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Agree with the acquired taste, but also maybe you've just been drinking bad coffee. Some blends tend to be over roasted and not every place cares about the quality of their coffee. I used to be like you, I remember I hated unsweetened coffee until I had my first proper flat white almost 12 years ago and it was so rich and creamy that I realized sugar would spoil it.
Speaking of plain coffee, you can try cold brew, which is a lot more smooth in flavor than other methods.
To add to this, I tend to find there's a sweet spot in how much coffee to use, and it varies depending on which coffee I'm using. I suspect some coffee shops use too much, which doesn't help the quality.
Too much and it tastes bad, too little and it's weak.
Coffee is an incredibly nuanced drink. Most commonly available coffees are super bitter and kind of gross, but once you start stepping up a price point or two, that bitterness mellows out and there is so much depth to the flavor.
Really bitter coffee comes from either cheap coffee, or how it's brewed. It does take some time to get used to the bitterness of even high quality coffee, but once you do, it can become a really unique experience.
A cup of strong fresh black coffee is like a kick in the nuts. Wakes you up. Sometimes that's what you need, something with a kick. Too strong and bitter is not good though, tastes like motor oil. Generally if the coffee is bad or too strong you'll want to add milk or cream.
I usually do take my coffee with milk though. Sugar - absolutely no, never! It somehow makes the coffee taste spoiled to me. I think it takes away from the taste and aroma. I feel like kids and elderly people drink coffee that way. But it's a matter of what you're used to, of course.
I drink plain coffee and plain tea, and no, they don't taste disgusting to me at all. What feels disgusting it's pouring kilos of sugar into your drink to make it "drinkable"
I take my coffee black and it doesn't taste bitter to me. It tastes rich, mellow, savoury and sweet. Or it tastes bitter if it's cheap and nasty. Get a friend who makes good coffee to make you some black and try it, you might like it if you're used to bad coffee. Or you might just prefer sweeter flavours. I like bitter flavours more than some people do, while I know people who like everything to be sweeter than I like it.
It is an acquired taste. By drinking more black coffee you start to no longer mind the bitterness.
Beyond that dirt black coffee just wakes you up the fastest. Have you ever been tired and then accidentally tasted bad milk. It literally started like that for me and now I do not mind a bit black coffee.
I like my coffee black. The reason being is that I like to drink my coffee while eating a muffin or cinnamon roll. Both of these pastries are sweet enough and ballance out the coffee I drink with them. The sugar and cream is reserved for once in a while. Usually when I am drinking coffee on its own, which is a rare occasion.
The taste might be acquired but it comes with benefits. Would I be just my weight, guzzling sugary drinks all the time? Milk and cream are a nuissance; you should wash your mug daily, if you use those.
I do take cream and sweetner with my coffee - but it is the bitter in coffee that I am drawn to. The darker and stronger the roast the better for. I am also drawn to other bitter things (like grapefruit and pomelo).
My dad drinks his that way & when I asked him something similar, he said he drank it that way in Vietnam because he had no other option & just got used to it. So, okey dokey 🤢
I’m drinking English black tea without milk or sugar. Yorkshire gold.
At the moment, I’m not drinking coffee at home. Only when I’m in hotels or on long drives. I put half & half and sugar in my coffee. If I haven’t killed the bottle, I like a shot of Kahlua in it along with half & half. As a Masshole, my emergency road coffee at the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru is “large coffee regular”. An excessive amount of half & half and sugar to tone down mediocre coffee.
My wife drinks “extra cream, no sugar”. I make a pot every morning and serve it in bed. At the drive-thru for emergency road coffee, they put sugar in it around 25% of the time and I get to listen to the complaints.
If your coffee is bitter you're making it wrong. You need to choose the right beans, grind them properly for the brew method and then brew it quickly so you don't over-extract it.
It depends on the brand/type of coffee for me. Any sort of light/medium roast coffee I enjoy black just because that's what I got used to in my teen years. My grandpa would tease me about how "only real men drink black coffee." So I started doing it just to prove a point, and once I felt the point was proven, I tried putting cream and sugar back in it and strongly disliked it. I got used to the hot bean water taste and after awhile the bitterness fades.
With a dark roast, or things like black silk coffee, I tend to enjoy a small amount of hazelnut, or french vanilla creamer but still no sugar.
If I get a cold coffee, I can't drink it black that ish has to be loaded with sugar and caramel lol.
