At visiting my parent’s this holiday weekend I tired to gently tell my parents that their coffee brew is very bitter. The response I get back is something like, " I like it strong."
I wasn’t too sure how to respond, but then they told me my coffee is to watery. 🤔 I told them it’s not that is watery, but it’s a light roast and not bitter tasting.
So my question is how do you convince someone that bitter coffee is not good coffee? I might bring my scale next time to help measure and perfect the coffee brew there. Maybe even see about cleaning their been grinder, which I think has never been cleaned.
Oh well.
Update: Thanks for all the tips and thoughts. I agree with basically everything posted here and sorry no butter (I fixed the title)
I love bitter coffee. And chocolate.
Just because it’s not your cup of tea (or coffee) doesn’t make it bad or wrong.
Taste buds change over years in the same person. Flavor preference holds no logic because people are individuals.
Just because you like something doesn’t mean other people have to.
Let people enjoy things, man.
I just tell them it’s too bitter for me and that I don’t want any. They are the ones not letting me enjoy tea instead when I’m there. Lol
how do you convince someone that bitter coffee is not good coffee?
That’s the neat part; you don’t.
Bitter coffee is also cheaper for a reason, as you can use worse beans and burn them. These beans need to be used as well, so it’s a good thing people like it bitter.
When it gets weird is when people pay for expensive bitter coffee.
I think you may be SOL.
If they like coffee this way, that may just be that. And it’s okay. By all means try making them a proper cup of a nice dark roast, but at the end of the day, if they’ve come to expect bitterness outta their morning cup, you ain’t gonna satisfy the habit with something that ain’t terribly bitter.
Have you tried adding a few granules of sea salt to your cup? To counteract the bitterness a little. One or two usually does the trick for me when I have to drink the coffee at work.
Imagine my disappointment when the story didn’t involve butter.
If I’m reading this
correctly, bitter can be caused by over extraction. The solution would be to extract less, which can be done by using more coffee.There are lots of variables. The coffee itself, the grind (lots of fines?), the brewing method, etc.
I agree with others, though. If they like their coffee, let them enjoy it.
Thought for sure this would be about bulletproof coffee.
Without judging, some people confuse bitter for strong. You should try brewing their coffee different ways that will make it intense, but not bitter to see if they like it better. I’m not an expert, but maybe Chemex? Aeropress? Pour-over?
That’s all you can do if they end up preferring
butterbitter coffee!Well they are about easy when it comes to making coffee. I’m going to use the coffee compass as a guide to see what happens next time I visit.
Simple, just respect their taste. I had friends who grew up with instant coffee and they hated even the best brewed coffet I could make…
Catering for years I found that the older the guests were, they really didnt care about the taste as long as it was piping hot! Live and let live.
Helping with maintenance tasks like cleaning the grinder is a good idea, but I wouldn’t count on changing your parents’ preferences. If you don’t enjoy their preferred roast/ratio, just bring some of your own beans and make a separate pot for yourself when you visit. I had a similar situation with my in-laws and that is our solution. I bring my coffee when I visit them and they bring theirs when they visit us and we’re all happy.
Why do you feel you need to convince them of anything? I totally get having your eyes opened to the broader spectrum of coffees available but end of the day it’s a preference based on subjective senses. Let 'em do them, what’s the harm?
Welcome to boomer psychology 101: you scream at them very hard and they will scream back and keep their position, but after you have left they will change their mind
Welcome to asshole logic 101- you must scream at people for absolutely inane reasons, such as their coffee being “too bitter”.
I agree anybody is entitled to have preferences and the bitterness of coffee is trivial. This was mainly a joke and a recollection of how it worked in my family
