You're Not the Same Coffee Drinker

In this episode, I dig into the one variable in coffee that almost nobody accounts for: ourselves. I've spent the past couple of weeks drinking a Costa Rican natural and a Kenyan light roast, and no matter how I roasted them or brewed them, they just weren't doing it for me. Instead of blaming the coffee, the water, or the brewer, I started asking a harder question. What if the coffee didn't change? What if I did? I walk through my own palate journey, from drinking light roasts on a bad grinder with tap water, to chasing bright acidity and in-your-face fruit, to where I am now, fond of medium and dark roasts and chasing sweetness over acidity.

I use the boiled Brussels sprouts you hated as a kid and love as an adult to explain why your taste evolves whether you notice it or not. I talk about how easy it is to see change across twenty years but how blind we are to it across a single year. By the end, you'll understand why your favorite coffee can quietly stop working, why that is not a bad thing, and how to identify whether your shifting preferences are about the cup or about you. If you've ever wondered why a coffee you loved suddenly falls flat, this episode gives you a framework for figuring out what actually changed.

Transcript

00:00 There's one variable in coffee that we never account for: ourselves. Over time, we change. That's just the way it is. And as we think or say or realize that, we don't account for it in coffee. We really don't.

00:27 Those are some of the things I've been dealing with, contemplating, racking my head against, and wondering what's wrong with me. Why can I not like lightly roasted coffees? Why can't I get down with naturals anymore? What about Kenyan coffees? Same type of deal, same approach.

00:57 If we don't catch ourselves or realize what's happening, we're going to start blaming the coffee. We're going to blame the water. We're going to blame the brewer. What we don't realize is that we're the ones who are changing. We're the ones who are different now. Those are the things I think about constantly when it comes to coffee.

01:35 Just recently, the past couple of weeks, I've been drinking this Costa Rican natural process coffee and this Kenyan coffee. The Kenyan was a light roast. The Costa Rican was a light roast and also a dark roast. No matter which way I tried it, it didn't matter. It just wasn't doing it for me. I sat there and contemplated so many times. Why is this happening? What's going on?

02:19 Then I started to think about when I first started really drinking good coffee. When I started to taste those interesting notes. I didn't know coffee could really taste like this. In the beginning, I went down that rabbit hole of trying this, trying that, realizing that I like light roast coffee. This was on a crappy grinder using tap water. Then I graduated to the Hario V60.

02:59 It was different back then. No matter what I drank, it was just delicious. Probably that was me being new to coffee. That's just the way I gravitated to it. There were probably other influences, things people were saying and doing. Could have been that too. But back then, that's just the way it was. I didn't second guess myself.

03:34 As the years kept going, I kept trying different coffees. I tried those boring coffees, those Brazilians, those chocolate type of coffees. I saw why I didn't like them as much. I was on this whole acidity kick. Acid, lemon, all that good stuff. That's what I cared about.

04:10 Then I started to delve into Kenyans and Ethiopians and Ugandans. Fruity, blueberries, strawberries, right in your face. Especially naturals. I used to love, love, love naturals. But as the years kept going, as I started to mature a little bit, I started to experience different things. Same thing with me in life. I grew up.

04:48 I started to adventure out into different foods. I started to read and watch different things. I got to a place where I was exploring. I was learning. I was changing. That variable right there, ourselves and change, is always constant. It's something we don't really realize is happening.

05:25 We don't give coffee that chance to change with us sometimes. A lot of times we're quick to blame coffee, blame everything around it. But there's no blame here, really. It's just us realizing that we are different people. That we look at life differently. I know I'm going to change again. Who knows what I may like later? Maybe I only like a certain bit of coffee right now, as it is.

06:08 What about the grinders? How does that change your taste buds? It matters a little bit, but at the end of the day, it's about you. It's about what you think, who you are, and how that affects the way you actually drink your cup of coffee.

06:27 Think about it. When you were a kid, perhaps you had boiled Brussels sprouts. You know exactly what I'm talking about. It was nasty. There was no flavor on it. It was just the natural taste. It was boiled, so it tasted like crap. And you really didn't eat vegetables anyway. Most of us, anyway.

06:59 As the years kept going, you probably went to college. You started to experience different things. Then you tasted Brussels sprouts again. They're cut up now. Halved and seasoned with just salt and pepper. High temp roasted. Absolutely delicious. Sometimes people sprinkle cheese on them. You do whatever you want. And it's amazing.

07:33 But deep down, you still think about the first time, or the first couple of times, how you ran away from it. You remember that time. What you don't realize is that you were a different person. It's easy for us to take that jump from ten to twenty plus years. That's easy. We can do that.

08:04 But in the span of even a year, we don't realize how much we're really changing. This coffee thing is just a trippy little bastard. Something you think you're going to love and enjoy forever, you start to despise. Or you know the exact reasons why you don't like it. That's where we're at with all this.

08:37 One thing I do realize, and want to appreciate more than anything, is my walk through different elements with coffee. At least for now, I really appreciate how I fond over dark roast and medium roast. How I'm chasing more sweetness than acidity. That could be a phase, or it could just be the way I am right now.

09:13 I wish I would have cherished that light roast moment when I had it. When I was tasting it, when I was mesmerized, when I was geeked up on coffee because it was so magical for me. I wish I would have savored those moments. That's what I leave you with today. We're going to change. We're going to like different things.

09:50 We may go beyond the Brussels sprouts thing and try different fruits and vegetables. We may not, or will not, like oatmeal. We may like beer. We may hate that crap still. IPAs are gross. Espresso is okay from time to time. Cold brew still has that moment of despair, to an extent.

10:25 At least for me, it still has that same feel as Brussels sprouts do. But what I'm saying is that you're going to have to try to enjoy the season and the moment that you are in with your coffee, because you're probably never going to get that back. And that's not a bad thing. That's not something to be pissed about or angry about. You're changing. Either you're changing for the better, or you're changing because of the circumstance you're in.

11:02 Once we realize that, we can do anything and everything we want. We can experience coffees. We can know exactly why we don't like something, or we don't. It doesn't really matter. At the end of the day, it's just one of those things where we go, wow, I see it differently.

11:26 So I may not get down with this Ethiopian white honey, no matter which way I roast it or brew it. Or this Kenyan coffee, realizing that I really don't like winey coffees. I only like one type of wine. So that makes sense, when sometimes a Kenyan is very winey and then it gets too far away, which is weird to me, which is different. But it does happen.

12:05 Or I'm not too big on grapefruit. These are the things I'm starting to realize and understand as much as I can. It's okay to change. Realize who you are and just let it be.

12:29 So what about you? Have you realized that you are the main variable here? It's not water temperature. It's not whether that kettle can hold the actual temperature. It's not even water chemistry or your new favorite brewer. It doesn't really matter. Ask yourself how you are really changing.

13:02 That's where it's at. That's where we need to understand ourselves even more. Did you like a medium roast or dark roast or whatever it may be? Did you get down with naturals before, or are you more about the varietals, trying to understand and mimic and enjoy coffee that way? What is it?

13:28 What is it about you that's actually changed, to where you like a little more balance in your coffee, or acidity in a V60 is all you need and want? What is it? Ask yourself how you're changing, because if you don't, you'll blame everything else. When it's probably just you being different now.

13:59 Let me know what you think. Talk to you later. Bye.