The difference between bright acidity and plain old sour?

[CANES]

I either can't tell the difference or dislike both of them equally...

I get a similar taste from good light roasted beans and most mass produced "Breakfast Blends" you'd find in the grocery store. For this reason, I normally stick to medium/dark roasts.

I'd like to branch out some more with the lighter roasts, though. Any tips to distinguishing the differences? Are certain beans (say Ethiopian?) more likely to have this acidic taste regardless of roast?

 

[Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker]

Are certain beans (say Ethiopian?) more likely to have this acidic taste regardless of roast?

My Ethiopian Yirgacheffe coffee beans from Stirling, do not have a sour or acidic taste to me.

Of course, when I make a brew of that coffee, I have to use more grounds, which helps to secure the delicious berry flavor that I love, and lock in it's sweetness.

I've always been a dark roast fan, but I must admit, I do love that Ethiopian Yirgacheffe.

Right now, I'm on the hunt for a tasty chocolate infused coffee, preferably dark roast if possible. I've had a sample of Stirling's Mocha Java blend, which claims to have chocolate notes, but it just tasted like supermarket coffee to me.

This will be my first time trying out a real chocolate based coffee, so I want to make sure to do it right.

 

[APBinNCA]

Sour is under extracted, a problem that I was trying to track down. You can have both because one comes from the coffee(acidity) and one from user error(sour). That said, coffees being described as higher acidic do require more thought and care to brew. I would stick with a French Press and your current ratio is a safe one to use. If you were using one of the lower ratios that is popular, you could wind up with strong and sour coffee. If you fix these variables, you can try different grind settings, but you almost certainly will need to go finer than expected. If you don't notice much difference grinding finer then you need to brew longer to get a longer extraction. This is one area where pour over has an advantage as grinding finer automagically lengthens your brew time, all else being fixed. Don't be surprised if you don't initially like the acidic tingle, but if you get it right, give it some time to grow on you. You may have a more or less sensitive tongue for acidity, it's biological not subjective. My father cant taste the acidity in coffee or wine so if you are the same, you should be tasting the fruit flavours not wet cardboard like canned coffee!

 

[Star_Wahl_Clipper_Treker]

but you almost certainly will need to go finer than expected.

I concur!

Incase I didn't already mention it, I do infact grind my Ethiopian Yirgacheffe finer then you are supposed to for drip. Part of this is due to the limitations of my single serve brewer unit. Since I am not able to adjust the brew time with it, its too simple of a drip brewer for that functionality, I slow down the brew flow rate, by using a finer grind. I've gone as fine as I possibly can, without causing niagra falls on my desk.

If your interested, I am using a level 6 grind on my K-MAX grinder, which looks like this...

To clarify, I am not saying that this is something that you absolutely have to do. But this is just something that both @APBinNCA and I are saying, you might have to do. Good luck!

 

[Sinnbad11]

I usually find underextracted coffees to really lack sweetness. I have had and enjoyed bright coffees with a high level of acidity because that acidity is well support by sweeter coffee flavors from a well extracted cup.

On the other hand I have had underextracted coffees that are incredibly flat, with no supporting sweetness and minimal supporting flavors. These come across as sour warhead like flavors. These are really just sadness in a cup imo, and even worse I'm guilty of producing more than a few of these.

 

[CANES]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I feel like I'm hyper-sensitive to "sour" tastes and this isn't a road I want to go down and spend money on. I need to stick with what I like and try the occasional lighter roasts when/if they're offered to me. I know Starbucks is not the preferred route around here (small town and it's basically all I have), but I may get a cup of their blonde roast one day and try to gauge the tastes in it for comparison.

 

[APBinNCA]

Thanks for the replies, guys. I feel like I'm hyper-sensitive to "sour" tastes and this isn't a road I want to go down and spend money on. I need to stick with what I like and try the occasional lighter roasts when/if they're offered to me. I know Starbucks is not the preferred route around here (small town and it's basically all I have), but I may get a cup of their blonde roast one day and try to gauge the tastes in it for comparison.

You know, thinking about it, the easiest(not cheapest) way to try a light roast coffee that takes all the user error out of the equation is one of two things: order a five pack of spray dried coffee from a well know third wave roaster or canned cold brew. Both of these are becoming increasingly popular to sell by these roasters. I buy both, but only have the dried coffee in house right now and you know what kind of snob I am!

Sid note: Blonde roast has been reviewed in videos and it's a medium roast(not even medium minus). Unfortunately, it's probably roasted enough to remove all the high notes, but not enough to develop smooth roast flavour. Just a warning.

 

[CANES]

Always good advice @APBinNCA Thanks! I just googled spray dried coffee. So, it's basically instant coffee made with a different method than the stuff I see on the shelves locally?

 

[APBinNCA]

So, it's basically instant coffee made with a different method than the stuff I see on the shelves locally?

Normally I would research the heck out that before buying, but I was flirting with the employee at the (not) local coffee shop when I got into those. From what I have been told, they don't have to send it off to an industrial facility and they have some way of doing it in house. The cost is high(ish), but so are the one serving pour overs that I used for camping before finding these!