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Comment by abstract_put | Hacker News Reader

As someone who really enjoys coffee, this is wild seeming to me. Have you sought out "different" coffees, or just don't naturally encounter them? For example, have you ever had any light roasted coffee? Or naturally processed? My first time having either of those I was shocked how unlike anything associated with coffee they were. Admittedly I didn't like either on the first try, but they were definitely VERY different from standard dark roast offerings.

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My wife generally buys the coffee, sometimes it’s Peet’s something or other roast, sometimes Starbucks breakfast blend, sometimes ground and sometimes whole bean (we have a grinder but are often too lazy to use it.) When I buy it it’s usually Folgers. I also get coffee at McDonald’s, Starbucks, gas stations, hotels, etc. None of these are really distinguishable to me.

My friend made pour over coffee once, I don’t remember it tasting any different at all.

I can tell if someone made it “strong” or not, mostly because if it’s really strong I feel jittery and over-caffeinated after. It does taste “stronger” too, but not so much different as just less watery vs more watery.

Ah, then I'm following. I would generally agree with you! Despite the labeling differences, I think almost all of those are going to be roasted to the point where that's all you can taste (rather than the bean). In a sense, the processing for all those offerings is basically "how can we make everything taste extremely predictable and uniform?". Most of the difference will be hot/cold, watery/concentrated.

If you're interested, I'm 100% positive you'd be surprised at how many different flavors are available in coffee. I'd second the recommendation of qbasic_forever above. It can make a fun date with the wife, or if you have a locally available coffee subscription that can be a fun way to see some variety at home. Funky fermented flavors, maybe juicy acidity - I promise there are coffees that would be unrecognizable as coffee.

All that said, you might not like any of them. If what you're drawn to is the roasty flavors and bitterness then you'll lose some of that in exchange. All that to say, I'm 100% certain you'd be surprised by the variety of flavors if you were to pursue it, but there's no reason to if you're happy with what you've got. It only gets more expensive and less accessible...

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