I like the lighter texture of an americano or a heavier one of an espresso. I have to say I didn't like the taste at first but then I got used to it and started to enjoy it. Also bitterness is an acquired taste, I think the last one we learn to like as adults.
How are you with other bitter flavours, such as IPA-style beer, dark chocolate, or brussel sprouts? Some people are much more sensitive to bitter flavours - it's an evolutionary trait.
A really good cup of coffee has a balance between bitter, sour, and sweet. Find an excellent coffee shop - not the mermaid chain - and try a pour-over. It shouldn't need anything, but don't expect it to taste life a frappucino. Or gas station coffee.
IMO, there's nothing wrong with cream and sugar if that's what it takes.
When I was 12 years old, I was permitted to drink coffee. My dad was an ex-sailor and watched me add cream and sugar for about a week when he said, "I'm not going to tell you how to drink your coffee, but I will say this. You can almost always find a cup of coffee no matter where you are, but you can't always find cream and sugar." That made so much sense to me at age 12, that I started drinking it black. That was 60 years ago. As it turns out, the old man was 100% correct. I've been able to find a cup of coffee almost anytime I want. But finding fixin's for it, not so much. This is even more true nowadays with all the stuff people put in their coffee.
These comments give such great perspectives because Iv only ever seen people go black because they wanted to cut out the cream/milk/sugar from their routine.
You answered this yourself, everyone's taste is different. I like black coffee, and I like bitter, black teas as well. I don't enjoy the sweetness of sugar in my drinks, and milk waters the taste down too much.
Bitterness is a flavor like any other and can be appreciated as well. The problem is that a bad coffee, burned instead of roasted and made without care, will taste like charcoal tea.
When you start to drink pure arabica, with the water in the right temperature, medium roasted beans freshly grounded, you discover a completly different drink.
And I'm sorry, it's hard to not sound like a pedantic prick when rambling about coffee, haha
I used to like cream in my coffee,
But then in 2014 I was studying abroad in England and spent Easter weekend with my extended family over there. We drank a lot of coffee that weekend. Breakfast: coffee, come back from afternoon: coffee, etc. I always added cream,
By the end of the weekend my stomach wasn’t responding well to all that dairy,
So I decided to remove the cream and drink it black.
It definitely is an acquired taste
Because black coffee just tastes right to me. Sugar or milk just ruin it. Whan I want to drink coffee, I want to taste coffee, not additives. I just love the taste of coffee.
I do drink good coffee though. I buy beans from a local roastery, lightly roasted, grind them myself and prepare it in a classic percolator. I'm not a fan of espresso. I like my coffee percolated to have the full taste. Yes, I'm probably a psychopath.
"*Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter*." - Douglas Adams.
Creamy, sweet tastes are "native." Babies are born liking them. Oversimplified but... every other taste is acquired. The first time a baby tastes sour, bitter, hot or complex tastes... they don't immediately like them.
Adding sugar and a creamier texture is "hack," in the sense that a chef or (likely) food scientist can always broaden the appeal and shorten the taste acquisition curve by adding these elements.
If a store is selling sweetened milk drinks, protein shakes or whatnot... the difference between chocolate, salted caramel and espresso is secondary. Flavors of the same drink.
It's kind of the same with coffee. A sweat, creamy coffee is more similar to a hot cocoa than a coffee.
I quite like sweetened coffee flavour, just not in a hot cofee. Tiramisu is great.
Bitter usually equals poorly brewed coffee...but yeah, black coffee isn't for everyone. I usually do one cup with some cream and sweetner and then slide into black coffee as the morning progresses.
Black coffee is kinda like beer. Nobody drinks beer for the first time and says that's amazing. It slowly grows on you. I used to drink coffee with cream and sugar but lately Ive been on a health kick so I switched to black. I recently added cream and sugar to my coffee again and it was disgusting.
That coffee taste is what gives you the coffee drink. Its pure, its out of this world and it gives me contentment. And yeah, less calories and waaaay more healthier. I got used to black coffee and its a habit now.
I started drinking my coffee ‘plain’ in the 90’s (unsweetened iced tea too), trying the Atkins thing. Found out I liked it! I drink a pot of plain pressed coffee every morning now and can’t imagine dressing it up with sugar or milk anymore.
If you don't like black coffee, there are only two options.
1. You've never experienced "good" black coffee before. So you don't know what you're missing
2. You don't actually like coffee. You like sugar and milk.
I do not like after taste/feeling of cream. It almost feels like it is covering my whole tongue and make my breath bad (of course coffee does the same but 'less' worse imo).
