I have a confession: I’m guilty of having a snobbish attitude against drinking coffee with milk. Real coffee drinkers should drink their coffee black. I saw milk as a mere softener of the bitterness of bad coffee. Well over the last few weeks, I’ve been making 8 O’clock Coffee in the morning and have been adding milk to soften the bitterness of the bad coffee. But I had a micro-epiphany. One thing that milk does that adds another dimension to coffee is what it does to the mouthfeel. Mouthfeel is how it feels in our mouth. Water is thin. Cream is creamy. Maple syrup is thick (By the way these terms are my own. I don’t know if there are a standard set of mouthfeel terms used by coffee experts).
Why I called this a micro-epiphany is because I now realized the different experience one should expect with a high quality latte. The mouthfeel of milk is another dimension to the taste profile of coffee that make things interesting.
Tags: 8 O'Clock Coffee, Coffee Tasting
March 22, 2012 at 8:31 pm
i was eagerly awaiting the next blog, then realized that nothing has been written since may 2010 !! are you stuck in a time warp..?.or have you lost the urgency to demystify the singularity of the bean ?
March 23, 2012 at 11:57 am
Just call me Rip van Winkle. Actually if found that I had the most interest in posting new blogs when I was documenting my coffee journey during my learning curve. My next stage will be with making espresso. But I don’t have the money for an espresso machine or a good grinder. So until then, I make my cup of coffee with my vacuum pot or a french press.