Decades ago, an old friend told me "I became a coffee expert, I learned everything there is to learn about beans, the ways to prepare them, the chemistry that goes into it, and now I can only enjoy a cup of coffee prepared by the most expensive machines from the most expensive beans. The shit part is that I enjoy it just as much as I enjoyed my shitty supermarket coffee back when I didn't know anything about coffee."…
Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste
371–380 of 396 posts
Re: Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste
#372Decades ago, an old friend told me "I became a coffee expert, I learned everything there is to learn about beans, the ways to prepare them, the chemistry that goes into it, and now I can only enjoy a cup of coffee prepared by the most expensive machines from the most expensive beans. The shit part is that I enjoy it just as much as I enjoyed my shitty supermarket coffee back when I didn't know anything about coffee."…
Most often, people deliberately choose not to pursue a special interests area because of limited time / budget rather than a lack of perception for what is "good".
Re: Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste
#373Decades ago, an old friend told me "I became a coffee expert, I learned everything there is to learn about beans, the ways to prepare them, the chemistry that goes into it, and now I can only enjoy a cup of coffee prepared by the most expensive machines from the most expensive beans. The shit part is that I enjoy it just as much as I enjoyed my shitty supermarket coffee back when I didn't know anything about coffee."…
Re: Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste
#374Earlier quoted context omitted.
I absolutely agree. If you look at my github, you might think I don't program all that much. If you look at my ~/Code folder on my PC, you might think I program too much. Tinkering with fun little projects has made me a better programmer and understand my language (Ruby) much better.
I put many of these into GH anyways because who knows when someone else might find it useful. https://github.com/CharlieDigital?tab=repositories
Re: Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste
#375Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, that's a horrible way to enjoy life. By your reasoning, you should subsist on protein blocks and watch paint dry for entertainment. By lowering the bar to the absolute lowest threshold, you'll classify everything as enjoyable. The pareto principle holds strong. Just put 20% of the effort in and you reap 80% of the results.
I get what they are trying to say. Looking for negatives is the problem. When I was in college I got into beer. I was brewing at home and whenever I went out I was looking for something new and tasting it like I was a beer critic. It was great fun at first, but then the more refined my palate got, the less I found myself being able to find beer I enjoyed. Like if I went to a hockey game, I'd complain about the only c…
One time I was walking around Belgium in the rain, I was cold and every single restaurant or bar (some serve food) was packed and wouldn't let new patrons in.
After walking around for about 35 minutes we found a cozy bar, had a beer, and discovered that they had a big pot of spicy pasta in the back, where you could pay €1 to ladle full a plate. In my memory, that is still the best meal I've ever tasted. And I'm definitely a haute cuisine enjoyer, been to a fair bit of Michelin restaurants.
Re: Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste
#376Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is there any place on earth that has good coffee? Italy's coffee is horrible , even if they have quality machines to make it with. 99% of people will use "ille" or whatever that brand is, which is far worse than starbucks worst roast. Meanwhile I can wander down the street in the US and find better sourced and roasted beans than I could find anywhere in europe.
>Meanwhile I can wander down the street in the US and find better sourced and roasted beans than I could find anywhere in europe. You must know the place you live very well, I was excited to try coffee in New York when I lived in Manhattan given it was essentially responsible for popularising the current trend in western coffee culture. I had many local coffee snobs directing me to places all over the city and I foun…
Re: Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste
#377Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Meanwhile I can wander down the street in the US and find better sourced and roasted beans than I could find anywhere in europe. You must know the place you live very well, I was excited to try coffee in New York when I lived in Manhattan given it was essentially responsible for popularising the current trend in western coffee culture. I had many local coffee snobs directing me to places all over the city and I foun…
Perhaps europeans are simply used to burnt coffee
I will admit of course that the French seem to enjoy charcoal, and when in my teens I worked as at a shop the beans that were left too long in the roaster were usually marked as "French Roast"
Re: Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste
#378Decades ago, an old friend told me "I became a coffee expert, I learned everything there is to learn about beans, the ways to prepare them, the chemistry that goes into it, and now I can only enjoy a cup of coffee prepared by the most expensive machines from the most expensive beans. The shit part is that I enjoy it just as much as I enjoyed my shitty supermarket coffee back when I didn't know anything about coffee."…
In hindsight it was dumb. I love the little ritual of making coffee. I finally notice coffee, the same way I notice good carpentry and art. It added another layer of understanding and appreciation to life.
Art is all about the shortcuts you choose to take to represent reality on a canvas. I think that life is the opposite. It's all about what you choose to complicate, to be deliberate about.
Re: Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste
#379Re: Tinkering is a way to acquire good taste
#380Earlier quoted context omitted.
That would be the butyric acid.
It's what gives US chocolate the "vomit/bile" taste uncommon in other chocolate. I am guessing it becomes acquired or unnoticeable taste for people who eat it a lot but man is it a shock if you usually eat chocolate without it! I have no idea why they use it, but I can think of one really good reason why they shouldn't, your product probably shouldn't have "hints of vomit" in its flavour profile.