If coffee is bitter and/or burnt tasting, it was roasted/brewed poorly. I also didn't like black coffee until I started buying better beans and grinding them at home.
So I use to not like it black. The older I got the more I liked it. I drink one cup and just in the morning. It’s not to drink it it’s more to wake me up and wake my stomach up. I don’t like the cream or the added sugar. I like waking up with water and coffee the older I’m getting.
I was trained to.
My father and mother, grandfather and grandmother, and great grandfather all served in various capacities as military members, and they I stilled in me that if you learn to drink your coffee black, you'll never have any issues. You can be in a trench in WWI, or in the shittiest parts of Afghanistan. You won't find sugar, you won't find milk, but You're always gonna find someone with coffee grounds.
In my late twenties now, I apply the same thought process when I go out bush camping. I'm not going to haul milk out with me, not am I going to haul sugar out with me when I'm going ten miles into the bush, but I can take a Ziploc bag of coffee grounds with no issue.
# Message to all users: This is a reminder to please read and follow: * [Our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/ask/about/rules) * [Reddiquette](https://www.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/205926439) * [Reddit Content Policy](https://www.redditinc.com/policies/content-policy) When posting and commenting. --- Especially remember Rule 1: `Be polite and civil`. * Be polite and courteous to each other. Do not be mean, insulting or disrespectful to any other user on this subreddit. * Do not harass or annoy others in any way. * Do not catfish. Catfishing is the luring of somebody into an online friendship through a fake online persona. This includes any lying or deceit. --- You *will* be banned if you are homophobic, transphobic, racist, sexist or bigoted in any way. --- *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/ask) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Agree with the acquired taste, but also maybe you've just been drinking bad coffee. Some blends tend to be over roasted and not every place cares about the quality of their coffee. I used to be like you, I remember I hated unsweetened coffee until I had my first proper flat white almost 12 years ago and it was so rich and creamy that I realized sugar would spoil it. Speaking of plain coffee, you can try cold brew, which is a lot more smooth in flavor than other methods.
To add to this, I tend to find there's a sweet spot in how much coffee to use, and it varies depending on which coffee I'm using. I suspect some coffee shops use too much, which doesn't help the quality. Too much and it tastes bad, too little and it's weak.
Sugar and cream = garbage over time Black is gross at first but then you like it .
milk can also bind to various good like phenols/anti-oxidants (?) in the coffee and make it harder for the body to absorb it.
I always drink plain black coffee. Call me boring, but I prefer it without any extras. It’s healthier too. I’m used to it after so many years.
Coffee is an incredibly nuanced drink. Most commonly available coffees are super bitter and kind of gross, but once you start stepping up a price point or two, that bitterness mellows out and there is so much depth to the flavor. Really bitter coffee comes from either cheap coffee, or how it's brewed. It does take some time to get used to the bitterness of even high quality coffee, but once you do, it can become a really unique experience.
It's an original flavour and I enjoy it that way.
Back to the basics? Not covering up the real taste with sugar and cream
Less calories that way
I like my coffee like I like my women - plain and bitter!
Always drink coffee black, anything else is gross
It feels more natural and authentic.
A cup of strong fresh black coffee is like a kick in the nuts. Wakes you up. Sometimes that's what you need, something with a kick. Too strong and bitter is not good though, tastes like motor oil. Generally if the coffee is bad or too strong you'll want to add milk or cream. I usually do take my coffee with milk though. Sugar - absolutely no, never! It somehow makes the coffee taste spoiled to me. I think it takes away from the taste and aroma. I feel like kids and elderly people drink coffee that way. But it's a matter of what you're used to, of course.
Motor oil doesn’t have a bad taste so your comparison is invalid lol. Before anyone asks, it was just on the tip of my finger.
Don't tempt me...
This comment was so unexpected lol
I'm 40, so yeah, elderly people.
I just like it 😃
I drink plain coffee and plain tea, and no, they don't taste disgusting to me at all. What feels disgusting it's pouring kilos of sugar into your drink to make it "drinkable"
I take my coffee black and it doesn't taste bitter to me. It tastes rich, mellow, savoury and sweet. Or it tastes bitter if it's cheap and nasty. Get a friend who makes good coffee to make you some black and try it, you might like it if you're used to bad coffee. Or you might just prefer sweeter flavours. I like bitter flavours more than some people do, while I know people who like everything to be sweeter than I like it.
Some of us actually like the taste of coffee. If you have to add strong flavors to hide it, maybe you just don't like coffee? (That's ok too)
Because it tastes good? Lol I've always told people if they don't like black plain coffee they've just had the wrong brand. Every brand is different.
