YES, a hundred times YES.

I already did my coffee nerd post a while ago, so I’ll hold back this time (ehh I’ll try). This time, I’ll just say that I’m absolutely convinced that 95% of people who either drink their coffee with sugar or don’t like coffee at all have simply never tried good coffee. This was the case for me until I became a nerd about coffee.

Most people who don’t really think about their coffee are likely drinking blends that are either a mixture of Coffea arabica and Coffea canephora (typically of the robusta variety), or just all canephora. The main reason for that is that canephoras are extremely resistant and have higher yields, contrary to arabica, which means they’re much easier and cheaper to grow in large quantities. That makes them ideal as the main component of the blends you can get at the supermarket.

The thing is, most canephora varieties typically don’t have a lot of complexity or sweetness to them. They can be grown successfully at lower altitudes and thus they grow faster than arabica varieties, and a consequence of that is a less flavorful profile. Arabicas need higher altitudes and take a lot of time to reach their full potential, all of which make it the “premium” kind of coffee. That’s why you’ll normally see “100% arabica” as a selling point when you look at coffee labels.

Now, in order to keep their products roughly the same over time, companies will typically take their blends and roast them dark. Like really, really dark. The darker the roast, the fewer original characteristics from the beans you’ll find at the end of the process. It starts tasting more like the roaster than the bean, so to speak. For third-wave specialty coffee that’s a big no-no, but for mass-produced stuff, that’s exactly what you want - you might not get a good deal on beans, but your roaster will always be the same.

That’s why most people identify coffee as tasting bitter, and the bitter-er the stronger. Coffee is black, so more black must mean more strong, right? Well, no, it just means a darker roast and less of the characteristics of the actual coffee bean, which is why I started this by saying that people who add sugar or hate coffee are very likely unfamiliar with what coffee should taste like if it weren’t fine-tuned to become a mass-produced and profitable item.

Also, remember how I said that canephora is typically inferior in flavor? Well, guess what? If you roast it just right, it’s also a bold, tasty coffee, if lacking in the complexity of a good arabica. All you have to do is not roast it like you’re trying to make charcoal. Right now I’m drinking a delicious cup of Brazilian kouillou, known locally as conilon, which is a variety of canephora. This was grown locally, at a friend’s uncle’s small rural property, and roasted by a pro in my city (I’d do it myself, but canephoras are way harder to roast correctly).

I’ll go further than you and say that it doesn’t even need to be an unfiltered method. Just a regular ass pourover when ground immediately before brewing is already enough to blow you away with how naturally sweet coffee can be. Would you sprinkle sugar on a melon or a banana before eating it? Same thing goes for coffee. You add sugar to it, it becomes liquid candy. Which is fine if that’s your thing, but people should give proper quality coffee a try if they ever get the chance. Find a your local hipster coffee shop (not Starbucks, duh), get yourself a cup and try not adding sugar! You might be surprised!