What No One Tells You About Learning To Taste 

Came here for coffee, stayed for the life lesson

“If everything you drink is special, then nothing is special” So so so good and an awesome reminder.

The Hoff going to Starbucks, barista: "omg James Hoffman what are you doing HERE???", the Hoff: "to appreciate beauty", barista "awww thanks...wait...."

I started drinking 'bad' coffee again, because I noticed that everyone around me become apologetic about offering me things or even telling me where they go to get coffee. I hate this, because I don't see myself as a judgemental person. It's getting better, but what you describe definitely happened to me.

For me most of my life I thought alcohol was all just: generic name brand spirits you mixed with soda, shitty beer, and thunderbird wine so I just didn't drink. Then I started working in a high-end liquor store that had hundreds of differents beers, top shelf liquor, and a selection of wines of every kind from across the globe. I was amazed that there was such a wide variety of delicious alcohol. I really learned to taste alcohol and was motivated to be able to describe it to customers. I was tasting a wine one day that I had heard customers and staff would always describe as 'incredibly complex and delicious' and objectively as I tasted it I could pick out various flavors and understand why people said it was so good, but subjectively _I didn't like the taste._ Sometimes you can forget to pay attention to whether you actually like something when you get into that world, and it made me remember to always ask the customer what they like instead of just recommending the objective "best". The same can happen with coffee where you find yourself seeking "the best" and forget to ask yourself 'What do I _actually_ like?'

This goes way beyond coffee, this applies to life in general, I think this might be what I need right now

Learning to taste coffee actually made me appreciate bad coffee more. Instead of just thinking something was bitter, I suddenly was experiencing musty, burnt rubbers and ashy cardboards. It really made me appreciate what was bad about those cups in a way I didn’t expect, but was still excited to experience.

Definitely true. I’m still developing my taste for good coffee, but I learned to put it aside when I went to my grandmother’s house, because she enjoyed making pre-ground Folgers French Roast in her percolater. She didn’t want me to spend money to bring her a Café au Lait-she just wanted to start the coffee and have it ready for me to pour for her as soon as I arrived. What really matters is who you are drinking with. 🥰

While I tend to almost universally enjoy James’s content this is one of the best, if not THE best and most profound video of his I’ve seen. There’s something universal about this experience across other walks of life and professions. Excellent

"The more knowledge, the more grief," Ecclesiastes 1:18. It's the classic catch-22 of learning. I've met a few musicians who've simply stopped listening to music. This, to me, is the greatest tragedy that can happen to someone who deepens their experience of food or art is that they give up on enjoying it anymore. I do my best to appreciate not just bad coffee, or food, or wine, but also mediocre coffee, food, and wine and appreciating the positive qualities that the mediocre things possess. Just because something isn't perfect doesn't mean it has nothing of value. If that were the case, none of us would have any value, since none of us are perfect.

For me, trying to appreciate the person behind the food brings it back to perspective. Appreciate the person making the coffee, and appreciate the fact that they made you coffee.

I did something pretty similar. I split ‘bad coffee’ in my head as a separate entity. I still like ‘bad coffee’ if it’s good (confusing I know), but I mean the coffee that your grandma makes or your friends make, the preground, weak, dark coffee, I still love it. It reminds me of camping, or road trips when you have to get up early and a McDonald’s is the only coffee shop open. With that spectrum of bad coffee, there are some better than others. And I can taste those differences now. So my favorite cup of ‘bad coffee’ is just one that has no complexity but a ton of body and no bitterness. If I get that, I’m happy as a clam

This is a good philosophy not only for coffee, but for life.

Great point, James! I like to occasionally have instant or pre-ground coffee with the family or at the supermarket. Two reasons. I want to understand what coffee people around me drink and I want to remind myself how privileged I am drinking speciality coffee most of the time.

Without darkness there can be no light. How can we know joy without sadness.

This is how someone talks when they have experienced life. They’ve been through some shit. Thanks James for reminding me that life is about contrast. Cheers mate.

I remember learning something like this in the first philosophy class I took in college. It’s called the Greater Good philosophy. Basically, it states that hardship lead you to appreciate good things more than you would have had you not experienced a hardship. Think how much better water tastes at the end of a long run, compared to if you hadn’t run at all.

A salient point, coffee for me isn’t just about taste, coffee is about the experience! I would drink terrible coffee in great company and surroundings just to have the rest of the experience. Equally when we drink a coffee with great taste on our own, it’s the solitude that enhances the experience, that moment of splendid isolation, indulgence is equally all about experience..... when you won your title you delivered an experience, not just a great coffee!

