Coffee talk
So I've become a coffee snob. Officially.
That is an odd thing to say, considering that I'm the type who buys a venti black and reheats it on the microwave every time it gets cold. (Fully aware that it's blasphemy!) I'm also the type who, until recently, thought that buying mild coffee was stupid, since bold was the same price - and didn't mild mean "diluted" or "less concentrated"? (As if buying, uh, diluted Coke versus regular.) And why buy expensive brands, when coffee is coffee and it all tastes the same - like bananas?
So - coffee lover, absolutely! Coffee expert, by no means.
It always irritated me to hear those "coffee snobs" making wild claims, such as:
- Starbucks, Tully's, Seattle's Best Coffee, etc, have AWFUL tasting coffee. (Some go as far as saying that they don't dare drinking coffee ANYWHERE but the one they brew themselves.)
- Coffee beans go stale in 2 weeks. Ground, overnight. (They advise you to buy really tiny amounts at a time, go through a lot of trouble to keep it dry/ in the dark/ fresh, and ground only the necessary amount for immediate use.)
- Supermarket coffee? Blerg!!! NEVER! It's all several months old, beyond stale - undrinkable. The only decent coffee is found in small roasters, who roast the coffee one day and sells it to you the next. (Some coffee snobs go as far as buying green beans and rosting it home!)
I still find those claims highly exagerated, and those people spoiled brats. BUT, I start to see a little truth in some of it. See, the other day I went "hunting" for cheap coffee, so I bought a big 2.5lb bag of beans which I grounded myself. I brewed some at home, and GOOOOOD, that was so good! I assumed that the brand itself was outstanding, and that was it. My "coffee heaven" lasted for about 2 weeks, and then the flavor seemed to fade slowly. 3 weeks or so, the stuff sucked. Really sucked - I had to throw it away. :-(
So yeah, coffee does go stale, and fresher tastes MUCH better. I didn't know any better because I didn't have a parameter to compare, but when you taste one way, then the other, it becomes pretty obvious.
Coffee shops will always RULE in my book. Supermarkets will not lose my business. But, from now on, I will pay attention to the roasting date on the package, will buy whole beans, and will ground small amounts at a time. In fact - my birthday is next month, I'm gonna ask for a coffee grinder! :-)