I get annoyed when people describe the taste and flavor of coffee as “strong”.
“Strong” is just the concentration of coffee particles in water. An espresso is stronger than an Americano for instance.
Coffee tastes bitter, sour and maybe a little sweet. The flavors can be quite complex involving fruit, nuts, spices and such. Don’t just say “sTrOnG” like an oonga boonga caveman.
Different roasts change how the coffee tastes, so even if it’s the same amount of coffee particles a lighter roast can taste “weaker” than a darker roast
A light roast will taste more acidic (sour, less bitter) compared to a dark roast. Strength is not about taste, but about concentration. Consider it like music.
Let’s say there are two types of notes: deeper, lower pitched notes and higher pitched notes.
Light roast: more higher pitched notes, less lower pitched notes
Dark roast: more lower pitched notes, less higher pitched notes.
Now imagine describing dark roasts as “louder”. It doesn’t make sense, right?
While I get what you are going for here, when I personally say a coffee is strong, I am most certainly talking about its relative concentration and I don’t think it is uncommon to do so. Some people brew coffee weaker, either for preference or to save money. That is “weak” coffee. Some people add more than typical grounds, which results in “strong” coffee.
what people define as “chocolate” is majority sugar and milk. Hence, real chocolate for them is "bitter, not sweet chocolate. The same goes with coffee. Most people’s definition of “coffee” is just this stale, super sweet, paper tasting drink.
Ooooh nice. I used to get these natural process Nicaraguan beans. Ooooo so good! Had such a funky taste! Sadly my local roaster discontinued them for whatever reason ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This is common to a lot of drinks, foods, scents if you haven’t been exposed to a variety over a period of time and all you drink is the same instant coffee each day then yeah, the flavour is “coffee” and all you really notice is the volume dial on how coffee it tastes. If you start intentionally drinking different types of coffee regularly and actually try to notice the flavours then yeah, anyone can start to identify the nuances. Its hard to identify those different components and qualities unless you try different things where they have them in different ratios.
I’m personally really into tea and similarly when people say “green tea tastes like grass” its the same thing. I try loads of different ones and am pretty good at noting the various notes, stone fruit, honeysuckle, muscatel, minerality, milk etc. Yet to most green tea tastes like grass, oolong is that weird weak tea you get in the chinese restaurant and black tea is best served with milk and sugar by the gallon in a Sports Direct mug.
And maybe I’m not entirely oonga boonga on coffee but I definitely don’t drink it enough to be good at being able to notice what exactly it is thats changing between them to be able to point it out.
Oh no, completely agreed. Not having the vocabulary/not being able to detect different flavors is completely valid! Heck, even my vocab is super limited for this.
BUT, using a completely different scale for description is annoying (at least for me). It’s like some describing different music compositions as “loud”. Sure, a non musician isn’t expected to know the individual notes and stuff, but you know… noone would describe Duel of the fates as “loud” lmao.
I get annoyed when people describe the taste and flavor of coffee as “strong”.
“Strong” is just the concentration of coffee particles in water. An espresso is stronger than an Americano for instance.
Coffee tastes bitter, sour and maybe a little sweet. The flavors can be quite complex involving fruit, nuts, spices and such. Don’t just say “sTrOnG” like an oonga boonga caveman.
Different roasts change how the coffee tastes, so even if it’s the same amount of coffee particles a lighter roast can taste “weaker” than a darker roast
A light roast will taste more acidic (sour, less bitter) compared to a dark roast. Strength is not about taste, but about concentration. Consider it like music.
Let’s say there are two types of notes: deeper, lower pitched notes and higher pitched notes.
Light roast: more higher pitched notes, less lower pitched notes
Dark roast: more lower pitched notes, less higher pitched notes.
Now imagine describing dark roasts as “louder”. It doesn’t make sense, right?
While I get what you are going for here, when I personally say a coffee is strong, I am most certainly talking about its relative concentration and I don’t think it is uncommon to do so. Some people brew coffee weaker, either for preference or to save money. That is “weak” coffee. Some people add more than typical grounds, which results in “strong” coffee.
I was a barista for over seven years.
I’m glad to see another coffee lover
Coffee is similar to chocolate to the point where I think people who don’t like chocolate also don’t like coffee.
I feel like there are two components to this:
It’s that most people use so much sugar or eat very sugary things that the moment they taste something bitter they would prefer to die
I love chocolate, and I don’t like the taste of coffee at all but I drink lots of espresso.
the beans my favorite roaster uses taste slightly of cinnamon. i already add cinnamon to my coffee, so they are my flavorite
Oooo what’s the roast and origin?
I tend to be hesitant to add stuff to my coffee. BUT, sometimes sprinkling a little bit of cinnamon on a cappuccino is fun!
dammit i lost the bag. they’re from nicaragua tho
Ooooh nice. I used to get these natural process Nicaraguan beans. Ooooo so good! Had such a funky taste! Sadly my local roaster discontinued them for whatever reason ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
This is common to a lot of drinks, foods, scents if you haven’t been exposed to a variety over a period of time and all you drink is the same instant coffee each day then yeah, the flavour is “coffee” and all you really notice is the volume dial on how coffee it tastes. If you start intentionally drinking different types of coffee regularly and actually try to notice the flavours then yeah, anyone can start to identify the nuances. Its hard to identify those different components and qualities unless you try different things where they have them in different ratios.
I’m personally really into tea and similarly when people say “green tea tastes like grass” its the same thing. I try loads of different ones and am pretty good at noting the various notes, stone fruit, honeysuckle, muscatel, minerality, milk etc. Yet to most green tea tastes like grass, oolong is that weird weak tea you get in the chinese restaurant and black tea is best served with milk and sugar by the gallon in a Sports Direct mug.
And maybe I’m not entirely oonga boonga on coffee but I definitely don’t drink it enough to be good at being able to notice what exactly it is thats changing between them to be able to point it out.
Oh no, completely agreed. Not having the vocabulary/not being able to detect different flavors is completely valid! Heck, even my vocab is super limited for this.
BUT, using a completely different scale for description is annoying (at least for me). It’s like some describing different music compositions as “loud”. Sure, a non musician isn’t expected to know the individual notes and stuff, but you know… noone would describe Duel of the fates as “loud” lmao.
Same thing I suppose.
I mean, I would, you know… If it was loud.