What Makes Good Coffee Better?

"Ah, that is perfume in which I delight, when they roast coffee near my house, I hasten to open the door to take in all the aroma." 

Jean Jacques Rousseau





Coffee is probably the most complex food known to man.  It has over a thousand of flavour components and the nearest comparison would be red wine with 450 chemical compounds in the flavour make-up.  And then we go roast it - resulting in different chemicals being burnt away, others changing, adding to the complexity.

Low-quality beans give bad coffee - that's a no-brainer.
High-quality beans yield bad coffee - that's called disastrous.
High-quality beans end up in a perfect up - that's great but it is just half the story. 


In my recent visits to Taiwan and South Korea, I have stumbled upon some fantastically impressive cafes.  And to my surprise, not only do the baristas there really know their coffee, many of the cafes look chic, modern and inviting - that was satisfaction to the taste buds AND pleasure to the sight. 

I was thinking to myself, what makes good coffee exceptional? 

Companion is certainly one and ambiance has to be the other.  


It is no longer just the way we take our caffeine that is determined by our tastes, but the question of WHERE is just as important.  Cafes with creative designs that offer customers an additional aesthetic value - have the ability to differentiate themselves in a huge degree from some of the big chains.

I am thinking communal benches, tasteful books and magazines for the sheer joy of flipping, clean and simple decor, are just some of the essential elements that provide an inviting glimpse of the interior to passer-by.  And then having a panoramic window not only affords a pleasing view to guests inside, it is there to create a very juxtaposing contrast to the world outside. 

After all, cafes are places for communication - a fact which certainly has its causes in caffeine's invigorating effects.  I really think any cafe in existence has to create a communicative and inspirational effect too - there to simultaneously answer to all practical requirements of a functional catering business.

Have a think of the last perfect cup you had.  And ask yourself what was the associating superlative thing that you remember from that very enjoyable indulgence.