Want to know how to love coffee? This article explores getting into coffee as a hobby and learning to appreciate all of the things coffee has to offer.
Coffee isn’t necessarily something that you instantly just love or hate. On the contrary, many dedicated coffee drinkers learned to love the brew overtime after trying many different varieties and methods. But if you’re interested in cultivating a love for coffee, where do you start?
Your Guide On How To Love Coffee
The fact is, there are many ways to get into coffee and to develop an interest in the brew. By experimenting with roasts, getting into the culture surrounding coffee, and learning more about various brewing methods and coffee drinks, you can learn to love coffee. Read on to learn more about how to love coffee.
Figure Out The Roasts And Regions That Appeal To You
Not every coffee is going to be equally appealing to every person that drinks it. When I worked at Starbucks, I started with an appreciation for coffee and decided that Coffee Master training was a good idea; part of that process was tasting all of the various coffee blends and single-origin beans that Starbucks offered. I’ll admit: there were some coffees I struggled to come up with positive notes for in the beginning.
But over time, the Coffee Master training did help me to develop my palate, and even more to the point: it helped me identify the coffee roasts and regions I enjoyed the most. So one way to develop your love for coffee is to dig into the different roasts and the regions.
Of course, not every coffee is equally tasty to every person. However, there are both roasts and regions that appeal to everyone.
Roast plays a significant role in the flavor of the finished coffee: lighter roasts tend to be more acidic, while darker roasts tend to have less acid. Roasting also plays up the flavors of a particular region, enhancing the sweetness and developing the depth of flavor. If you’ve only ever sampled dark roasts, trying something lighter and see if it doesn’t appeal to you more.
If you’ve had light roasts (more typical of supermarket types of coffee), then sample medium and dark roasts to see if the deeper color and more complex flavor profiles make a difference in how you feel about the brew. By the same token, check out different regions: each region has particular characteristics. For example, a medium roast from Latin America will have different flavors than the same roast applied to African or Indonesian beans.
Get Into Coffee Culture And Brewing Culture
Just as not every roast or region will appeal to everyone, not every brewing method makes the same cup of coffee. So one way to learn how to love coffee is to experiment with brewing methods and get into the culture surrounding coffee.
Different cultures worldwide have embraced coffee as a way to add a little joy to the day. Many of those cultures develop their customs and brewing methods to get the most out of the beans with what they have available.
For example, Turkish coffee is an entirely different brew from Vietnamese coffee, which, in turn, is different from Italian espresso. All of these are very different from drip coffee, which is the style most Americans are accustomed to drinking.
If you’ve only tried automatic drip or French press, look into some other brewing methods. Even within American coffee culture, there are many options open to you: Clover brewing, cold brew, Aeropress, percolator, cowboy coffee, and more.
Once you look outside of the US, you find even more methods of brewing coffee, which opens up opportunities to find the method that appeals best to you. Maybe you don’t like the harshness and acidity of drip coffee, but the rich, sweet brew of Vietnamese coffee is right up your alley.
Coffee culture also encompasses what people do with the coffee they brew: what they eat it with, what time of day, and what context they drink their coffee. For example, French coffee lovers love to sit at the cafe with an espresso or a cafe au lait and a piece of chocolate or a pastry like a croissant. Italian coffee drinkers appreciate their shots of afternoon espresso with a twist of lemon or orange.
In South America, coffee drinkers pair their brews with pastries or savory treats like sandwiches. By exploring coffee culture, you can learn what aspects of coffee appeal to you most and how you like your coffee best.
