I’ve never really been a coffee drinker. When I would go to Starbucks, I would order a coffee drink, but it had to be super sweet with so much cream and sugar, I don’t think if qualified as “coffee”. Jon used to tease me that only real men (and women) drink their coffee black. Blech.
So here I am, with a coffee aversion and I find this great job learning all about the nuances of foods. I learned so much about myself because I had all these opinions about certain foods and couldn’t explain why I didn’t like things like peanut butter! Who doesn’t like peanut butter? Me. You know why someone wouldn’t like peanut butter (besides those allergic to it) is because of the roast of the peanuts. When something is roasted, it can take on a bitter quality. There are so many ways something can go wrong when cooking/roasting it. I’m not a food scientist, so I won’t attempt to explain all the science-y things, lol, so I’ll just put this little quote in that explains a little about bitterness.
People used to think that the tongue was split into a kind of “taste map,” with different areas able to detect sweetness, saltiness, sourness and bitterness. But now, we know that flavor can be tasted in all parts of the tongue.
This is because our tongues’ sensory cells contain numerous proteins. And around 35 of these (according to the US America’s Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care) react with the compounds in food substances to create the experience of bitterness.
Back to the business of why I don’t like peanut butter. I found out through my training, the reason why was because of the roasting process and some brands over roast their peanuts which leads to a bitter taste. Most peanut butters are like this and the general population accepts this as the way it’s supposed to taste. Not me! I will only imbibe in peanut butter if it’s mixed with or paired with chocolate. I know..reeses are my weakness…the thins are just the right amount of PB!
So coffee was one of those things that I refused to get involved with because it was bitter and acidic. Or so I thought.
Cut to coffee talk every Friday with my best friend Debbi. We would meet for “coffee” but really it was a blended drink equivalent to a frappachino. I would try all the flavored blended drinks, most certainly staying away from straight coffee or a strong coffee flavor…again, scared of the bitter factor.
I wet my toes in iced coffee when I started working early hours. I needed some, nay lots of caffeine to get me through the am and of course I used lots of creamer and sugar! I found that the darker the cold brew the better it tasted. It reminded me of dark chocolate.
I asked my food scientist trainer why I like my coffee so dark and she explained that the darker the roast, the less acidic it was depending on the beans. Aha! Time to dip in the dark waters a little more and drink the coffee the way I liked. I tried to order my coffee drinks with more espresso instead of drip coffee just to see if the darker flavor was more palatable to me. And it was! ::cue maniacal laugh::
I stared ordering a caramel macchiato with extra caramel and an extra shot of espresso at my favorite coffee shop that I have frequented for the last 9 years with my best friend, Debbi. That’s 4 shots of espresso in a large coffee. LOL Needless to say I was buzzed after drinking all that delish nectar.
Fast forward to last Christmas when my husband surprised me with an espresso machine for my birthday. The Nespresso VirtuoPlus.
It’s a yummy machine that came with a milk frother for drinks with foam and the most delicious coffees I have ever had. It’s has changed the way I view coffee. I need to drink it everyday…sounds like a coffee addiction, but seriously, it’s so yum that I miss it when I don’t get that tempting latte colored liquid! I don’t know that much about the drinks and types of drinks baristas make, but I do know what I like. I think I make cappuccinos instead of macchiatos, but that’s potato, puh-ta-toe. All I know is, it makes me happy and I never thought it would or could. I have really awesome conversations with Jon about what kind of coffee capsules we want to order. He’s even become addicted to Affogato, which is an Italian word translated to “drowned” in english. What is drowned is a scoop of gelato or ice cream in that dark espresso nectar. Jon enjoys it with decaf, but it’s a little too strong coffee ice cream flavor for me. What can I say? I’m still picky. 😀
What kind of coffee do you like, if at all? Are you more of a tea drinker? Curious minds want to know! Comment below and let’s chat!
Back to the grind… (see what I did there?),
