Hi,
I'm trying to get better about being able to accurately calibrate my taste buds to pick up on different flavor characteristics. So, if flavor is 1-5, 3 is decent, 1 is crap, 2 is bad, 4 is above average and 5 is off the charts. So I have lots of 3's , some 4's, no 1's few 2's and 5s.

Can any of you recommend some useful bad coffees, as in this flavor is a 1, this is way too acidic, this is way too bitter, etc? Would be good to have something to compare with as I mainly home roast (I think I do ok as a hobbyist, I have a behmor) and buy good coffees, I rarely drink bad coffees.

Did a search for this...sorry if it has been asked before.

I think any of the above. So, for espresso, would be good to taste a coffee that was way too sour vs. way too bitter. Or, a super acidic coffee as opposed to one that had too little acidity.

And for french press, some of the cup of excellence/sweet maria's categories such as uniformity or clean cup, would be good to see an example of coffees that rated low. (no cigarette but floating in the cup? 10! )

Basically trying to get a good sense of the very low and very high so I can calibrate my own ratings. (also, reducing the coffee experience to a number is problematic, I get that, but...)


Am going to try some of the local grocery store whole beans to see what that's like, starbucks and some other big chain type of places, but wanted to see if anyone had any specific recommendations.

For bitter, buy something from the grocery store labelled as an "Italian" or "French" roast, and then brew it with boiling water.

For sour, buy something lightly roasted (look for shops that advertise their approach as "Nordic," which may require ordering online), and then brew it using water that is around 190F.

For a dirty cup, buy the cheapest Sumatran coffee you can find, and brew it using normal parameters.

Uniformity can only be seen when brewing multiple cups from the same batch at one time; the Sumatran will probably also display a lack of uniformity if you try and taste a bunch of separately brewed cups side by side.

For well-executed coffees, forget about the grocery store and buy directly from well-respected roasteries.

And if you want to learn this stuff quickly, the best thing you could do would be to find a local group of people who do regular coffee tastings, and join them.