“I’m Not Really Into Black Coffee.”
That is another thing we hear quite often at the coffee stand.
When someone tells us this, the first thing we usually ask is why.
“Because it’s bitter.”
“I had it before and didn’t like it.”
“I don’t like sour coffee either.”
“I don’t know. I just can’t drink coffee black.”
Everyone has a different reason.
There isn’t only one reason someone might come to dislike black coffee.
Maybe the roast was too dark.
Maybe the coffee had been sitting around for too long.
Or perhaps they tried to avoid bitterness, only to end up with a coffee that tasted far too sour.
The truth is, I used to think I didn’t like coffee either.
Even though my family ran a coffee business, coffee was rarely something I chose to drink simply because I wanted it.
I assumed bitterness was just what coffee tasted like.
That changed when I began roasting coffee myself.
The aroma of freshly roasted beans.
The aroma released the moment they are ground.
The aroma when water first touches the coffee.
The aroma that rises as you take a sip.
And then the finish that remains after you drink it — even the fragrance left around the rim of an empty cup.
Flavor.
Texture.
Viscosity.
Density.
Sweetness.
Everything felt completely different from the coffee I had known before.
This felt like coffee from a new era.
And I thought:
People who haven’t experienced this yet should know about it.
I wanted them to experience it too.
Since then, I have encountered countless green coffees.
Working with each one, I have continued experimenting with how best to express its character in a cup.
Over time, our lineup has grown, and today we can offer coffees for a much wider range of tastes.
So when someone tells us,
“I’m not really into black coffee,”
we usually say:
“Try it as it is first.
And if you don’t enjoy it that way, add some sugar. Add some milk. That’s completely fine.”
At the coffee stand, we have Zucchero, a sugar made especially for coffee.
Sometimes we suggest:
“Why not try adding a little Zucchero toward the end?”
And occasionally the answer is:
“I thought putting sugar in coffee like this was somehow wrong.”
I always tell them:
“I think sweet tastes better than bitter, too.”
Being able to drink coffee black is not the one correct way to enjoy it.
Add sugar if you like.
Add milk if you like.
The right way to drink coffee is the way that tastes good to you.
“I don’t like black coffee.”
Those words don’t have to be the end of someone’s relationship with coffee.
They might simply be the first words on the way to discovering a cup they haven’t met yet.
#2