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The case for bad coffee (2015)

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Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#391

Post by NIckGeek »

xeromal wrote: post #172
LesZedCB wrote: post #157

commodity coffee is bad - for the farmers and workers (low, inconsistent pay) - for the environment (mono-cropping) - for the roaster (inconsistent quality and needs to be over-roasted to equalize) - in the cup (tastes over-roasted) sorry. just because we have all gotten used to commodity coffee pricing "for your daily fix" doesn't mean it's good or acceptable. it's inextricable from it's history in colonialism.

I understand your point, but I personally feel like we're at a point where anything you consume has downstream consequences that you mentioned. It doesn't even matter if you get made-in-the-(EU, USA, ETC) as the raw materials mined using the same bad practices.

There are many fair trade coffee's from local roasters where there is a minimum price for the green coffee for the farmers at the start of the chain.

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#392

Post by telchior »

hammyhavoc wrote: post #238
slothtrop wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Isn't "hot and brown" a mainstay of British cuisine in general?

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#393

Post by BrissyCoder »

fredley wrote: post #111
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 second this approach. I buy locally roasted beans, and have a reasonably nice grinder and an aeropress. For my palette, the coffee's as good as I can get anywhere.

Is there an appreciable difference in quality between a french press and an aeropress?

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#394

Post by jraby3 »

anu7df wrote: post #378

Beautiful post. More about emotions surrounding shared experiences where coffee happens to be a bystander. This does bring me to a coffee problem that I could never adequately address. How do I with a slight OCD for cleanliness and fondness for one or two cups of good coffee a day develop a coffee ritual that works? My espresso machine is unused most days because I can't settle down with my espresso or cappuccino til…

My theory is that eventually you get used to which ever coffee you drink and start to crave that.

In Israel everyone drinks instant coffee. It’s standard in every house. When I first moved here I hated it. Now I love it. It’s become comforting - the ritual of a quick, warm drink in the morning to start my day.

We still have a fancy machine, and a nespresso machine too. But the instant coffee wins the day for my wife and I every morning.

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#395

Post by febed »

I know my own interest in good coffee is fickle, which is why I limited myself to a Melita pour over. Sacrilege, in know but I use instant most of the time and the pour over occasionally.

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#396

Post by deepsquirrelnet »

anu7df wrote: post #378

Beautiful post. More about emotions surrounding shared experiences where coffee happens to be a bystander. This does bring me to a coffee problem that I could never adequately address. How do I with a slight OCD for cleanliness and fondness for one or two cups of good coffee a day develop a coffee ritual that works? My espresso machine is unused most days because I can't settle down with my espresso or cappuccino til…

I think also about the act of getting older, and the natural process of shifting priorities from new experiences toward relationships or sentimentalism.

After you’ve had 1,000s of cups of single origin coffees, the next one will surely not be anything terribly surprising. All connoisseurship eventually meets its finite ends, and with it, the excitement of the process of discovery.

It’s a wise lesson to take friends with you wherever you go. Don’t have your best cup of coffee alone. It won’t be worth it.

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#397

Post by parasubvert »

civilized wrote: post #340
rfrey wrote: post #263

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not undeniable. Dark roasts are much more difficult to get right and be consistent with. Many roasters can't do it, so they're happy to promote the idea that people who like dark roasts are coffee dilettantes. To me, it's similar to how so many American microbreweries go crazy with hops.

> To me, it's similar to how so many American microbreweries go crazy with hops. Every "hopocalypse" type beer is utterly forgettable. It's like when you go to some tourist-y small town in the Midwestern US and the gift shop has five hundred different INSANELY HOT SAUCES no one's heard of. I guess "hoppy" is a powerful, accessible flavor that anyone can easily make, like squeezing a bottle of Sriracha onto some noodl…

This is overly dismissive of certain styles, the same could be said for any popular style like yet another chocolatey syrupy Imperial Stout, or yet another crisp Pilsner.

Hoppy is anything but accessible, in my experience, clearly some people love them but most casual drinkers do not. I personally find certain DIPAs to be a near religious experience but others can’t stand them. To each their own.

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#398

Post by mrexroad »

acchow wrote: post #215
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…

> You don’t want old coffee (anything older than a few weeks isn’t good) I find pourovers extremely sensitive to timing. For an espresso, 1-2 weeks old is totally fine (even preferred?), but for pourovers the flavor is totally different even just 8-9 days after roasting. Is there any way around this?

Yup. Even after adjusting grind to account for age, i found 2 weeks to be cutoff for espresso out of my Silvia. I do pretty much only pour overs these days though, and find I need to adjust brew temp after around 8-9 day range. However, after 2-3 weeks I find the effortflavor trade off isn’t worth it, and toss the beans in a canister I keep for brewing with a Moccamaster.

Fwiw, I keep my beans in Fellow Atmos (vacuum) canisters. Picked up a 3 pack on sale at Costco, and I’ve been presently surprised by beans keeping a few days longer.

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#400

Post by 2muchcoffeeman »

staticautomatic wrote: post #125
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…

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.

Many classic coffee places are steeped in tradition. How would they know there are other ways to roast or brew coffee?

There's a good reason that the most interesting espresso machine you can buy right now was from a successful Kickstarter, manufactured in Hong Kong and is controlled by an Android tablet(https://decentespresso.com) and some of the more interesting coffee nerdery or equipment is coming from the UK, Australia or the US.

Everyone has been doing classic medium dark espresso roasts and hitting the cocao, caramel flavour profiles since forever. Or getting really dark till you get the burnt and rubber notes. The point of lighter roasts and all this nerdery isn't to tell you what to drink. It's to show what's possible with the processing of green beans, roasting and brewing, and to bring potential new drinkers in.

Snobbery in any past-time sucks, but discounting things based on that snobbery is also a bit silly.

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