Hi all! Happy to find this community!
Just wondering if some might be willing to help with some confusion I’ve had.
I was talking to someone here (Masto actually) about the best forms of coffee, and espresso hadn’t been mentioned. So I said, how about just espresso … clearly the best form of coffee.
They responded with “I don’t like dark roasts”. And I said it sounds like you just haven’t had good espresso and that you don’t need to have use dark roasts with espresso, as it can be quite light, floral and fruity. They didn’t seem to like what I said and didn’t respond.
This person comes from Canada, and I come from Melbourne Aus. From what I know, we have different coffee culture from Canada, or at least used compared to the US. For instance, I’d never really seen espresso be tightly bound with the “dark roasts”.
Naturally, being a snob, my impression was that this person and their coffee culture don’t know what good espresso can be, but I truly don’t know what’s going on over there.
Any insights?!
EDIT: This conversation was much more polite than this … I was just trying to summarise it and the feeling I had that they didn’t quite appreciate that I thought there was more to explore in espresso than what they knew.
Otherwise … thanks to those who answered and more or less confirmed my suspicion that some think espresso must be made from dark-roasts but it’s not true and one’s understanding is probably due to what they’ve been exposed to.
If this were an am I the asshole post I’d say you sound like the asshole. You can talk about things you like without dunking/flexing on others. Clearly not the best form of coffee enthusiasm.
Anyway most regular people, in general, who make espresso, are not using light roasts for it. Of course you can make espresso with any coffee, but light roast espresso also won’t necessarily appeal to everyone who likes a pour over. Just chill.
I mean, maybe I was the asshole. Maybe we were comfortable enough with each other to use language that when taken out of context sounds bad but was just banter in the moment? Some people are rather happy talking to each other the way I outlined the conversation!
Reality is that I was just trying to summarise the conversation and how it hit a dead end once I talked about how espresso doesn’t need to use a dark-roast and maybe it’s just not a thing they’ve tried or that’s done where they are. The language wasn’t the point and it was much more polite than my “mock” of the conversation.
I was just looking for any insights on coffee that I might not have and on variations in coffee culture and lingo around the world.
And while I appreciate feedback on the language, in general, I have to say going around and dunking on people’s language in conversations without context and without being open to the possibility that you don’t really know what happened and why, is kind of an asshole move in itself. It’s not hard to just say "Hmmm … maybe they didn’t like your language or attitude? On the coffee side though … "