What's the deal with sour coffee?
May 11, 2022, 8:38 am
#1
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: ORD
Posts: 14,231
What's the deal with sour coffee?
Why is it that sometimes when I get a coffee somewhere it tastes sour and not like coffee? Ordinarily I'd attribute it to cheap or bad coffee but I've noticed it mostly at fancy bakery cafes. Example: the coffee I got at Lost Larson (good bakery here in Chicago) tasted this way. I happened to buy a pound of bean there too since I was out and it's definitely the coffee, not something about how they make it. The beans are the Lost Larson blend from Metropolis, which is one of the fancypants artisinal roasters here (and I've heard many coffee snobs say Metropolis is one of the best in the country) so I assume this taste is intentional.
I might ordinarily say it's because it's a light roast, but for example when I get a light roast at Starbucks it doesn't taste sour. So...what's going on?
I'm referring to drip coffee here, not espresso. I know if you underextract espresso it will taste sour, but that's not what's going on here.
I might ordinarily say it's because it's a light roast, but for example when I get a light roast at Starbucks it doesn't taste sour. So...what's going on?
I'm referring to drip coffee here, not espresso. I know if you underextract espresso it will taste sour, but that's not what's going on here.
Last edited by gfunkdave; May 11, 2022 at 11:55 am
May 11, 2022, 10:25 am
#2
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Over the Bay Bridge, CA
Programs: Jumbo mas
Posts: 38,631
I think I know the taste you're describing, and as best as I can tell, it is that "third wave" roasting style. I've had it from marginal to undrinkable, and it seems like the more it costs,the worse it is. Adding sugar or a splash of cream only seems to make it worse.
May 11, 2022, 11:53 am
#3
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: ORD
Posts: 14,231
Yes, that's it exactly! I don't understand how people like it.
May 11, 2022, 4:31 pm
#4
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 3,839
Try and find the tasting notes and avoid words like raspberry sorbet, cherry, currant, hibiscus, tangerine and generally citrus or floral flavours. It seems to occur most in Ethiopian top end coffees. I now look for chocolate, fig, date, nuts in the tasting notes which all indicate a more rounded taste, to me at least. And I buy more South American coffee than African.
May 11, 2022, 5:35 pm
#5
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Over the Bay Bridge, CA
Programs: Jumbo mas
Posts: 38,631
Add so many hops to beer that a spoon will stand up in it and people in the next building will know how bitter it is.
Make the beer so sour that a lemon seems like a candy bar.
Make the wine so natty that it tastes sort of like Doritos (no joke - personal experience).
Raise the price of all of these. Pretend they're rare.
People will line up for days and pay whatever you ask and you'll sell out quickly.
Glad I'm a couple of generations before that!
Make the beer so sour that a lemon seems like a candy bar.
Make the wine so natty that it tastes sort of like Doritos (no joke - personal experience).
Raise the price of all of these. Pretend they're rare.
People will line up for days and pay whatever you ask and you'll sell out quickly.
Glad I'm a couple of generations before that!
May 12, 2022, 3:52 am
#6
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: PDX, OGG or between the two
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 2,865
The biggest taste "dysfunction" with coffee I notice is when it's stale and burned/bitter. The older I get the more I just can't stand coffee that wasn't just brewed. Keurig with the Costco San Francisco Bay French Roast is my current go-to. I don't know that I can detect the things OP is talking about but also don't really buy coffee anywhere as it's just a constant disappointment.
May 12, 2022, 9:52 am
#7
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Over the Bay Bridge, CA
Programs: Jumbo mas
Posts: 38,631
The biggest taste "dysfunction" with coffee I notice is when it's stale and burned/bitter. The older I get the more I just can't stand coffee that wasn't just brewed. Keurig with the Costco San Francisco Bay French Roast is my current go-to. I don't know that I can detect the things OP is talking about but also don't really buy coffee anywhere as it's just a constant disappointment.
SF Bay Costco French Roast in the 3lb bags is my home brew. Nice dark roast without that Peet's "burnt" taste.
May 12, 2022, 10:58 am
#8
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2008
Location: San Francisco
Programs: GM on VX, UA, AA, HA, AS, SY; Budget Fastbreak
Posts: 27,610
since I make coffee at home, I almost never get coffee outside my house. When I get the beans, I buy an iced tea (zero ice) for my spouse to take home. When we went to Disneyland, I just drank the wretched hotel coffee except the final day when we intentionally woke late and then I got coffee & brekky at SBUX near our hyatt house. I am a pure American so I prefer to only buy Starbucks which is an American company. I try to eschew the coffee brands (peets caribou et al) owned by that German conglomerate even though I still shop at Trader Joe’s.
May 12, 2022, 2:22 pm
#9
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Over the Bay Bridge, CA
Programs: Jumbo mas
Posts: 38,631
how do you store 3 pounds of coffee? I now buy 1/2-pound bags of mixed beans at Martha & bros. Bean blends.
since I make coffee at home, I almost never get coffee outside my house. When I get the beans, I buy an iced tea (zero ice) for my spouse to take home. When we went to Disneyland, I just drank the wretched hotel coffee except the final day when we intentionally woke late and then I got coffee & brekky at SBUX near our hyatt house. I am a pure American so I prefer to only buy Starbucks which is an American company. I try to eschew the coffee brands (peets caribou et al) owned by that German conglomerate even though I still shop at Trader Joe’s.
since I make coffee at home, I almost never get coffee outside my house. When I get the beans, I buy an iced tea (zero ice) for my spouse to take home. When we went to Disneyland, I just drank the wretched hotel coffee except the final day when we intentionally woke late and then I got coffee & brekky at SBUX near our hyatt house. I am a pure American so I prefer to only buy Starbucks which is an American company. I try to eschew the coffee brands (peets caribou et al) owned by that German conglomerate even though I still shop at Trader Joe’s.
May 13, 2022, 8:12 am
#10
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Nov 2002
Location: ORD
Posts: 14,231
Though this morning I mixed the sour beans and the Costco Starbucks French Roast burned beans and the resulting coffee is pretty good.
May 13, 2022, 1:04 pm
#11
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: SFO
Programs: AY Plat, LH FTL
Posts: 7,374
We have a local roaster who mixes light and dark roasts for some of their blends, with very good results.
May 13, 2022, 2:59 pm
#13
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jul 1999
Location: Over the Bay Bridge, CA
Programs: Jumbo mas
Posts: 38,631
This reminds me of my Alaska Airlines mimosas - you take bad bubbles and bad juice, and put them all together, and have a not-so-bad refreshing beverage.
May 13, 2022, 5:06 pm
#14
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: May 2008
Location: San Francisco
Programs: GM on VX, UA, AA, HA, AS, SY; Budget Fastbreak
Posts: 27,610
May 14, 2022, 12:48 am
#15
Join Date: Oct 2019
Location: PDX, OGG or between the two
Programs: AS 75K
Posts: 2,865
LOL.... this is sooooo true. I've worked in the restaurant/bar biz off and on for years and the "juice" (unless fresh-squeezed) comes in some chemically stabilized concentrated form that allows it to sit in bags a room temperature for decades until it's mixed from "the gun" (at the bar that dispenses all the basic things - soda/tonic, etc.). The Champagne to make said Mimosa? The absolute cheapest you can get but still probably (marginally) better quality than the OJ. As a bartender my standard is about 8:1 cheap champagne to barely palatable OJ. If I'm going to poison people at least they can feel good while it's happening!!