Blue Bottle Coffee is okay, I guess

When I first started tasting wine, more than 15 years ago, my tastes were in the full-flavored, full-bodied reds. I didn't get the point of Pinot Noir. Now, of course, I like my pinots delicate and elegant, and scorn those made by producers in more or less the same style in which they make Cabernet Sauvignon.

I think my taste in coffee is undergoing a similar evolution. At first, I really liked the hard-roasted style of Cole Coffee, which still isn't bad. Their coffee comes out with less acid, which can give it a more mellow style than Peet's. Now, however, the medium roasts of Blue Bottle now seem just about right. The problem described in the last entry was, to some extent, due to a half pound of Ethiopian Yirgacheffe I bought from them which was awful: strong bitter vegetal flavor, like artichoke stem. Recently, though, I have bought two other half pounds which have been fabulous: Yemeni Mattari and Ethiopian Wotona. The irony of the latter is that even though it is very fine coffee, I'm not sure I like its flavors. What disagrees with me is the Merlot-like "sour tar"-ish flavor, which many people don't like (in Merlot). (Tonight I drank a 1999 Beringer Napa Valley Merlot, delicate and delicious, aged to perfection.) I guess I will have to suffer through it as an intellectual exercise. :)

The catalyst for this shift in coffee palate was the coffee I had at Ritual. Their coffees, if anything, have even lighter roasts than Blue Bottles', and they really emphasize delicacy and complexity. It's quite a contrast from Cole. So, try the single-origin Blue Bottle coffees. Try the Clover coffee at Ritual. Then see what you think of Cole, or Peet's for that matter.