find a good one, however. Perhaps it's because I mostly like coffee quite milky, which might cover over any quality issues. Developing a taste for good coffee (or wine, etc) doesn't seem attractive to me. You end up needing more and more equipment. You need expensive high quality beans. It's typically messy, time…

I drink instant coffee now and have settled on this one: https://smile.amazon.com/Moccona-Coffee-Freeze-Dried-Medium-... Unfortunately it's expensive. It's good though.

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#232

Post by intrasight »

LesZedCB wrote: post #145
intrasight wrote: post #50

I went shopping last week and my go-to whole bean was $20/bag. I bought it, but I also went online to look for some cheaper options. Any suggestions?

sweetmarias.com check out their nostalgia popper. roast your own, it's always fresh. green coffee is ridiculously cheap. if you don't want to work for it, some subscriptions from your favorite local roaster can be a good deal, especially if you get large bags (2lbs or 5lbs), divide into batches and freeze. find a good blend from a good roaster. Southern Weather from Onyx Coffee Labs is one of my favorite "daily drive…

Southern Weather is also $20/lb

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#233

Post by acchow »

WastingMyTime89 wrote: post #132
blowski wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’ve given me my opportunity to be a pedantic coffee snob… those don’t make espresso as they don’t generate enough pressure. But they do make fantastic coffee.

They are finicky little things however (say the guy with a Silvia). It’s easy to burn your coffee if you don’t pay attention.

I've pretty much given up on them since it ends up with a burnt taste about 80% of the time

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#234

Post by sershe »

ryanSrich wrote: post #139
staticautomatic wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn’t directed at you/OP, but the anti dark roast thing seems to me to be a distinctively American coffee snob hipster thing. Many places in the world have wonderful dark roast coffee. Honestly, are these people just wandering around Austria, Italy, Vietnam, Cuba, or Turkey complaining about bad the coffee is? Give me a break.

I mean people can drink coffee however they want, but dark roasting beans absolutely destroys the majority of flavors within the bean. There’s no denying that. It’s similar to eating a steak well done. People do it, and it’s even very common in certain countries. But it’s removing the majority of flavor. I don’t see how anyone could deny that.

Or you could argue it eliminates the flavor that needs to be eliminated; using your steak analogy from a sibling comment, drinking medium/light roast may be like eating the steak raw or frozen. Totally different flavor from medium-rare, just not the one many people want.

I recently had an unwitting encounter with medium roast (at the same "semi-fancy" price point as I typically buy) when my wife put some fresh beans in our coffee container. First cup I made, I was wondering why the coffee tastes so bad, bad enough for me to dump it. There were all those weird sour/almost soda like notes that should not be in coffee. Then I got suspicious about the look of the beans, then I asked my wife... "I decided it would be good to try something new" ;)

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#235

Post by acchow »

rjh29 wrote: post #42
CptFribble wrote: post #4

Like most things, coffee is subject to diminishing returns. I have also owned nearly every device invented to make coffee - as I'm sure many others here have - and I've settled on a simple over-the-mug pour-over cone, but mainly because there's no moving parts or tubes to worry about cleaning. I don't even know what "correct" pour-over technique is, so I'm basically making bog-standard single-serving drip coffee with…

I like your point about signalling. It's also true that the vast majority of people are not fussy about coffee and can drink anything. If you stay on the internet long enough it's easy to feel like you're the weird one for not investing in an expensive grinder or coffee machine or caring about the type of beans you use, while those people are actually the very small majority, they just broadcast it loudly.

What is there to broadcast if you are drinking the same Maxwell House every single day for a decade?

On the other hand, those in coffee culture are always talking about beans to buy, why their coffee tastes messed up this month, how to fix their machines, how to adjust their grind to the latest roast they are trying (every roast needs a different grind).

They're more vocal because there is a lot more to discuss.

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#236

Post by majormajor »

WastingMyTime89 wrote: post #146
majormajor wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What exactly do you mean by "pay so much"? E.g. I could buy a KG of single origin that I'd call "fairly good" for about $33 bucks - which recently would've been like 28 Euros though it's about 1-to-1 now - is that what you mean? Or are you meaning much more than that? Like comparing to retail "fancy coffee shop" US drink price? (There's a lot of range in what one person might call fairly good compared to the next, to…

The price you are giving me is indeed between 30% and 50% above the one I pay and the 22€ is post-taxes while I suspect you are giving me a pre-taxes price in the USA. My understanding from reading Reddit was that 40$ a kilo was not uncommon.

You could definitely spend $40, $60, probably even more for a kg in the US, but I think that's fairly uncommon.

Something costing 30-50% different in another country is kinda what I'd expect, the double or triple stuff I think would more be fancy people being extra-fancy.

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#237

Post by hammyhavoc »

spudlyo wrote: post #199
ryanSrich wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I mean people can drink coffee however they want, but dark roasting beans absolutely destroys the majority of flavors within the bean. There’s no denying that. It’s similar to eating a steak well done. People do it, and it’s even very common in certain countries. But it’s removing the majority of flavor. I don’t see how anyone could deny that.

To me, light roasts taste like somebody squeezed half a lemon into my cup of coffee. That bright floral/citrus flavor is something I absolutely do not want in my morning brew. I crave that slightly bitter, heavy body, chocolate/nutty flavor that I associate with dark roasts.

My thoughts exactly. Now I drink espresso coffee in normal mugs, without coffee or sugar. There's a lot of flavour in coffee that's masked with milk and sugar. Spicy notes, chocolatey notes. Even mildly fruity notes, but the more bitter, the better.

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#238

Post by hammyhavoc »

slothtrop wrote: post #198
tsomctl wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps. But that's how Starbucks works, by buying shitty beans and dark roasting them. It also makes it easier to have consistent coffee (consistently burnt, that is).

Starbucks coffee tastes like battery acid.

Here in the UK, I'd say Starbucks tastes of nothing. Hot brown drink. Their ground bags you can buy and take home are equally a non-event. Not sure why people rave about it. Coffee is some of the worst I've had, not withstanding UK McDonald's.

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#239

Post by 0xEFF »

zwieback wrote: post #201
staticautomatic wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This isn’t directed at you/OP, but the anti dark roast thing seems to me to be a distinctively American coffee snob hipster thing. Many places in the world have wonderful dark roast coffee. Honestly, are these people just wandering around Austria, Italy, Vietnam, Cuba, or Turkey complaining about bad the coffee is? Give me a break.

Agree, I don't even order coffee in Portland anymore because everything is "delicate, fruity, floral" light roast aka. tastes like goddam vinegar.

Water Avenue Coffee out of an aeropress tastes sweet to me.

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#240

Post by hammyhavoc »

Eddy_Viscosity2 wrote: post #212
ryanSrich wrote: post #105

I’ve gone through several coffee phases, some bordering on extreme — extremely sensitive weighing, timing, $2,000 grinders, $10k espresso machine, etc. My happy medium is just doing basic pour overs, but with really good locally roasted coffee. To me, this is the cheapest and best approach. In fact, even if pour overs require too much work (weighing, timing), then just do drip. But do it with quality coffee. Quality…

I like dark roast coffee, ice cubes in my scotch, and my steak well done and I'm tried of people telling me I'm wrong. Let me like the things I like.

When I still drank alcohol and ate meat, this was me in a sentence. I wonder if liking these specific flavour profiles is common? In the same way that some people like chocolate, others prefer gummies, some don't enjoy candy, period.
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