I don't know if you guys are familiar with the so called "miracle fruit", but basically its a fruit that temporarily changes your perception of flavor, making sour things sweet. I tried some last night in the form of a tablet, you let it dissolve on your tongue and then for the next hour or so your taste perception is impacted.

I started out with a lemon, which was definitely the winner of the night. It still tasted like a lemon, but was very sweet like lemonade or lemon candy. Next I tried a tamarind. This was more complex, all the sourness was gone and it had a sort of savory flavor, reminiscent of dates or figs. Not unpleasant, and definitely not at all like a tamarind anymore.

Then I got the idea that will be more interesting to you guys. Earlier in the day I had pulled a shot of some single origin Rwanda which was quite sour. I never bothered trying to dial it in any better. So I thought, lets try that again, maybe it will be delicious. Well, no. The sourness was all gone, and there was some sweetness, but it had an unpleasant artificial sweetener quality. The dominant thing though, was intense bitterness. Without the sourness to balance it, the bitterness was overwhelming and incredibly unpleasant. And I am someone with a high tolerance for bitter flavors.

I guess this lends some more credence to Jim's statements about intense sour and bitter cancelling themselves out in coffee. Turns out espresso is intensely, unpleasantly bitter, and its only the balancing sourness that allows us to enjoy it. Take that sour away, and its not pleasant at all.

So yeah, can't recommend the miracle fruit with coffee. But if you like sweets and are trying to watch your calories, it is a great way to turn lemons into lemon candy.

Fun post. You should find some fresh miracle fruit! It works even better. I hadn't tried it with coffee though (kicking myself--will do next time).

This kind of reminds me of when I tried Eugenioides, which has very low caffeine content (and thus low bitterness) and almost no citric acidity. It was way too sweet and flat for me. Everything needs to be present but *balanced* for a good cup, right?