To Write is to Live (Active) Forum Coffee

Prompt: describe the taste of coffee. Whether you like it, hate it, or have never tried it, try to describe it. The smell, the flavor, if anything has been added to the coffee, if it's hot or cold-- focus solely on the coffee, and nothing else. Optional: for immersion, you can sip on some coffee as you write.

[I got distracted from my own prompt]The aroma of coffee is often deceiving. It smells roasted and warm, and the hints of flavor can be perceived more than by mouth. Toffee, pecan, chocolate. The smell is wonderful and strong, but the taste of pure black coffee is biting with its overwhelming bitterness. It attacks the tongue with a vicious force that ruins the fragrant experience just a moment prior. It can even be described as rancid, when brewed especially sour. Before sugar and cream was added frequently to the drink, coffee- much like chocolate- was thought of as more of a medicine than a beverage. It has a watery taste, backdropped by the assaulting earthiness, that spoils into something sour or bitter. The brewing method of coffee can make it more bitter than sour, or more sour than bitter, due to the properties of the beans. However, coffee does not tend to be sweet. Over years of conditioning, the complexity of the flavor will bloom in one's mouth, and the sweetness can make its appearance from behind the curtain. However, rather than sweetness, it is better to be described as "warm." Coffee, in its blackest form, cannot be described as "soft." When it is given "treatment," this can be changed. Once the watery taste gives way to cream, or milk, the sensation of the coffee changes in an instant. It may not be sweet, and it is still bitter and sour, but it becomes palatable to the mind. Softer, but still too much. When sugar is added to this, it can finally be given a chance to share the flavor profile that can be smelled in the air. The sweetness removes the bitter and sour aspects, leaving the pleasant things behind. The more cream and sugar, the more blended and softened the coffee becomes. Until, for some drinks, it might even be questionable to still call it, "coffee."

Coffee