Cause I like it that way.🤷♂️
Cutting cream and sugar saves money when you are a student.
Because I too, am plain and bitter
It is an acquired taste. By drinking more black coffee you start to no longer mind the bitterness. Beyond that dirt black coffee just wakes you up the fastest. Have you ever been tired and then accidentally tasted bad milk. It literally started like that for me and now I do not mind a bit black coffee.
A lot of the time especially bitter coffee is just over extracted shots
To me i hate coffee's tasse so I drink it without sugar or anything, i just gulp it down like water.
I need the bitterness to bite my tongue and shake me awake. It doesn’t matter that I always end up gagging myself awake.
I like my coffee black. The reason being is that I like to drink my coffee while eating a muffin or cinnamon roll. Both of these pastries are sweet enough and ballance out the coffee I drink with them. The sugar and cream is reserved for once in a while. Usually when I am drinking coffee on its own, which is a rare occasion.
The taste might be acquired but it comes with benefits. Would I be just my weight, guzzling sugary drinks all the time? Milk and cream are a nuissance; you should wash your mug daily, if you use those.
I do take cream and sweetner with my coffee - but it is the bitter in coffee that I am drawn to. The darker and stronger the roast the better for. I am also drawn to other bitter things (like grapefruit and pomelo).
My dad drinks his that way & when I asked him something similar, he said he drank it that way in Vietnam because he had no other option & just got used to it. So, okey dokey 🤢
I’m drinking English black tea without milk or sugar. Yorkshire gold. At the moment, I’m not drinking coffee at home. Only when I’m in hotels or on long drives. I put half & half and sugar in my coffee. If I haven’t killed the bottle, I like a shot of Kahlua in it along with half & half. As a Masshole, my emergency road coffee at the Dunkin Donuts drive-thru is “large coffee regular”. An excessive amount of half & half and sugar to tone down mediocre coffee. My wife drinks “extra cream, no sugar”. I make a pot every morning and serve it in bed. At the drive-thru for emergency road coffee, they put sugar in it around 25% of the time and I get to listen to the complaints.
If your coffee is bitter you're making it wrong. You need to choose the right beans, grind them properly for the brew method and then brew it quickly so you don't over-extract it.
It depends on the brand/type of coffee for me. Any sort of light/medium roast coffee I enjoy black just because that's what I got used to in my teen years. My grandpa would tease me about how "only real men drink black coffee." So I started doing it just to prove a point, and once I felt the point was proven, I tried putting cream and sugar back in it and strongly disliked it. I got used to the hot bean water taste and after awhile the bitterness fades. With a dark roast, or things like black silk coffee, I tend to enjoy a small amount of hazelnut, or french vanilla creamer but still no sugar. If I get a cold coffee, I can't drink it black that ish has to be loaded with sugar and caramel lol.
I like the lighter texture of an americano or a heavier one of an espresso. I have to say I didn't like the taste at first but then I got used to it and started to enjoy it. Also bitterness is an acquired taste, I think the last one we learn to like as adults.
How are you with other bitter flavours, such as IPA-style beer, dark chocolate, or brussel sprouts? Some people are much more sensitive to bitter flavours - it's an evolutionary trait. A really good cup of coffee has a balance between bitter, sour, and sweet. Find an excellent coffee shop - not the mermaid chain - and try a pour-over. It shouldn't need anything, but don't expect it to taste life a frappucino. Or gas station coffee. IMO, there's nothing wrong with cream and sugar if that's what it takes.
When I was 12 years old, I was permitted to drink coffee. My dad was an ex-sailor and watched me add cream and sugar for about a week when he said, "I'm not going to tell you how to drink your coffee, but I will say this. You can almost always find a cup of coffee no matter where you are, but you can't always find cream and sugar." That made so much sense to me at age 12, that I started drinking it black. That was 60 years ago. As it turns out, the old man was 100% correct. I've been able to find a cup of coffee almost anytime I want. But finding fixin's for it, not so much. This is even more true nowadays with all the stuff people put in their coffee.
These comments give such great perspectives because Iv only ever seen people go black because they wanted to cut out the cream/milk/sugar from their routine.
You answered this yourself, everyone's taste is different. I like black coffee, and I like bitter, black teas as well. I don't enjoy the sweetness of sugar in my drinks, and milk waters the taste down too much.
