I don't really drink coffee unless I need an upper. Coffee tastes terribly bitter to me. I don't outright enjoy it unless I add cream and sugar to it. I like the aroma more than the taste.
When I drink tea, I need large amounts of sugar to just to cut through bitterness.
Similarly, if blue cheese wasn't so bitter, it would be all right.
Light lagers/pilsners used to make me gag because they were so bitter. That's gotten better with age.
I'm sensitive to bitterness, it seems.
@thor Hmmm. Coffee shouldn't be bitter unless it's not prepared correctly or is a poor-quality bean. Even so, done well it's still not for everyone. I love the stuff and roast my own ...
@Combaticus I've had coffee from so many different places, from awful coffee machines to fancy coffee bars. It usually takes at least a bit of milk/cream to make it outright enjoyable to me. That, or a piece of cake. The bitterness needs to be masked somehow. Latte is fine. A shot of espresso is too much.
I still suspect I'm sensitive to flavours that other people are not. Some of the coffees from the machine at work are so terrible I suspect the machine of being broken, but no one complains.
@Combaticus The thing produces coffee that very closely approximates dish washing water. Very bitter stuff with no aroma and a fake aftertaste, like a poor simulacrum of coffee. People at the office don't seem to mind, however. It seems they don't notice it as much... or maybe they've worked there for long enough to be brainwashed...
@thor It's amazing what a drug addict will put up with to get their fix. ;)