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My brothers mate has just opened a cafe and is in this exact situation. Knows literally nil about coffee, so if it comes out black and some vaguely frothed milk gets added, it’s seen as perfectly sellable. Even my brother who is no aficionado rang me up to share his concerns. Even when it’s a pal it’s pretty hard to encourage them to get some training, never mind a total stranger.
Nef
Stevethecoffee
Could be all sorts of things. JBM is usually dark roasted so it would more normally be bitter rather than sour. He could be getting it from a roaster who doesn’t get that it’s a low grown coffee and needs some development and the cafe guy doesn’t know better either. Owner possibly had heard that JBM is THE BEST COFFEE and that’s all there is to know, could be a random bad shot and he’s actually thoroughly conscientious but he just needed you to ask for it to be remade.
Whatever I wouldn’t suggest to him, however tactfully, that he needs training, it’ll just sound bad unless you can go to the trouble of actually making friends with the guy first. I am constantly surprised at the people (and it’s the vast majority) who open coffee businesses with no technical knowledge or prior experience of their biggest revenue item, just think that if they make it look right or have some mal-informed gimmick it’ll be fine, and it often is, but in a shit way.