Such an amazing reminder! There's this Japanese comic and anime "Food wars!: Shokugeki no souma". A main character had this fictional God-tongue, basically a perfect pitch version of the tastebud. Her mom was so caught in this trap of only tasting the best, that she eventuallt could no longer stand the taste of mediocre food, and thus couldn't eat, and had to be on IV drips.

For me the defining moment of being able to switch off the analytical brain when tasting came with distraction. It was having a coffee that I knew well, and knew was delicious, but because of constant analysis when ever I drank a cup I didn't really "enjoy" it, then some one handed me a cup and proceeded to have a very interesting and engaging conversation with me about things that weren't taste related. Before I realised I had finished the cup and I had thoroughly enjoyed it. I had drunk it not "tasted". We spend so much of our time and effort trying to objectify flavour and remove it from context. I find it very important for myself to occasionally, or frequently, reinsert flavour into the surroundings. Objective tasting is vitally important for our industry, subjective tasting is just as vitally important for ourselves.

This was my exact journey with coffee. I began to appreciate diner, gas station, and hotel coffee. Not because it was ever good, but because whenever I drank it, I was usually traveling. The “bad” coffees became associated with a time of life I enjoyed so much, and it made it all the better.

Had a similar experience. Started a cafe bc I loved coffee, but as I grew in my tasting ability, I started chasing purity until I couldn’t find it. In that pursuit I discovered that I didn’t love coffee anymore, I only loved the idea of the perfect cup. Like your advice, I also started to drink the coffee that was around me (with some ethical limitations) and have learned, again, to love coffee. Thank you James.

Been working with coffee 8 years, and in all that time have only had a handful of truly memorable coffees. Instead of seeking them out, I let myself stumble onto them. There are probably too many places to get really excellent coffees where I live that were produced by renowned estates/co-ops, with tailored processing, roasted by top-notch roasters, and finally prepared by award-winning baristas in beautiful locales, yet I don’t find myself going out of my way (not anymore) to get to these excellent coffees. Not that I don’t love coffee enough, I do, but I got tired of shelling out big money for the coffees that promised so much yet fell short one way or another. So I stopped the chase altogether. I still roast and prepare my own humble coffees at home and for some people who are willing to pay for my coffee in bulk (for which i’m super grateful!). From time to time I will happen upon an unsuspecting shop where I may get a happy surprise, and that works for me. There can certainly be too much of a good thing, and I’m glad I didn’t let myself be overly-privileged coffee wise. Thank you for this excellent video post. Very thoughtful as always.

Congratulations you discovered one of the key principles of stoicism by tasting coffee ;)

I was expecting him to say something like; "to learn how to taste you first need to learn how to smell", didn't expect him to go all philosophical.

Wow! This described my exact problem to seek out only good coffee, just let the bad coffee let it be! Such a relieve

Five years in, I came back to this video. I strongly believe it is one your best videos. I ran out of my regular espresso blend this morning and told a friend that came by this afternoon that I could not offer her a cup of coffee because I was completely out and my next shipment won't get here until Wednesday (poor planning on my part). A while after she left, she secretly left a bag of coffee on my doorstep, from the local grocer, pre-ground. I really winced. Hard. I explained to her that I've told my entire family to never buy me coffee because it's the single thing I'm anal about. Then I remembered this video and came back to watch it again. And made myself a cup of weak, drip coffee and thanked her for her thought and effort.

Pretty much agree with this. I also think if you drink the full range of coffees, you can be reminded that even the commercial offerings (Starbucks, etc.) are still pretty good in the wider context of coffee, although there will be exceptions too. That also helps you realise that the small, speciality roasters are producing a product that is really, really good. Also, sometimes coffee just helps you wake up in the morning and that's ok too.

I think this was amazing on explaining why people become snobs on anything, movies, beer, food, people... This was great

"Without a little ugliness, there can be no beauty" Hoffman-Sensei 2019

So good. Something to remind us every now and then. I'm glad I clicked on this clip even if it was already a year ago PS. The colours/grading on this clip was 👌

So true to nearly all aspects of life. Even so basic as the concept of happiness. It can't be without sadness. There always has to be a contrast to not only enjoy but to even experience the brighter, better sides of life. It's a good lesson and a good reminder.

Some of my friends are like this. They always seek out the newest, most hyped up, and oft-times pricey joints for food and drink, and can hardly settle for anything less than what they had before. For me, I try to seek out more inexpensive and/or classic establishments, and most of all, remember that the company we are sharing food and drink with matters most.

