Alright, here it goes! Welcome to my #CoffeeIn series, busting a coffee myth first and then explaining in more detail later, BUT: #Coffeeisnot supposed to taste #bitter!
This is the biggest misconception people have about coffee. They think it must taste bitter. However, real coffee should be far from tasting bitter. In fact, it should actually have distinct flavours.
Just as some of you might know from the #wineindustry, and you don’t need to be an expert for this, wine can have a wide range of flavours.
There are several reasons why the misconception that coffee is supposed to taste bitter persists, and here are a few:
First, big companies like Starbucks, Costa Coffee, and Tully's Coffee want you to believe that coffee should taste a certain way because it makes it easier for them to reproduce the same coffee everywhere. What do I mean by that?
Simply put, Starbucks wants its coffee to taste the same everywhere in the world, just like McDonald's wants its Big Mac to taste the same everywhere. How do they do that?
Well, I’ll go into more detail about this in a later post, but if you roast coffee for a long, long time, making it look dark and oily, all coffee will taste the same. It’s like toasting different types of bread. Toast them all long enough, and they all become black and will taste the same no matter what.
Since #coffeeproduction can change depending on weather conditions and other external factors every year, it would be difficult for these companies to make it taste the same every year. But by #roastingcoffee as dark as possible, you won’t be able to taste the difference.
Additionally, coffee varieties taste differently, and there is more to it than just #Arabica and #Robusta. Going back to my wine example: a Shiraz and a Merlot taste different, right? They both come from red grapes, but in the end, they are different varieties of wine. Coffee is similar to that.
Saying you have Arabica coffee is like saying you're drinking red wine without specifying what kind of red wine it is. More on that later...but if you have different #CoffeeVarieties that naturally taste diverse but you want them to taste the same, you roast them dark, making them all taste uniformly bitter.
Third, the idea that coffee can taste diverse is a relatively new concept:
The first wave of coffee, which began in the 19th century and continued into the mid-20th century, focused on making coffee widely available as a commodity. This wave was characterized by mass production and convenience. The second wave began in the late 20th century and emphasized the coffee experience and brand differentiation #Starbucks
The third wave, which started in the early 2000s, focuses on artisanal coffee and treats coffee as an artisanal product like wine #specialtycoffee.
Thus, we only have thought about #coffeetaste for roughly 20 years now...it is time to change this misconception in the broader masses.
Be flexible. It keeps you employed! I’m customer service oriented, while paying attention to detail and quality of service. I like to learn company skills, and I am very creative. I prefer to not work from home.
4wI'm interested. I have an evolved and sensitive palette with tase and smell, along with texture. I love pairing unique tastes together, for the perfect dance on the taste buds. I currently work for Mondalez as a merchandiser, and have fun helping the end consumer pair our products with their needs. I am in the St. Louis, MO area, and am willing to go to our Earth City office for tastings. This would be a great bonus addition to my current job!