Is Expensive Coffee Better? Watch This Taste Test

I admit it. When I first came to California, Northern California, San Francisco, I was a coffee innocent. There was a beverage called coffee and it had milk in it and sugar. Like we all drank back in New York in those days. I had never heard of Espresso, Latte, Cappuccino, and all of the added vanillas and chocolates, or phrases like "Double Cap." Now I pay just about $6 for a cup in the morning. And it does taste a lot better to me. Is it like the placebo effect? Am I being fooled? Back in the 1990s, John Stossel, the ABC Libertarian reporter, did a blindfolded taste test and most people could not tell the expensive coffees from the cheap coffees like Nescafe. But I think that I can. Coffee is the main part of my morning diet. The breakfast can change, but the coffee really matters. I tell the story in this video about how I became so sophisticated because I worked on a job in Brazil for the great coffee company, Bom Dia and I watched coffee taste testers who really could tell the good from the great.

[ElectricIguana]

I worked in an office and took responsibility for brewing the coffee for a period of time. The company always provided giant bags of Maxwell House coffee which everyone despised. So I began bringing in various craft beans and the office rejoiced! Everyone loved the fancy new coffee blends. Before long though, I thought I'd have a little bit of fun and filled some of the empty craft bags with the old Maxwell house to see what would happen. To my amazement, nobody noticed at all. Everyone continued to enjoy the coffee and expressed their glee. The epitome of the experiment was when a gentleman, who hailed from Hawaii, tasted the Maxwell House coffee stored in a Hawaiian roast bag, "Ahhhh, tastes like I'm back home!" He exclaimed.

[bxcar]

I brew my coffee with an old fashioned perculater.I use 3 brands of coffee that are relatively inexpensive. I use a travel mug when I’m out and about.

[papabilby]

John Stossel is still around. He has a great YouTube channel. He’s still getting below the gossip and presenting the facts. Highly suggest him.

[ChrisMag]

The trick with making good coffee is freshly grinding freshly roasted beans, weighing the beans before grinding, and understanding grind size and brew ratios.

The James Hoffman channel is a good resource.

[beeragainsthumanity]

I don't have a "favorite" coffee...I buy different brands, beans, grinds. I like to experiment with different brewing methods too...that's part of the mystique, ritual and fun.

[michaelbradshaw]

If, at midnight, it is discovered there's no coffee in the house...it becomes blue lights and sirens all the way to the nearest 24-hours grocery!!
French pressed is our favourite!

[yousefosman]

The legend David Hoffman presents the work of another legend, John Stosel. 🤝

[hikerstl]

Years ago when I was backpacking in the Sierras I stop by a local coffee shop in Bishop, CA. The coffee I chose was the best by far I had ever tasted. The next year when I was passing through Bishop I stopped at the same shop to find out it was now a sandwich shop and the lady who ran the coffee shop had retired. I was so disappointed because I wanted to ask where she got her coffee. I guess I will never know.

[meleecritical]

Love it, Mr Hoffman. Another banger.
Never disappointed by your content.

[ettoreveronese]

Early in the morning, cappuccino and brioche are the breakfast of millions of Italians.
During the day:
coffee - short coffee or coffee corrected with grappa, served in small cups.
Coffee in its right measure is good for the body and mind.

[BillySBC]

Nothing was ever as good as that coffee you would get from the diner during their breakfast run. You know that coffee from that big stainless coffee percolator they had? Nothing was ever as good as that.

[luciehanson]

Practicing for tomorrows LIFESTREAM! See you there, friends!

[meiteimandies]

Thank you sir
For showing us such a video

[ddave]

Back in the 80s I couldn't believe people were going to coffee shops, and paying a dollar or so...
( Now as I sip my $7 Carmel Latte..)
Here in Texas were had gas stations with ¢ 19 refills. Folgers, Sanka, Indio. *That was it*
When we wanted to be fancy it was General foods International coffee.

[cool_sword]

I love drip coffee. I've spent more money on coffee gear than most things. I don't put much stock in tasting notes, but I'm enough of a snob that I generally like South or Central American coffee in the morning and East African coffee in the afternoon.

That said, definitely freshness is the #1 factor in how good coffee tastes and even the ability to differentiate between different coffees. I think a lot of people just don't know coffee goes stale (I wouldn't if I were normal), and if you don't seek out recently roasted coffee by ordering it online or going to a fancy coffee shop, you'll go your whole life without tasting it. If I buy a bag of great coffee, after a while it'll taste like any preground coffee from the grocery store, at least those in the tier above Folgers. I think people would get coffee snobs more if they bought a cheap blade grinder, a French press, and a bag of recently roasted coffee. I think Starbucks has also done a lot of damage by popularizing dark roasts too, but that's a whole rant I won't go on.

But there's something to be said about just plain "coffee" coffee. That's all I drink when I travel, and it has almost a nostalgic taste to it. That's the flipside to drinking fancy, fresh coffee - it doesn't taste like "coffee." And if that's the taste someone likes, I can see them picking a tub of Folger's over some fancy coffee.

Stossel is a character and fun to watch here, as usual. I also loved that you defined espresso. I'd never even thought to look up the translation. Espresso to me just meant espresso lol. Great vid!

[MyMainMan]

John Stossel is fantastic! I do have a preference for a type of coffee.

[isaacboyd]

I never knew coffee could ever be so fascinating!

[richardsmith]

David I agree, you get what you pay for ! My favorite is Jamaican blue mountain, ABSOLUTELY the smoothest and best tasting coffee. Once you try it you can't stop drinking it, it is a bit expensive but well worth it.

[malcorub]

What I don't get is that if Brazil is the biggest producer of coffee, why does Starbucks market it with Italian names?

[CarterKey]

Love Stossel I’ve watched everything he’s done since I was little