I’ve been in wine full time since 2003. Your observations ring true in this related field. My way of dealing with it was to prioritise certain elements within the experience. The main one for me is freshness, e.g. I’d prefer fresh sashimi to frozen, but I would much prefer freshly-frozen and then freshly-defrosted sashimi to something from-fresh, but beginning to turn. In wine by the glass at a restaurant, I’ll ask which bottle was opened last for example. Working out which parameter matters more to me allows me to compromise on some of the others. And, if it doesn’t look like it will work out for me - and especially if I’m in company - I’ll pick something else - a different dish, a G&T, etc, and make no fuss, no face. Instead - speaking to your highs - I realise that when I go down a new rabbit hole, I’ll get new pleasures, and it will also feed back to my existing ones (parallels, etc). Thanks for articulating this issue - its a good one to catch.

I work in beer professionally as a Cicerone and in a past life I was a professional musician. It is much the same way in these cases. You are always looking for that next great high point but you are right, they are found further apart. What seems to have helped me in these moments is taking a step back and readjusting how much of my identity these things are defining. It is great to be obsessed and to crave the knowledge but you have to apply the same rational approach you do to tasting, listening etc. to your expectations and your own mind’s urge to push onward. It always feels like an accomplishment to me when I can once again find the love for something “bad;” and it usually comes with some sort of emotional or contextual connection that reminds me of why I love what I love in the first place.

Wow, I've fallen into this trap and did not even realize it. James, thank you for the wake-up call in a little bit of a more balanced perspective.

I've been through this. Now, my first coffee everyday is instant. It fulfills my caffeine desire, while the rest of my coffees for the day revolve around flavour. I consider it like a "calibration" in a way. Took 2 years of working at a coffee roastery to figure out. May sound weird, but it works for me

James, nobody tells you this about anything and it's so true in so many things. All of us eventually, end up looking for the taste, high, whatever, you got when you started out. It's one of the big truths about life, and love, and, now I know, coffee too!

Yes.. the contrast between good and bad! That's what makes our taste sensitivity grows. Thank you Mr. Hoffman for sharing this simple enlightening video 🙏

Very true. They don't call it being "spoiled" for nothing. We all need more chats in the park with you.

There is a parallel to this; "If you can't tell the difference, there is no difference." I've been shopping with my grandsons looking for over the ear headsets. One of them went straight to Apple brand another to a different high end brand. The display allowed testing so I had them each close their eyes and listen and evaluate all of the brands. They could not distinguish one sound bed being better than the other. So for them it was better to buy the value headset which if they lost 6 of them would only equal one set of the high end equipment. One of them bought the value, one bought the high end. The high end set was stolen within the week. The value set survived a month because both of them fought over using it. Value buying grandson bought another pair. High end grandson could not afford another pair... If you can't tell the difference, there is no difference...

This happened to me when I started studying music: you start to hear the flaws, the clichés, the bad tastes. But without those lows, you wouldn't have those sweet, sweet highs. And so it is for almost everything in life; you've got to go through shit to become happier, to enjoy more. Life's a game of trial and error, you just got to learn how to play it.

I think I really needed to hear this, especially from James. I only a little while ago, with The help of James’s videos, I started putting more effort into my coffee, technique, gear, and tasting. I think I learned a great amount very quickly but also started to be a bit snobbish. I noticed it when tasting an in-law’s coffee and registered a silent thought that I make better coffee. That someone like James can appreciate the bad to elevate the good is an amazing coffee and everyday lesson. Thanks, James.

I find this all to be very true. A few years ago I started taking cooking much more seriously and I got quite snobby about flavour. I got really judgemental about other people's cooking and technique and especially became very critical of my own cooking. I have since come to a happy medium where I can appreciate things for what they are, not judge other people's cooking at all and be nicer to myself, take what is good about my own cooking and use it to learn instead of judging so harshly. I've also just learned to just appreciate things I used to really enjoy, like the occasional fast food burger. It's important to be critical but to also be appreciative and not everyone needs or wants critique.

You discovered a secret of life here James. There's an old zen teaching where the student asks the master what the meaning of zen is, and the master points at two bamboo plants and says "Look how tall this one is, look how short this one is". Without a comparison, neither bamboo is short or tall, you simply don't know. Only by having bad coffee can you drink great coffee and realise it's great. If all bamboo was tall, you wouldn't know it was tall, it wouldn't be tall, it would just be the same as the rest, there is no tall without another that is shorter. If all coffee is great, you wouldn't know it was great, it wouldn't be great, there is no great without worse. it would just be the same as the rest.

