In defense of bad coffee

Coffee is one of the wonderful indulgences of life. I don’t think it’s hard to see that I deeply appreciate taking something raw and unrefined and seeking to perfect it. I often find however that I encounter cups of coffee I do not enjoy precisely at those shops that others rave about. I think that the simple explanation is that taste and the “goodness” of things is subjective. However, I believe this to be a far more interesting question than what that reading gives it credit for.

Greatness as a concept fascinates me, often precisely because it is so often conflated with goodness. Let us define some terms. First by goodness I mean simply how much something is enjoyed. I think a good illustration of this concept is how when Michelin-starred chefs are asked about the best meal they’ve ever had, they often refer to their mother’s or grandmother’s cooking. I hope we can agree that both of these food experiences are very good. However, they are without question distinct. Let us call the axis that defines that distinction “Zorp”. Zorp is orthogonal to goodness, but is not itself “greatness”.

What then is greatness?

I think this is the interesting question. Here I do not mean interesting to mean correct, but rather precisely incorrect. I think it is an inherently unknowable truth, and that is exactly what makes it so exciting.

Recently, I’ve been listening to a lot of guitar. It is clear that the playing of popular artists like Santana, Prince, and Jimi Hendrix are all distinct but occupy a similar echelon in terms of greatness. I believe this illustrates the pursuit of greatness to be a fundamentally noble pursuit despite its inherent folly. We must allow people to ponder the unanswerable.

So it is with music and so it is with coffee. We must allow this pursuit of greatness in flavor even if it is folly or we do not appreciate its results.

However, I believe an equally dangerous pitfall to be to lose our appreciation for things that don’t seek to maximize some quality. Is a hilarious comedy any less than a nuanced drama? Is that same comedy any less than the simple joys of a child’s imagination? I think not. We must as a society simultaneously appreciate these seemingly diametrically opposed concepts.

Accepting this at a societal level is in no way sufficient. We must also accept this at an individual level. I believe this to be one of my more significant flaws. I like what I like and often find it difficult to understand or empathize with the viewpoints of others in appreciating what it is that brings them joy. However, I have often found that it is only by opening myself up to these experiences that run counter-parallel to my traditional enjoyment that I am able to live my most fulfilled life.

Who am I to say what makes a cup of coffee good or bad? It is only by opening ourselves up to disappointment that we may learn. Only by setting aside our own biases that we may grow.

And for that, I am grateful for bad coffee—for every cup of coffee I have ever enjoyed was once a cup I gulped down and detested.