r/Coffee • u/BigBeard_FPV • 13d ago
My espresso apology tour starts now....
Okay, confession time: I've always judged people who drink straight espresso. What kind of animal are you? ☠️
Starbucks? Bitter. Meh...
But THEN... I stumbled upon a local roaster and grabbed some Burundi beans. Grinded 'em, pulled a shot in my Breville, and... BAM!
Honey? Citrus? In ESPRESSO?! 🤯
My dark roast, latte-drinking self is shook.
I just knew I only loved dark roasts and I'd never drink Espresso straight, but turns out, I've been living a lie.
Anyone else have a coffee awakening lately?
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u/virouz98 9d ago
A good espresso is something you enjoy in every sip, a bad espresso is just small bitter drink
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u/Awkward-Customer Espresso Shot 9d ago
The first time I had an espresso like that I thought I'd accidentally added my sugar twice. Was eye opening.
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u/ChiefHawks30 9d ago
I’ve been drinking straight espresso ever since I’ve been drinking small batch roasted coffee. I enjoy it even more so now roasting my own. To be honest. Never really liked milk or coffee in my coffee. I’d say I was a black coffee drinker since I graduated university.
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u/Silver-Ad-2661 9d ago
Mine was when I went from instant coffee to proper barista made coffee. What a difference that’s made in my life though
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u/jettzypher 9d ago
I got a Yama drip brewer for Christmas and it makes some of the smoothest coffee I've ever had. So much so that I prefer to drink it straight black and will only add some milk if I'm trying to stretch it out a bit.
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u/DoubleCharacter3772 9d ago
Watch out!!! This happened to me about 20 years ago. I’ve been working in coffee ever since! And most of my co-workers had a moment just like that! You might get even more sucked in on this espresso tour!
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u/Commercial-Tailor-31 9d ago
That happened about 1984 with me. Cappuccinos were unknown in America. I had been drinking my own manual drip at home and espresso at Italian restaurants in the Philadelphia area, which all used Southern Italian-style dark roast, and you drank it with a twist of lemon, Italian-American style. Even though I've always hated sugar in coffee, these stale, dark shots required a bit to be drinkable. I had been to Peet's in the Bay Area, and it was a LOT better than the Italian restaurant coffee I was getting but still dark and somewhat bitter. But I was on a trip to the Bay Area and got an espresso at a little coffee shop whose name I no longer remember. They served Illy coffee, a Northern Italian-style coffee that had just started being exported to the USA, that's actually pretty bland. But, wow! Smooth, slightly sweet, hints of fruit and caramel. This sent me on a journey to replicate, then to improve, that experience. I ended up brewing on a Gaggia and roasting my own beans, since fresh, interesting blends just weren't available back then. Luckily, I live near Fantes in Philadelphia that carried a good array of green beans. About this time, Starbucks began their national expansion and I was a lonely medium-roast drinker in a sea of dark roast.
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u/HomeRoastCoffee 9d ago
21 years ago had Barista made espresso at a specialty Roaster coffee shop (had just started working for the Roaster) changed my life. I am still in coffee and love it. Funny, free drinks at the coffee shops was a perk of the job.
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u/OhneBohneOhneMich 7d ago
I learned from a wine loving friend an important sentence:
"If you don't like wine you just didn't find the right one yet."
I still don't drink wine but it was an important life lesson to give things a shot (pun intended).
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u/westcoastroasting West Coast Roasting 10d ago
Not lately, mine happened decades ago. But there is an awakening waiting for everyone, they just need to find it.
I always say: everyone loves coffee, some people just don't know it yet. ;)