S2: Episode 7: What’s The Deal With Black Coffee?
For most of our coffee drinking history we have habitually put additives - notably sugar, spices, milk and syrups - in our coffee to make it palatable to drink. But in the last 20 years or so this practice has become frowned upon by some people in Specialty Coffee who seem to be obsessed with making you drink coffee black. If you have ever wondered what the deal is with black coffee - or have been made to feel like an ignoramus simply by asking for the sugar and milk then this is the episode for you. This week’s FACQ takes a look at the use of flavoured syrups in coffee.
Check out the episode on coffee defects from Season 2 here:
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Email: thecoffeedrinkersguide@gmail.com
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Hello and welcome to The Coffee Drinker’s Guide, a podcast for the coffee curious where I explore and explain the world of specialty coffee to make your daily coffee better and more satisfying.
I’m Angela Holder a coffee roaster and writer on a mission to fight back against bad coffee by giving you the knowledge you need to help you get good coffee and a happier (coffee) life in coffee-break sized episodes. So grab your coffee, pull up a chair and take a break…
In this episode we are looking into the Specialty Coffee world’s obsession with drinking coffee black and why some cafes actually go so far as to remove sugar and milk from their counters… and later I’ll be answering a question about the use of flavoured syrups in coffee…
If you’ve ever been enticed into buying a bag of coffee by the flavour described on the packet only to be disappointed when you’ve brewed it, you should know that you are not alone. Listener Stuart sent in the comment “I have never tasted any raspberry, kiwi or other fruit in any coffee suggesting that’s what I should expect.” While coffee flavour descriptions can sometimes appear fanciful, they are a genuine attempt to convey what the coffee tastes like. The problem, I feel, lies with the difference between how you brew and taste the coffee and how the person who wrote that description brewed and tasted the coffee. It’s also important to know that those descriptions were arrived at by tasting the coffee black. Professional coffee tasters always taste coffee black following strict brewing and tasting protocols when they are assessing its quality and flavour. In these hyper-focussed tasting sessions they will also be tasting a number of coffees alongside each other so are able to compare and contrast the flavours they experience. This makes it a lot easier to come up with those flavour descriptions - and yes, perhaps they may get a bit caffeinated and carried away in the process! But the question is, why does the coffee need to be tasted black in the first place…?
Firstly, and appropriately, black coffee and the taste
The way to experience the true flavour of a coffee is to taste it without milk, sugar or any other additives. This is because each of these additives bring their own flavours to the party and will change the flavour of the coffee itself. So to assess a coffee’s flavour properly and describe it accurately it needs to be tasted without anything being added to it. In the coffee world this is what ‘black’ coffee means and it is clearly more than just not having milk in it which is probably what most people would consider to be ‘black’ coffee. Throughout most of the history of drinking coffee, the flavour of that coffee has been pretty bad due to having defective beans in it or through poor roasting. So its no wonder that people have become used to putting additives of all kinds into their coffee to hide those problems. This was all well and good when the coffee was bad, but Specialty Coffee is all about experiencing the best quality coffee. So when a barista wants you to drink a coffee black what they want you to do is to taste its true flavour in order to appreciate its good quality - in the perhaps misplaced expectation that you will like it - and to appreciate their brewing skills, of course.
Next black coffee and the brew
Its common practice to assess coffee black at the roastery to determine its quality. As the quality of coffee has improved so much in recent years, roasters and baristas have been keen to get their customers to appreciate this by drinking their coffee black too. But it has to be said that some baristas who strongly advocate drinking coffee black at the same time see no problem in adulterating coffee with foamed milk to show off their latte art skills. So this is about more than simply appreciating the flavour of the coffee itself. What is actually going on is some subliminal and complex bragging about the quality of their coffee, the barista’s brewing skills and ultimately their palate. Heaven forbid you ask for milk and sugar for the carefully crafted filter coffee they just brewed for you. But while you do need to drink it black to truly understand a coffee’s flavour I think there are better ways to communicate that than by removing sugar from the counter!
Finally black coffee and the bean
In reality not all coffees do taste amazing on their own and truly only the very best beans can be drunk black and have it be a pleasant experience, especially if you are bitter sensitive like me. The quality of the beans must be first class so that there are no defects present to produce bad flavours of any kind as I covered back in episode 5 of this season. They then must be roasted perfectly to develop the coffee’s sweetness and bring out the inherent flavours of the coffee variety and its terroir. And then it needs to be brewed well to ensure the flavour is extracted properly. Such a coffee will be lovely indeed and worthy of being drunk ‘black'. However - and understand that this is a controversial stance in Specialty Coffee - I do not believe that adding sugar and milk to that coffee is a crime. While its true flavour will be masked somewhat it will still taste good. My caveat is that adding sugar to a coffee that is already sweet may push it into being sickly sweet. And sometimes very bright acidic coffees and milk do not go well together. So my top tip is: have a sip of the coffee first and decide if you do need to add anything. Then don’t be afraid to ask for the sugar and milk if you want. You are the one drinking it after all!
And now its time for a Frequently Asked Coffee Question…
And this episode’s question is…
So is it OK to use flavoured syrups in my coffee?
I will put my hand up and say that I do not like flavoured syrups in coffee. But I will say that people have been flavouring their coffee since humans started drinking it and flavoured syrups are just another way to do it. Honestly, syrups do cover up the worst flavours of bad coffee - counteracting bitterness from very dark roasts and masking the dirty cardboard flavour of the Robusta used in cheap espresso blends. Am I going to encourage you to put a flavoured syrup in your drink? No. What I would say is, try drinking better quality coffee and you won’t feel the need to reach for that syrup bottle.
Thank you for listening to this episode of The Coffee Drinker’s Guide and that was all about black coffee. Did this clear up the mystique around drinking coffee black? And did it encourage you to put the sugar spoon - or syrup - down? Let me know using the ‘send me a text message' link in the show notes. In the next episode we are taking a look at something I have frequently mentioned in past episodes but never explained, which is washed coffee - and no, it doesn’t involve soap! If you want to know what washed coffee is, make sure you hit follow so that you don’t miss it. If you have a friend who you think would find this interesting please tell them about the show and rate and review this podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts to help other coffee curious people find the show too. As always if you have a question about coffee or a topic that you would like me to cover please get in touch. I’m on Instagram @thecoffeedrinkersguide or email me at thecoffeedrinkersguide@gmail.com. Thanks to my executive producer Viel Richardson at Lusona Publishing and Media Limited. You can find him at lusonapub.co.uk. Until next time I’m Angela Holder thanks for taking your coffee break with me - the best way to tackle life is one coffee at a time and here’s to better coffee!
The Coffee Drinker’s Guide is a Blue Sky Coffee Project