What's the worst coffee worldwide?

[Turnip]

That below attached is my very favorite ground coffee. I always buy a few pounds whenever i make it to France.

 

[Aerielle Max]

These are all interesting takes on the post. I enjoy reading your opinions on the matter.

 

[belfastboy]

I bought a kilo of Starbucks French Roast beans yesterday at Costco....on coupon $6 off. I love my morning cuppa but buy (when I can) whatever beans are on coupon at Costco.

 

[tonyb]

As my previous entries in this thread might indicate, coffee has been a constant my life for almost my entire life (to date) and that I am pretty well versed in the matter.

But I’m no connoisseur, really. I can tell arabica from robusta, and a lighter roast from a darker one, and I appreciate the difference the grind can make and how fresher is better. But my preference is for the best price I can get in a good-enough arabica. Safeway sells two-pound bags of whole bean arabica in a dark roast for $12.99 regular price but it’s often marked down a couple-three bucks. A local chain called Lucky’s (now defunct, alas) had bulk arabica for $5.99 a pound. Contrast these prices with what is more typically charged. It’s half price, pretty much.

 

[belfastboy]

As my previous entries in this thread might indicate, coffee has been a constant my life for almost my entire life (to date) and that I am pretty well versed in the matter.

But I’m no connoisseur, really. I can tell arabica from robusta, and a lighter roast from a darker one, and I appreciate the difference the grind can make and how fresher is better. But my preference is for the best price I can get in a good-enough arabica. Safeway sells two-pound bags of whole bean arabica in a dark roast for $12.99 regular price but it’s often marked down a couple-three bucks. A local chain called Lucky’s (now defunct, alas) had bulk arabica for $5.99 a pound. Contrast these prices with what is more typically charged. It’s half price, pretty much.

Yes, I share your perspective. I have loved coffee for close to 60 years now....got me through high school and uni. But I am also frugal and only pay full price as a last resort. I have a good Italian burr grinder and grind the beans every second day...use a French press and have my morning coffee making ritual. My wife pokes fun at me BUT she never turns down my coffee offerings!

 

[Trenchfriend]

Never liked coffee, I'm a tea and diet coke guys so I can't help you on this topic.
But since you mentioned having had a lot of bad coffee I think I never had a (really) bad cup of tea...
Aren't there as big quality differences with tea than with coffee?

I don't know much about the tea differences. But I always liked to compare between loose Earl-Grey, Darjeeling, Ceylon and so on.

The supermarkets here sell often these tin cans with different (loose) sorts and colours. Today, I grabbed two new cans after a longer time. I tested the Ceylon, right now and this one is really good! Always with brown sugar, in my case.

My oldest of these tin cans (the left), I always refill with the usual Earl Grey from Messmer, available in nearly all supermarkets. Loose Earl Grey with brown sugar will probably be my forever favorite.

I'm looking forward to test the right one (Earl Grey)!
The Ceylon seems to taste really good, for the first try. But I always had the feeling, that Ceylon is my favorite taste.

But I think, "Ostfriesen-Mix" is the most common, if not most popular black tea in Germany. Usually a cheaper mix of Ceylon and Assam. But I remember, that it was never really my prefered taste.
Maybe, Assam isn't mine.

 

[tonyb]

…
Sometimes they're also preferable to going into a pub if you're not interested in drinking alcohol on a given day. I used to quite enjoy finding a window seat at the one on Oxford Street during Christmas Shopping Madness when I'd inevitably done my shopping in September, and sit and watch everyone else going nuts out the window.

A fair few little indy cafes and coffee houses have sprung up as my patch of East London has gentrified over the last couple of decades. I like to see them; I hope they survive the Covid / Brexit recession.

Among the things I miss about my drinking days is taking in the downtown holiday hustle and bustle from a window seat in a favorite bar while knocking down hot-buttered rum and coffee nudges and the like.

 

[tonyb]

I had a couple hours to fill on a brisk day in Lafayette, Colorado a couple weeks ago. I stopped in to a kinda boho coffee place in what had once been a house and ordered a straight double shot.

Almost undrinkable. Yes, espresso should be strong. But this stuff was just bitter. Even watered down it would have been unpalatable to me. I suspect they get away with it by serving it to most customers in a form adulterated with steamed milk and sugar and flavored syrups.

 

[Trenchfriend]

I had a couple hours to fill on a brisk day in Lafayette, Colorado a couple weeks ago. I stopped in to a kinda boho coffee place in what had once been a house and ordered a straight double shot.

