Actually Tech there are a few different items here:
Mainly the beans, how they are roasted and how the coffee is made is one factor.
Places like Starbucks usually use a dark roasted bean and make darker, harsher, more acidic coffees. There are also coffee houses that serve several different “roasts” so you can choose your level of harshness, from smooth and quiet to a screaming espresso.
Also it depends on how much coffee:water there is in the mixture. Some places brew strong because you’re coming there for a jolt of caffine… reseraunts brew weaker, you just want something to sip while you talk and digest.
How do you like that! And without so much as a “Kiss my foot” or “Have an apple”!
It’s been ages since I worked in a slop shop, but I tend to agree. We used pre-measured & prepackaged folgers or maxwell house drop-in bags. I think this is very close to the same stuff we scoop out of our coffee cans in the morning at home, and therefore we are used to that flavour. I also find coffee bars have very strong & sometimes bitter or acidic coffees, and need to dump lots of half & half into them to make it potable. Coffee bars survive (IMHO) on the social atmosphere and nothing else; the coffee is just something to do while you’re chatting or reading or scratching your butt crack to see if it makes your willy hurt.
There are coffee bars on every block here in the nation’s capitol, and that seems to be the case in every one I’ve been in. I don’t ever remember being motivated to go to one just for the coffee, but I do like those flavours you can add for an extra 50¢. By the time you’re done buying a coffee & piece of pie, you’ve spent $6… just stick to your Mr. Coffee machines.
What makes the biggest difference to my taste buds is how long the coffee has been sitting on a burner. If you want the worst coffee in the world, go to a deli and order decaf around 3pm. The stuff has been sitting on the burner cooking since 6 in the morning. Absolutely hideous. Coffee shops that keep their coffee in those big thermoses have better tasting coffee, I find. Though won’t preserve the coffee indefinitely but it helps.
One more thing. Coffee beans go bad after a length of time. Ground coffee goes bad in about a week. Unground can go for a month, or if frozen, several months. Bitterness and an acrid smell are a sign of stale coffee.
I don’t drink coffee (it makes me ill), but I do love cafes and coffee houses (NOT STARBUCKS!), because they generally have a nice, relaxed atmosphere. I don’t know about coffee, but that’s probably as good a reason as any that they stay in business.
~Kyla
“You couldn’t fool your mother on the foolingest day of your life if you had an electrified fooling machine.”
I wonder if perhaps the darker beans give off a stronger and richer aroma? If so, I would think that another reason for their use in a coffee house, where the joe is the reason to go. In a restaurant, the food is the attraction, so the smell is not something consciously sought out by the operators.
“Bodie, I noticed you stopped stuttering.”
“I’ve been giving myself shock treatments.”
“Up the voltage.”
-Real Genius
I’ve found that coffee shops usually specialize in fancy flavored drinks, and it’s pretty hard to get a plain ol’ cup of coffee that tastes good. Same goes with plain Espresso - you almost always have to go to a good Italian restaurant to get good Espresso. Now, if you want a double-mocha decaf skinny latte, they can do that just fine.
And, btw, I do go through the trouble of getting good, fresh roast beans and grinding them in my own house every morning, so the previous Maxwell House theory does not apply.