And I have no idea what. I love my coffee. It was well rounded and smooth and my favorite part of the day. Suddenly, its tastes watery and strong at the same time, definitely not well rounded. So I cleaned the coffee pot and the grinder. It’s still awful. I use a Wilfa coffee maker, oxo burr grinder. Could it be a bad bag of coffee? Any thoughts of what I can do?
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Def can be the coffee itself. Do you buy whole bean or grounds? How do you store your coffee?
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I have been using the same coffee for a couple of years. Once in a while I had issues but it was usually ok after I cleaned the pot. I use whole bean and some are stored in the grinder which I keep in a dark cabinet and some in the bag in a dark cabinet. Extra bags are kept in a dark, cool room in the basement. Nothing has changed.
Is it possible it was frozen at any point? Or exposed to extreme heat. Either could definelty affect taste.
Maybe before it was delivered to me. Tomorrow I’m going to try another bag of coffee
I know this may sound odd but…
Leaving beans in the grinder means other smells, house temp can chg the age. Even in short order. Here in NJ the weather has been all over the place and my kitchen temp too. I now store beans in the bag vacuum sealing it ea time ( since we own one). I don’t leave Beans in the grinder anymore and I check bag dates on whole bean. .
Coffee beans are sensitive it’s the nature of the natural oils and roasting process and I don’t use ground coffee ever.
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Did it start tasting bad when you opened a new bag?
It’s unlikely that the same bag suddenly changed flavor from one day to the next.
But I’d agree with rooster that on ground beans were left out in the grinder.
I’d try a new batch from the same bag but ground fresh, and open a new bag if that doesn’t work.
Also you don’t mention how the open bag of beans is stored. Agree with @Rooster that temperature has been fluctuating a lot, humidity too, where we are.
The way I use those words to describe coffee, “watery” and “strong” are basically physically mutually exclusive. When you say “strong”, do you mean “darker (over)roasted”? If that’s the case, I would assume the problem is the bag of coffee, though all else (besides the degree of roasting) being equal, why it would also taste watery, I don’t know. Does the bag have a date? I guess it’s possible the bag got the double-whammy of excessive roasting and really extreme storage time, though sealed bags of whole bean coffee taste “acceptable” to me well past their BB dates, even though I’m fairly picky about coffee. (By way of reference, I’ve yet to encounter even a “fresh” bag of"factory" pre-ground coffee I could tolerate after many years of grinding my own or buying small amounts of store-ground coffee that I use within a few days…)
Also, did you by any wild chance inadvertently change the fineness of the grind ? Using the same equipment/method, coarser-ground coffee will make watery coffee, and under-extracted coffee can taste as bad - albeit different-bad - as over-extracted… But that wouldn’t normally make it taste “stronger” in the degree-o-of-roasting sense, and obviously not in the more-ground-coffee-per-unit-water sense. Finally, after you noticed the difference in taste, did you take a good look at it (it being the rest of the pot of brewed coffee)? Did it appear normal, or “lighter” than usual?
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How did you clean your unit? It may have some mineral build up. This would happen to us from time to time, so we would run a pot of water with a cup or two of white vinegar through, and that usually would resolve the issue. It’s also possible the thermometer in the unit is not heating consistently, thus giving you the results you’re getting. Just a couple thoughts and good luck with it. Please report back @winecountrygirl.
I know, weird, right. What I meant was it was thin with a hint of too strong coffee in the background.
I used a cleaner made for coffee pot, but I did that after the coffee started tasting bad. I ran about 5 pots of water through it after.
But, the good news is I started another bag of coffee and it’s much better!!! I think I may need to change the grind a bit again, though. Does that happen, that the grind you have been using suddenly isn’t good for you anymore?
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Yes, because coffee beans vary in size, the grind setting is another key to brewing it.
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This does sound, as MikeG suggests, like overroasting. If the flavor is consistent throughout the bag, I would sideline this bag and go on to another to see if it also is affected.
Yep, I did and the next bag was fine!
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Very well can be the roast if all other variables are consistent
I use the finest grind possible although I 'm brewing regular drip coffee ( Melitta cone and paper filter, not an electric coffeemaker) and not espresso. I have to stir the soaking grinds a bit, and do a second pour of water to wash down the sides of the filter, but this way I get maybe 25% more brewed coffee per bag.
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I was thinking more like under roasting as over roasting creates dark bitter flavors. If over roasted the beans should have been dark and oily
Of course you could have a roast that was stalled and looks good but doesn’t taste right
Today’s roast
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Yeah, burnt is the name of the game. I have a friend in Washington who brought me beans. I had to use them in a cold brew they were so over roasted
I have always liked the darker roasts, long before I moved up here, but I can really appreciate a cup of perfectly roasted coffee. The flavors and nuances of the particular beans come out much better IMO.
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I used to love the darker roast, but now they just taste burnt to be or too strong.