Almost undrinkable. Yes, espresso should be strong. But this stuff was just bitter. Even watered down it would have been unpalatable to me. I suspect they get away with it by serving it to most customers in a form adulterated with steamed milk and sugar and flavored syrups.

Isn't it so, that such etablissements don't clean their Espresso machines often enough?

Even in US comedy series, they complained about that bitter crap.

 

[tonyb]

Isn't it so, that such etablissements don't clean their Espresso machines often enough?

Even in US comedy series, they complained about that bitter crap.

I dunno. My semi-automatic home espresso machine tells me when it needs cleaning and descaling. It gets used at least half a dozen times a day on average, and the cleaning and descaling is called for every couple months. I assume that commercial-duty machines need their innards cleaned more frequently than that. I’ll have to run that inquiry by my Dear Old Ma, who knows that business well.

 

[belfastboy]

I had a couple hours to fill on a brisk day in Lafayette, Colorado a couple weeks ago. I stopped in to a kinda boho coffee place in what had once been a house and ordered a straight double shot.

Almost undrinkable. Yes, espresso should be strong. But this stuff was just bitter. Even watered down it would have been unpalatable to me. I suspect they get away with it by serving it to most customers in a form adulterated with steamed milk and sugar and flavored syrups.

Yep, put enough sugar in and becomes almost drinkable.

 

[belfastboy]

I dunno. My semi-automatic home espresso machine tells me when it needs cleaning and descaling. It gets used at least half a dozen times a day on average, and the cleaning and descaling is called for every couple months. I assume that commercial-duty machines need their innards cleaned more frequently than that. I’ll have to run that inquiry by my Dear Old Ma, who knows that business well.

Depends too on the locale and their water quality. We have very soft water here and scale is not an issue. I use tap water in all my irons, steamers, etc and never an issue. Where as in Montreal the joke is the water is so hard I get new bruises each morning after the shower. I remember being in Saskatchewan as a 5 year old. My mother drew me a bath from well water that I refused to get into as the scale/scum on the bath water's surface freaked me out.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
Most urbanites don’t know what a water softener is. Just as most people here at a mile above sea level have never heard of a dehumidifier.

 

[Bushman]

If it were possible to burn dirt, that's what I find McDonald's coffee to taste like.

 

[Zombie_61]

Yep, put enough sugar in and becomes almost drinkable.

Right, sugar. Or Kahlua. Or Irish Whiskey. Or Dark Rum. Or Bourbon. Or...

 

[Fifty150]

Might as well skip the coffee. Just drink the alcohol.

 

[Edward]

Might as well skip the coffee. Just drink the alcohol.

I never understood the concept of an Irish coffee. Waste of good whiskey, putting that muck in it...

 

[belfastboy]

Right, sugar. Or Kahlua. Or Irish Whiskey. Or Dark Rum. Or Bourbon. Or...

My shot of choice is Southern Comfort ....its good and it is usually on sale at the local beer store down the road from me. When travelling down the states in our RV it is the Costco Irish Cream at $9.95 for over a litre's worth. Cheaper than creamo. The only issue is the bottle is so big that it takes up too much room in our little RV fridge........so I just toss out the cauliflower if necessary.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^
Yes, one must prioritize.

 

[Zombie_61]

Might as well skip the coffee. Just drink the alcohol.

Unless the person is legitimately an alcoholic, everyone I know who drinks "coffee flavored" drinks does so for the flavors regardless of which establishment is serving them their coffee-of-choice, so liqueurs like Irish Cream and Kahlua are merely a part of that--the combination of flavors that the drinker prefers, even if one or more of them happens to contain 20% alcohol by volume. My dad preferred his beer and whiskey unmolested (he was an alcoholic), but my father-in-law liked Christian Brothers brandy in his coffee now and then...when it wasn't his own "home brewed" (the booze, not the coffee), that is.

Veering back towards the main topic, I wish I could remember the name of that horrid crap they bought at my second-to-last employer's offices. It was supposed to be the same coffee they served in restaurants all over southern California, but I never tasted it anywhere but the offices I worked out of. I don't know what it was, but it sure wasn't made from coffee beans. It had a sort of "nutty" flavor, like it was made from cashews or walnuts that had gone bad, so they ground 'em up and put 'em in bags to sell to the suckers that ran our facility.