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The case for bad coffee (2015)

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Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#521

Post by fsckboy »

eloisius wrote: post #330
technothrasher wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Last time I was in Oregon I tried to go into a coffee place and get a cup of coffee. Now, I'm admittedly not a big fancy coffee guy, usually drinking whatever Dunkin Donuts or McDonald's swill I can get, but I couldn't for the life of me figure out what the hell I was supposed to order. It was all fancy names on the menu and nothing that was just "coffee". I finally just said, "I want, like, normal, I don't know, Eas…

If you went into a wood oven Neapolitan pizza place, huffed over the menu when you couldn't find "meat lovers" and then finally said "I want, like, normal, I don't know, East Coast pizza" you'd probably get an eye roll too. But, if you just say you're not familiar with whats on the menu, ask what's good and has meat on it, they'd probably be happy to help you find something you like. It's often about how you say some…

it's a small point but "official" Neapolitan pizza (or should I say pizza Napoletano) is not available with meat on it

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#522

Post by fsckboy »

krageon wrote: post #508
erikpukinskis wrote: post #321

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can just ask for a “small coffee”, you don’t have to turn it into a weird territorial thing. Most places will have normal drip coffee ready to go. In the rare case somewhere only does made-to-order, you want an Americano. It’ll be fast and good and what you want.

An Americano is a normal cup of coffee with a large amount of water added. It's like a medium-strong tea. I was under the impression it was called that as some sort of disparagement of the US. Is this actually what is regularly consumed there?

an Americano, in Italy and in the US, is an espresso with water added to dilute it to the strength of "a cup of coffee".

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#523

Post by fredley »

stephen_g wrote: post #520
fredley wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Aeropress is a cool product, but the couple of times I tried it (I borrowed a friend's) I just found it too messy and quite fiddly. So I prefer pour-over now with a V60 now when I'm not making espresso because you can pick the whole filter up by the top (touching only paper) and drop it in the bin. Then the V60 usually only needs a rinse with boiling water if you do it immediately (and don't let it dry).

There's a knack but one of the things I love about the Aeropress is it's completely mess free: unscrew, plunge out into compost bin and tap, rinse under tap, done!

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#524

Post by V-2 »

The word "Maxwell" appearing no less than 5 times in the article makes me suspect the blog post is a (clever) astroturfing campaign ; ) "...the existence of the PR industry, lurking like a huge, quiet submarine beneath the news..." and all that.

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#525

Post by PaulKeeble »

hnarn wrote: post #485

The only part of being a "coffee snob" that I personally respect is the concern regarding the origin of the coffee itself and the conditions of the workers farming it. I'm not interested in the intricacies of what beans are used or what soil it has grown in, but I think there's a case to make that if you're buying Nestlé instant coffee and taking some kind of contrarian pride in that, you're at least partly proud of…

Given all the effort that went into getting the bean grown and harvested then carefully washed, dried and finally roasted as drinkers I think we have some obligation to at least try to get the best out of it that we can. That doesn't mean spending 10k on machines and grinders but we can should some effort to finding the right grind size, process timings and weights that produce the best taste out of it that we can find. It is often surprising the flavors that can be found out of coffee and until someone has chased that rainbow that don't realise the incredible range that coffee can produce when prepared well.

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#526

Post by secretsatan »

I'm like this with Tea now, used to buy lots of different sorts, but just got bored of it all and I find I just like my PG tips with milk, I don't live in the UK but there's always shops you can find that import it. We've got loads of nice teas at work too, but I have my own private stash of the pyramid bags.

I never really got coffee, I usually only have one a day, I found I do prefer the stuff I make in my mocha pot, and that's not too much hassle, I get pre ground, I really cannot tell the difference between really good coffee and what the pot makes. I def find it better than instant.

I watched some guy on youtube explaining how to make the perfect coffee from the pot and just thought it was a bit too much hassle, and I preferred the way I was making it anyway, so gave up on that.

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#527

Post by enaaem »

LesZedCB wrote: post #435
markdown wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But it’s removing the majority of flavor. Removing some flavours and adding others. The fact that you prefer the initial flavours is subjective.

eventually the maillard reactions are no longer developing flavors and are just burning. no different than a bagel, pizza, steak, or chocolate.

Burnt is a flavour. Many people like bbq, pizza and baguette to be slightly charred.

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#528

Post by sizzle »

2muchcoffeeman wrote: post #400
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.

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,…

This is so cool, thanks for sharing!

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#529

Post by stephen_g »

smarks wrote: post #52

Of course the article is less about good coffee or bad coffee but about how coffee is intertwined with our lives and our culture (at least, American culture). For example, the author mentioned Perkins and I knew exactly what he was talking about. The stories about his stepdad Ted were touching as well. Two memorable coffee experiences come to my mind. One was a dinner I had with the late John Vlissides (probably know…

The operating principle of percolators basically requires overheating the coffee, so having a burnt taste is probably how it always was.

Re: The case for bad coffee (2015)

#530

Post by rubenbe »

baxuz wrote: post #445
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.

Austria has pretty bad coffee. 99.9% of shops sell Julius Meinl from pretty badly maintained espresso machines. And their coffee is usually burnt. Italy has, in general, people who know how to make better coffee as they treat their machines and the procedure with more care. The coffee isn't all that better. Both Lavazza and Illy are robusta blends. Turkish coffee has nothing to do with espresso coffee, or filter coff…

> Austria has pretty bad coffee.

I agree, I traveled once from Italy towards Austria. And the difference could not be bigger. Also aggravated by the fact I payed a ridiculous amount for it (IIRC 4 euro in Austria, 1 euro in Italy)

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