好咖啡不苦

Good Coffee is Not Bitter

“那么,你喝咖啡吗?”我希望听到一个温暖的回答“是”,以便能了解到一些关于当地咖啡馆的建议。“不,味道太苦了。”上次在北京时,进行这种对话的次数超出了我的想象,通常会有完全相同的结果。当然,我确实遇到了一些咖啡爱好者,他们向我介绍了当地很棒的咖啡馆,其咖啡品质甚至比澳大利亚墨尔本的还要好。墨尔本拥有世界上最好的咖啡,大多数当地人习惯了高品质的咖啡,他们都认为星巴克只属于中等水平。无形之中,墨尔本人也因对咖啡极其讲究而闻名,我们知道如何辨别优质咖啡。我想说,虽然大多数咖啡都有苦味,但苦只是味道中的一部分。好咖啡应该是甜味、酸味、咸味保持平衡,不应太苦,结合到一起应该是独特风味的咖啡。

“So,do you drink coffee?”I ask,hoping to hear back an enthusiastic“YES”so I can get some recommendations for good local cafes.“No,the taste is too bitter.”When I was last in Beijing,I had this conversation more times than I can count,usually with this exact same outcome.Of course I did meet some similar coffee lovers who did show me some amazing local cafes where the coffee was on-par or even BETTER than what I’m used to back home in Melbourne,Australia.Melbourne boasts some of the best coffee in the world and as such,the standards are really high,so most locals are accustomed to the high quality.To give you some perspective,most coffee drinkers in Melbourne consider Starbucks to be mid-tier.We Melbournians have developed a reputation for being coffee snobs,something that even I myself can not avoid,despite being aware of it.We know good coffee because we’re spoiled with it as our‘norm’.I should also just say now that while bitterness is part of most coffee flavour profiles,it is just that…a part of it.It should be balanced out with sweetness,sourness,and saltiness,not so bitter that is the only flavour note you notice.The end result should be a distinctly unique coffee flavour.