Coffee? Yuck! Bitter. Nasty.
Shift work, USAF, radio site. Coffee was all there was. Plenty of sugar and powdered plaque cream. Stayed awake. Tasted nasty, though.
Left the USAF. Went overseas as a volunteer. More shift work. More coffee. Learned to tolerate the stuff.
Sweden, 1974, first decent coffee I'd ever had. Boiled in a pan. Smooth, not bitter.
Denmark, 1976, having dinner at the in-laws, there was an after-dinner gathering and coffee was served. I told the lady serving, "cream & sugar." Several minutes later, she was doing the rounds with a large silver tray full of coffee cups. There were only two "white" cups, so I took the one closest to me. Excellent! Outstanding! Just as I was about to ask our hostess what kind of coffee this was (Gevalia, as it turned out), someone on the other side of the room demanded to know why there was sugar in his coffee.
I'd never actually realized I didn't like sugar in my coffee until that night. I no longer take any kind of sweetener in my coffee -- can't stand it.
My late sister introduced me to Jamaican Blue Mountain. Wish I could afford to drink that.
I drink coffee now with plenty of cream or half & half.
Starbucks sucks.
I have had truly excellent, fabulous, to-die-for coffee maybe half a dozen times in my life.
Perhaps this is what Hell is. You've had a taste of heaven, so you'll know what you're missing, then subjected to an unending supply of bitterness that only smells like that Heaven stuff.
I will have to try roasting my own. I know for a fact that heavenly coffee exists, if only in an alternate dimension whose phase coincides with ours every few decades.
Meanwhile, I sip the bitterness, remembering the sweet, rich smoothness, and longing for the reappearance of the Coffee Angel.
*Sigh*