My buddy called my espresso shots "battery acid" and I switched to a different roast level

I was pulling dark roasts at 18g for years until he tried one and made that face. Switched to a medium Ethiopian and now I actually taste fruit instead of ash. What roast changed your mind about coffee?

3 comments

3 Comments

emma34924d ago

Wait, did you ever try to figure out what was going wrong with your dark roast pulls before switching? I feel your pain though because I did the EXACT same thing a few years back. My home espresso was just this bitter mess that I convinced myself was "strong and bold" but really it was just burnt water. Switching to a medium roast Guatemalan was like someone turned on the lights and I could finally taste cherry and chocolate instead of charcoal. Now I get why those old school Italian roaster guys think we're all crazy, but honestly I never want to go back to that burnt rubber taste.

anthony_wells24d ago

My brother-in-law swore by these super dark espresso beans from some random Italian roaster. I tried pulling them at home and it tasted like I was drinking straight up burnt rubber. Finally grabbed a bag of light roast Costa Rican beans on a whim and suddenly I could actually tell what "notes of honey and lemon" meant. Now I just buy whatever single origin looks interesting and pray I don't accidentally make battery acid again.

ivanb4124d ago

burnt rubber" lol thats literally how my first espresso machine experience went. Its kinda like how people think more expensive wine is always better but sometimes a cheap bottle from the grocery store hits just right. The search for good stuff just turns into a fun gamble where you lose half the time.