Great advice at the right time! I'm seeking to develop my palate for a while now, in fact as some of your followers, I'm undertaking the SCA Sensory Skills courses. The goal is simple: To become Q grader, and all you mentioned has been happening to me lately, either when drinking, eating or even smelling coffee/food. Yes, I got so great experiences tasting incredible coffee, digging deeper than my colleagues trying to detect, define and finally enjoy the extraordinary flavours within each coffee. It is obvious that some of my friends and my wife, are a bit annoying, I found myself constantly examining what a coffee smell and/or taste like... 😳 Thank you @James Hoffmann I forgot to enjoy the "bad" coffee/food, that will finally lead us to better enjoy the great stuff.

I really enjoy these kinds of reflective videos of you. They give also a good insight into other things that we are passionate about

'It's OK just to stop and enjoy where we are sometimes' brilliant advice for life not just for coffee. Thank you 💜

It‘s the exact same thing for me and I second all of your arguments. It’s very similar in other fields than taste as well. Say audio or acoustics. You really keep an appreciation for something great when you still keep the ability to relate it to bad/worse things.

"And when everyone's super, (*evil laughter*) no-one will be." - Syndrome, The Incredibles . True story. I agree with the central point here very much. And I say that as a guy who loves McRibs.

So nice to see you outside. Great color, composition, and sound compliments what you are just so genuinely communicating.

Still my favorite Hoffmann video to date, this came out right after I started following James and really hit home for me, and frequently in life if I'm struggling or just need to put things in perspective I tell myself to drink the bad coffee.

I actually needed to hear this, great perspective!

Hey James, I just bought reinventing the wheel the book you recommended and I'm looking forward to it! Happy Xmas.

One of the only channels I love re visiting..you have put that very beautifully there..

Such a wise and helpful video. It could be applied to all aspects of our life. Love the honesty. I found myself getting strangely emotional. Maybe because it allows one to relax a little and not always have to push for excellence. Love your videos James.

Came in looking for tips on tasting, Came out with an understanding about how drug addiction forms in the brain.

"I didn't fight it anymore. I just started to drink the bad coffee."

I have recently been trying to up my game with regards to coffee. Your videos are really the only ones I can watch. Excellent content, great production. This video has elevated you further in my esteem. Thanks, James. I hope you are safe and well.

The life lessons embedded in your coffee videos are really wonderful and welcome too. Thank you. More please.

Spot on. “Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good” A Life lesson.

As someone who recently realized that I want to start a career with coffee, this very much helps! Thank you James!

Great video as always, James. Even though it's just a short monologue, it's really well made, well thought out and to the point. Keep it up.

Of all of your videos James, this is easily the most valuable. I come back to it around twice a year; It is true for so much in life. Thank you for making our world a better place.

This was accurate, I had to be called out as the annoying snob I was by everybody around me to wake up. Also you’re really cool

It's applicable to any type of skills, interesting

Thank you so much that i've just found you on the youtube , I thought that your channel stopped already but it didn't. Thank you again for wrote the world atlas of coffee for anyone who loves coffee like you.

I really like the way you explain things. And not just about coffee. I feel that quite a bit of your teaching goes towards every day life. You really see the positive side of things. Thank you

I feel like I just had a heart to heart with a distant uncle who’s super cool. Can I come visit again?

I was hoping he would turn the cup at the end and it be starbucks ;)

I have no idea why this hit me on such an emotional level.

Your coffee content is second to none but what I really admire is how well you articulate your thoughts. Love the content, love how well you speak, love the UK and the people in the UK! Cheers from a Brazilian native proudly living in Texas...

Once in awhile I enjoy my McDonald’s coffee, so when I have a good coffee, I enjoy it more.

Came for taste got depression

I love this chap! He's not only informative but also entertaining. Good on him!

Have been about a month into making better coffee like yours and was contemplating this very subject (the “highs” being further apart), and what a video to see. Thank you for this, James

Congratulations on 1M. I revisit this from time t time. Thanks for all the great content.

“Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. / Just keep going. No feeling is final.” - Rainer Rilke

For some reason, I kept coming back to watch this video over and over and over...

Oh. My. gosh. So simple yet so true. The amount of sense this makes has me upset I didn't realize it sooner. thank you for literally spelling out what i am going through and how to get over it!

