# Bad Coffee



## 4515 (Jan 30, 2013)

I had an hour or so to kill this afternoon and was near a garden nursery we use so I nipped over to get a few plants. Time was still on my side so I nipped into the cafe for a brew.

They brought my americano over. Cup size was about 6oz so I'm not going to have to do battle with a goldfish bowl full of coffee - things are looking good.

I tried the coffee .... christ on a bike ! it was hotter than a mcD's apple pie ! This thing was superheated - I really have no idea how they got the water that hot

I let it cool down for a while - killing more time and then went in for round two. This thing was weak which was just as well because the taste was awful - burnt old beans

On the plus side I had a really nice slice of ginger and lemon cake.

Rang Mrs WD up on the way home to get the machine switched on and poured myself a decent coffee which I have just finished

How do these places get it so wrong and get away with serving this muck ? I guess I'm not going to get the best coffee from a place focussed on selling plants but expected something a bit better than that


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## cold war kid (Mar 12, 2010)

Someone on this website mentioned the other day that when they go into these places they're basically looking at it from the point of view that they are paying £3 for a comfy seat in pleasant surroundings with wifi and it comes with a free coffee. This is my view completely. If the said free coffee is drinkable then that's a big bonus and I'll go back again, but I don't expect it. If I did I would be forever taking drinks back and complaining which isn't something I enjoy doing.


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## 4515 (Jan 30, 2013)

Seats were wooden, there was no wifi but on a plus point they only charged £1.85 for the drink


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## cold war kid (Mar 12, 2010)

My daughter used to have a Saturday morning tutor in Bolton town centre and when I dropped her off I used to go into costa and look up the horse racing in their paper then use their wifi to make a few small bets just to while away the time until I had to pick her up again.

The costa in Bolton is one of the best I've been in with some enthusiastic ( if a little clueless ) employee's, but that wasn't the point. I was just looking for somewhere to chill out for 45 mins basically.


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## cold war kid (Mar 12, 2010)

working dog said:


> Seats were wooden, there was no wifi but on a plus point they only charged £1.85 for the drink


Oh. Not good then.


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Often its not the beans or the technique that is the issue, it's usually the cleanliness of the machine.

On several occasions I have spent nearly 30 minutes cleaning the machine before being able to conduct a training. That is just to get it to the minimum standard of being able to teach the baristas.

Usually the coffee tastes loads better after this - prior to the training taking place

Afterwards its hugely improved!


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Glenn said:


> Often its not the beans or the technique that is the issue, it's usually the cleanliness of the machine.
> 
> On several occasions I have spent nearly 30 minutes cleaning the machine before being able to conduct a training. That is just to get it to the minimum standard of being able to teach the baristas.
> 
> ...


+ one on this. i ask to see underneath the filter basket before I test their barista skills


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## Eyedee (Sep 13, 2010)

Why not name and shame them as a favour to other unsuspecting forum members, you would praise them for a good drink so why not shame them for serving crap.

I could be that poor unsuspecting gardener one day.

Ian


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## Kyle548 (Jan 24, 2013)

That moment when you watch someone else pull a shot and you KNOW.....


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

We stopped at a Costa Sunday in Cambridge as the wife had to have a coffee, i opted for an ameracano..

To be fair, the barista did look like he knew what he was doing, although didn't see any scales or timers, but i guess there machines are set up to do as much as automatically as possible.

The end result for me was not bad, but nothing special, it was just a regular tasting coffee, the wife had a flat white and it seemed ok, again nothing special just a plain old coffee with decent art resting on the top.

The barista did however give the wife a frown when she poured her sugar in it, so he must have a little passion!


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## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

The restaurant I work in now has no training for the coffee at all. Bulk bought beans (I think Lavazza) get ground to a rough espresso grind, too much doses into the basket, small push with the plastic tamper attached to the grinder, slammed into the machine and then left there until the next coffee is made, no level of cleaning of any piece of equipment is done during this process. Milk is done with the auto frother that makes the milk look like the scum you find floating by the side of a weir.

And yet every now and then customers will comment on how good the coffee is...

People just have no idea what good coffee tastes like.


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

I have no idea what good coffee tastes like!

One day ill get it right....


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## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

Haha, good point froggy, It's all about perspective.


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

working dog said:


> How do these places get it so wrong and get away with serving this muck ? I guess I'm not going to get the best coffee from a place focussed on selling plants but expected something a bit better than that


Simple answer - skill....or complete absence of it.


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## dsc (Jun 7, 2013)

As mentioned before it's also quite often down to how clean or dirty the machines are. I used to stop at service stations on my journeys and often order filter coffee at Starbucks, every time I was shocked how bad it was, I bet those drip machines never get a proper clean and you can taste it.


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## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

dsc said:


> As mentioned before it's also quite often down to how clean or dirty the machines are. I used to stop at service stations on my journeys and often order filter coffee at Starbucks, every time I was shocked how bad it was, I bet those drip machines never get a proper clean and you can taste it.


I would say clean machines are something that comes hand in hand with skill. No barista worth their salt would work with a dirty machine.


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## stuartsidebotham (Jun 15, 2014)

I went in the new Costa in Hereford and I could not believe how dirty the sides and the machine itself was.... I had a latte to take out... one sip and it was chucked in the bin, tasted liked cooked eggs...

To make it worse this was made by the maestro barista!


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## glevum (Apr 4, 2013)

Waitrose, Cheltenham. The worse coffee i have had in a year or so. Nice Victoria Arduino equipment though.


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## clickhappy (Feb 1, 2012)

I've been making some terrible coffee recently. Thought it was just my distribution and channeling. Turns out that 90% of the taste problem was that the machine desperately needed a good back flushing.


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