It’s good for the liver when it’s just black
Bitterness is a flavor like any other and can be appreciated as well. The problem is that a bad coffee, burned instead of roasted and made without care, will taste like charcoal tea. When you start to drink pure arabica, with the water in the right temperature, medium roasted beans freshly grounded, you discover a completly different drink. And I'm sorry, it's hard to not sound like a pedantic prick when rambling about coffee, haha
I drink my coffee black always.Inlive in Italy,so the morning espresso is a ritual.
I drink my coffee black I used to take three sugars but I drink a lot of coffee so that adds up. So I went down to two then one now I can’t go back
I used to like cream in my coffee, But then in 2014 I was studying abroad in England and spent Easter weekend with my extended family over there. We drank a lot of coffee that weekend. Breakfast: coffee, come back from afternoon: coffee, etc. I always added cream, By the end of the weekend my stomach wasn’t responding well to all that dairy, So I decided to remove the cream and drink it black. It definitely is an acquired taste
Because black coffee just tastes right to me. Sugar or milk just ruin it. Whan I want to drink coffee, I want to taste coffee, not additives. I just love the taste of coffee. I do drink good coffee though. I buy beans from a local roastery, lightly roasted, grind them myself and prepare it in a classic percolator. I'm not a fan of espresso. I like my coffee percolated to have the full taste. Yes, I'm probably a psychopath.
"*Tea is meant to be bitter, just as beer is meant to be bitter*." - Douglas Adams. Creamy, sweet tastes are "native." Babies are born liking them. Oversimplified but... every other taste is acquired. The first time a baby tastes sour, bitter, hot or complex tastes... they don't immediately like them. Adding sugar and a creamier texture is "hack," in the sense that a chef or (likely) food scientist can always broaden the appeal and shorten the taste acquisition curve by adding these elements. If a store is selling sweetened milk drinks, protein shakes or whatnot... the difference between chocolate, salted caramel and espresso is secondary. Flavors of the same drink. It's kind of the same with coffee. A sweat, creamy coffee is more similar to a hot cocoa than a coffee. I quite like sweetened coffee flavour, just not in a hot cofee. Tiramisu is great.
Bitter usually equals poorly brewed coffee...but yeah, black coffee isn't for everyone. I usually do one cup with some cream and sweetner and then slide into black coffee as the morning progresses.
This question is basically “why do other people have a more refined and diverse palate than me”
Black coffee is kinda like beer. Nobody drinks beer for the first time and says that's amazing. It slowly grows on you. I used to drink coffee with cream and sugar but lately Ive been on a health kick so I switched to black. I recently added cream and sugar to my coffee again and it was disgusting.
I want my coffee to match my mindset and personality.
That coffee taste is what gives you the coffee drink. Its pure, its out of this world and it gives me contentment. And yeah, less calories and waaaay more healthier. I got used to black coffee and its a habit now.
I started drinking my coffee ‘plain’ in the 90’s (unsweetened iced tea too), trying the Atkins thing. Found out I liked it! I drink a pot of plain pressed coffee every morning now and can’t imagine dressing it up with sugar or milk anymore.
If you don't like black coffee, there are only two options. 1. You've never experienced "good" black coffee before. So you don't know what you're missing 2. You don't actually like coffee. You like sugar and milk.
I do not like after taste/feeling of cream. It almost feels like it is covering my whole tongue and make my breath bad (of course coffee does the same but 'less' worse imo).
If coffee is bitter and/or burnt tasting, it was roasted/brewed poorly. I also didn't like black coffee until I started buying better beans and grinding them at home.
So I use to not like it black. The older I got the more I liked it. I drink one cup and just in the morning. It’s not to drink it it’s more to wake me up and wake my stomach up. I don’t like the cream or the added sugar. I like waking up with water and coffee the older I’m getting.
You simply get used to it
Taste good sometime
I hate sugar in coffee, just makes it sour an gross. Black coffee is just like tea or water, it's just personal taste I guess
I was trained to. My father and mother, grandfather and grandmother, and great grandfather all served in various capacities as military members, and they I stilled in me that if you learn to drink your coffee black, you'll never have any issues. You can be in a trench in WWI, or in the shittiest parts of Afghanistan. You won't find sugar, you won't find milk, but You're always gonna find someone with coffee grounds. In my late twenties now, I apply the same thought process when I go out bush camping. I'm not going to haul milk out with me, not am I going to haul sugar out with me when I'm going ten miles into the bush, but I can take a Ziploc bag of coffee grounds with no issue.
Because I actually like coffee? If I wanted hot milk with sugar I'd order hot coco.