Remember that drink I invented yesterday? (oc)

[u/DaveKellett]

COME for the acrid taste, but STAY for the lack of caffeine!

[u/Aryore]

If your coffee is acrid it’s either poor quality or wasn’t brewed correctly

Coffee is always going to be a little bitter but it can be delicious

Edit: Guys I am not saying you’re not allowed to dislike coffee, I’m just saying it’s not supposed to be super bitter. Waffles, pancakes, etc.

[u/ShinakoX2 → u/Aryore]

I suspect that I'm more sensitive to bitter compounds than the average person, as coffee and beer tends to be way too bitter for me unless I go for the least bitter options (lighter roasts, low IBU, etc.)

But I recently tried some diner coffee, and while it wasn't super bitter, once I added some salt any bitterness was overshadowed by actual flavors and it was almost like I was drinking a dark chocolate hot cocoa. Is that what coffee tastes like to most people?

[u/windexfresh → u/ShinakoX2]

I visited my long distance best friend and one morning she was like "oh hey my husband is like realllly into coffee, want him to make you a cup? He's very proud of his brewing skills" and holy shit was he right to be proud, ive never had such an amazing cup of coffee in my life, and dude just whipped it up like it was nothing.

It was genuinely a completely different experience lmao I've been chasing that high ever since

[u/rockstar2012 → u/windexfresh]

Time to get gooseneck kettle, a v60, a grinder, and some filters. The most important part of making good coffee is getting good and fresh beans and good water.

[u/82away → u/windexfresh]

It was genuinely a completely different experience lmao I've been chasing that high ever since

Have it heard similar stories, Coffee drinkers often sound like drug / alcohol users. My life works without coffee and I prefer it that way without chasing that coffee I once had years ago that I can’t recreate and now my morning isn’t right.

[u/mirrorball_for_me → u/82away]

It’s not a literal “high”, like an inebriation of sorts. You just want the same taste again, like eating good food. It’s very natural to want to drink something with the same taste twice.

The issue is that coffee flavor is exceedingly hard to reproduce, especially because it’s very sensitive to differences on harvests on the same plants, so buying it from the same roaster from the same producer using the same fermentation method on next year’s harvest may not taste similarly. The roaster will also keep tweaking the roast profile to compensate for bean oxidation. After roasting you have a few weeks to use it before it’s no longer fresh, and only precious few minutes after grinding.

Think wine but way harder to guarantee the same taste. The upside is that you get used to every bag of coffee tasting different, forever, like eating fresh fruit and knowing each one will be slightly different than the previous one.

[u/acquaintedwithheight → u/ShinakoX2]

You should try a PTC taste test. Most people barely react or test anything, but to some of us it tastes like a orange peel wrapped in arugula dialed up by 10.

[u/Murky-Bus-2191 → u/acquaintedwithheight]

Wrapped in arugula is such a hilarious metric as a non-bitter-sensitive person.

[u/acquaintedwithheight → u/Murky-Bus-2191]

I’m all over the place. I love cilantro but arugala tastes like purell to me.

[u/composedofidiot → u/acquaintedwithheight]

My friend made me a coctail with cilantro in it. It was strangely moreish for something that tasted like alcoholic shampoo. After two of those I was proudly announcing to anybody I could that I was drinking toiletries

[u/Pinyaka → u/Murky-Bus-2191]

Is arugula only bitter to some people?

[u/Murky-Bus-2191 → u/Pinyaka]

I mean, it is definitely bitter. Not anhydrous-caffiene-bitter, certainly.

Describing something as "orange wrapped in arugula" bitterness sounds like "as sweet as an apple with some peanut butter on it." Inarguably sweet, but in a world with caramel, it raises questions.

You ever had a bad pistachio or a regular ass grapefruit? You went for ORANGES?

[u/Pinyaka → u/Murky-Bus-2191]

I'm not the person who made the orange comment.

I did grow up in Florida though and can tell you that some oranges are grapefruit level bitter.

[u/Murky-Bus-2191 → u/Pinyaka]

That was a royal "you." I just thought it sounded funny.

[u/acquaintedwithheight → u/Murky-Bus-2191]

Orange peel

[u/Garzino → u/acquaintedwithheight]

As an italian i have no problems with you or your pronunciation, it's just my national duty to say: it's Rucola, not Arugula. Here, done my party 🫡

[u/AFakeName → u/Garzino]

Arugula arugula arugula arugula

[u/ricedchai → u/ShinakoX2]

i might need to try that too... genuinely never occurred to me that black coffee might taste like something other than Bitter to other people

[u/irrelevanttointerest → u/ricedchai]

Consider also trying a well rated cold brew. Just like tea, coffee is very temperature specific and if you fuck it up even slightly it makes a worse cup. Cold brew takes way longer but there's next to no bitterness. I can drink it straight brewing at home, but if I forgot to start it the day before and I'm in a rush (and need to normal brew it) I need a teaspoon of sugar.

[u/snazztasticmatt → u/ShinakoX2]

A lot of the bitterness comes from either how much it is roasted (darker = more bitter) or bad brewing technique (water is too hot/cold, grind is too fine, etc). Actually some brewing methods can produce very acidic coffee, which happens when the beans are too course and under extracted (water passes through too quickly). I would recommend trying a pour over from a roaster that specializes in medium and light roasts. Medium roasts will be sweet with chocolate and caramel flavor profiles, while light roasts can be similar to tea, having fruity, floral, or grassy profiles

[u/Moikle → u/ShinakoX2]

Not all coffee is actually bitter! The trouble is that shitty instant coffee has become everyone's baseline for what coffee is. There is so much variety beyond that

[u/girlikecupcake → u/Moikle]

Instant coffee today is a hell of a lot better than it was twenty, even ten years ago. I absolutely agree that there's so much variety in coffee and so many ways to fuck it up, but that's one type that has improved by a ridiculous amount. It actually tastes like coffee now, not like ground up shoes.

[u/Moikle → u/girlikecupcake]

True, it's much better now, although all instant (and most of what you get if you just ask for "coffee" from a coffee shop) is designed to be very middle-of-the-road standard the same everywhere. Bitter with some chocolate or caramel notes. Homogenised.

There is so much more out there, that even someone who hasn't tasted a lot of coffee will be able to tell is drastically different