This is a great lesson. As a musician, I find myself highly critical of music, if not always vocally, then at least internally. "They should've done this, not that." Etc. What has helped me out of this negative state of mind was listening, not to my own library of music, but to the radio. It forced me to enjoy what I could about whatever was playing, instead of just hitting "next." Now I'm more grateful for music in general and I have more of a developed sense of gratitude, which is the most important of them all. Thanks for the video, James!

In a sense, that is the best video and advice that I heart about tasting. Thank you for making people understand that present enjoyment is what count over search for the best that could never arrive or so rarely. Food is made to enjoy personally but also to share. If I loose the sharing now, life will be very short and very disappointing. Thanks again.

That is so true James! You and Baca are transforming Monday’s in the best days of the week

Wow! What is the Great message! A friend is complaining about his son, who is a spoiled kid. Who the parent provide everything and never have a tough life. When the kid cannot get what he want or facing failure, the kid just complaining, throw anger and do nothing. I think after see you message, I will forward this video to my friend and tell him his son just to experience all good and bad to appreciate his own life.

“Gotta have opposites, light and dark and dark and light, in painting. It’s like in life. Gotta have a little sadness once in awhile so you know when the good times come. I'm waiting on the good times now.” - Bob Ross

omg i just love you, this video is a whole plot twist i wasnt expecting this!!! you really blessed me with something that goes beyong coffe and even food: perspective.

I find this video in 2021 and I am thankful for it so much. I doubt this message is gonna reach you, James, but I just wanna put it out there anyway. My whole life I has been chasing the higher standards of things and appreciating less and less. People started describing me as scary and negative. They are afraid to share anything about their opinions and experiences because they are afraid of my comments and judgements. I came to realize this about a year ago and I struggled to let my ego go. Now that you said it, I think it is time for me to make my life easier and the lives of the people around me easier by just finally letting it go. Obsession made my career better but my life worse deep inside. Knowledge is a double-edged and your wisdom James, helped me set a new goal for my wiser self. I admire your courage to share this out of all the infinite knowledge about coffee that you could just stick with. Thank you and I wish you are loved by many.

Thanks for the great advice. It's nice to see you philosophize about a subject that you master so well.

Thank you so much for this video, James. This is something I’m currently working out in my life and your words were a great help! “If everything you drink is special, then nothing is special” - SO.TRUE.

This is applicable for many things and I think also to my situation. I compose music for piano but I always throw ideas away because they're not good enough and as a result I make very little. Maybe I should just make 'bad' works more often so the good things stick out more! Thanks for this insightful video James!

Sat here watching this video with instant coffee in my hands. James your words brought me to tears.

So so true; we need the lows to enjoy the highs. True for everything in life, not just coffee. Relationships, work, motivation, energy levels, careers, self-confidence etc etc etc. I love this video, thank you, James. x

I pretty much always have coffee if I am in a place that serves coffee, and I have for quite a while. I haven't done it for the reason you've given, I only do it because I enjoy experiencing coffee, and even a bad experience with coffee is still an experience with coffee. There's something charming to me about diner, hotel, and waiting room coffee, even if it's not a flavor profile I seek out I still enjoy it when I have it. The only times I can recall really not enjoying coffee is specialty coffees that I've found disappointing, but a part of the fun of specialty coffee is finding what you like. I also can't recall a time that I have ever talked to somebody about my enthusiasm for really good coffee and had them scoff and call me pretentious, even online. I can only recall pleasant conversations about coffee with people that largely don't care about coffee at all. I've never connected the two until now.

Wonderfully put. I’d struggled to put my experience into words, this has helped!

This is the best of the best of James Hoffmann videos! "You need to taste terrible things to enjoy the great things; to be reminded of what makes them special."

Just beautiful.. it's beyond just food and coffee experiences. Take this philosophy and apply it to all experiences and the world suddenly becomes a far more exciting journey .. as always, thank YOU James

THIS is why I enjoy your videos. Thank you, James. I'm with you a hundred percent on this one.

inspiring video! am a casual whisky drinker myself and it's too easy to get lost in a world of fantastic products; it helps to take a step back and ask why and what made you embark on this hobby in the first place.

I NEEDED to hear this right now. Such a great message!

As a music nerd this resonates (haha!) very well with what happens when you learn to listen to music rather than just hear it. Your standards go way up and music you used to enjoy, well, the melody's probably still good but overall it's become a little lackluster. And so the hunt is on the for next audible high and the next and before long you find yourself saying things like "This band is underrated and ahead of their time, they only put out two EPs on cassette tape in '81 and '82..." and you realize how obnoxious you've gotten. You started drinking the bad coffee, I got myself an acoustic guitar and began to enjoy just playing and singing for the sake of playing and singing.