BGrubb
New member
Hi - I'm a brand new member. I joined partly to see if I'm alone in my current frustration.
I've always loved coffee - since I was in late elementary school. As with other things, such as wines, beer and often food, I gravitate toward bolder flavers. So I have always liked darker, bolder coffee with what I call a classic coffee taste.
Recently I bought a really good coffee maker (a MochaMaster by Technivorm). The first batch of coffee I brewed was awesome, but it was just the same old beans from Sprouts that I'd been buying. I decided to do some experimenting with really good beans to discover where my taste truly lies. So I went to my locall coffee geek place, Kean Coffee in Tustin, CA (owned by the great Martin Diedric) to start. I asked for a roast in the medium/light range and thought I would go up one small step each week in boldness (or whatever term I should use) to find my sweet spot. I haven't enjoyed a cup of coffee very much since. I'm about five weeks into the process and every coffee has had a thin, vegetable/fruit flavor and bitterness that I don't like. I'm almost to the top of their range now and willing to keep going, but I'm a little frustrated. By the way, I am measuring my coffee to 60g per 1 liter of filtered water which I have read is supposed to be ideal.
The other day I was at the Portola Coffee Lab, another known coffee snob stop and bought a bag of beans (Heza Mutana from Kayanza Province - Burundi). No bueno. Even thinner and lighter.
So here's my dilemma and frustration. I like to learn how to appreciate things that I love to the nth degree. I like knowing that I have learned the process of how things are made and how to pull out the nuances that make them good. I keep hearing coffee geeks say how Starbucks has ruined the American pallet by over-roasting the beans, etc. I have been lead to believe that roasting coffee darker ruins it and I wanted to teach my pallet to like "better" coffee. But so far all I'm doing is spending a lot more on coffee and not enjoying my mornings as much.
Am I alone and suffer from a malformed pallet?
I've always loved coffee - since I was in late elementary school. As with other things, such as wines, beer and often food, I gravitate toward bolder flavers. So I have always liked darker, bolder coffee with what I call a classic coffee taste.
Recently I bought a really good coffee maker (a MochaMaster by Technivorm). The first batch of coffee I brewed was awesome, but it was just the same old beans from Sprouts that I'd been buying. I decided to do some experimenting with really good beans to discover where my taste truly lies. So I went to my locall coffee geek place, Kean Coffee in Tustin, CA (owned by the great Martin Diedric) to start. I asked for a roast in the medium/light range and thought I would go up one small step each week in boldness (or whatever term I should use) to find my sweet spot. I haven't enjoyed a cup of coffee very much since. I'm about five weeks into the process and every coffee has had a thin, vegetable/fruit flavor and bitterness that I don't like. I'm almost to the top of their range now and willing to keep going, but I'm a little frustrated. By the way, I am measuring my coffee to 60g per 1 liter of filtered water which I have read is supposed to be ideal.
The other day I was at the Portola Coffee Lab, another known coffee snob stop and bought a bag of beans (Heza Mutana from Kayanza Province - Burundi). No bueno. Even thinner and lighter.
So here's my dilemma and frustration. I like to learn how to appreciate things that I love to the nth degree. I like knowing that I have learned the process of how things are made and how to pull out the nuances that make them good. I keep hearing coffee geeks say how Starbucks has ruined the American pallet by over-roasting the beans, etc. I have been lead to believe that roasting coffee darker ruins it and I wanted to teach my pallet to like "better" coffee. But so far all I'm doing is spending a lot more on coffee and not enjoying my mornings as much.
Am I alone and suffer from a malformed pallet?
Your ratio is appropriate..
