As a rule, I prefer a cup of coffee at a Peet’s over just about any other. Rich and strong, my idea of what a cup of coffee should be. I hate to think how many pounds of coffee beans I have bought there over the years – probably enough to buy the best table saw in the world.

My “usual” is Sumatra. Years ago, when they sold a variety they called (simply enough) Java, that was my usual. When they stoppped selling that, I switched to Sumatra.

Stopping in the Belmont Peet’s yesterday, I succumbed to the point of purchase marketing of the extra special “Sumatra Blue Batak” and took a bag of the beans home. After brewing a cup with my Aeropress, for the first time in my life, I considered taking the coffee back. It just tasted weird.

This is the point where my ability to articulate the qualities of coffee fails me. If it doesn’t taste like something else, I can’t really do much more than shrug my shoulders or make faces. I like to put numbers to use where I can, so putting things in terms of 1 to 10 scales etc. is a temptation. But I don’t even know what I would call the scale.

The first word that came to mind after taking a big mouthful of the Blue Batak was sour. I think “astringent” is the word used by afficianados. It tasted like a good cup of strong full bodied coffee covered with the kind of “yellow” flavor I expect from canned Yuban or a cup of weak coffee from Denny’s. Weird indeed.

Anyway – I did not like the coffee. I decided to give it another try or two, since I had recently got over a cold and wasn’t really confident in my palate. Perhaps I was just deaf to some of the wonderful overtones other people hear?
I have had a couple of cups more, and with some sugar in it, I am starting to like it, at least enough to keep drinking it.

Starting to doubt why I even care about “better” coffee. Seems like if the coffee beans are reasonably fresh, I may be able to get used to just about anything. Not the observation of a gourmet, I know.