tl:dr – Today’s brew didn’t go to plan, and neither did my mood. When the coffee setup lets you down during a mental slump, do you push through or walk away? I’ve rounded up a few ways to handle the bad coffee days, including adjusting your parameters and acknowledging that perfect isn’t isn’t always the goal.
Today, I woke up in a bad mood.
Sometimes it happens.
It could be due to the residual experiences of yesterday that trickle into my today, souring my mood. Sometimes it’s just because I woke up feeling that way – bad. During those days, I need my coffee and morning ritual even more. So when the clock was close to 10 am, I decided to make my drink a little earlier.
I prepared my coffee as usual; grinding the beans at my known settings, distributing and tamping the ground coffee into a smooth and even puck. It smelt so good during this whole process and the fragrance alone starts to perk me up. “I may feel bad but my coffee makes me feel good.” I think as I lock the portafilter into the group head. At this point, I’m brimming with excitement for my morning cup. I press the switch and the machine whirs into life. It hums as it started forcing water through the puck and the hum begins to sound agonised. I look at the portafilter and nothing is coming out. I continue watching the spout, waiting, praying but the seconds tick along and nothing trickles out. In that moment I realise, the last string to my tether has broken – the machine has choked.
*Sigh*
I stop the machine and ready myself to start the process all over again…
You have probably had this experience…
Maybe you were like me and today was the day you really needed today’s coffee. It was going to be the little bright light in what felt like a dark existence. Maybe you’re tired after a restless night and the caffeine is something that will get you through it. Or you’re in a mental slump and you know that sipping a nice cup of coffee will add a sparkle of positivity. But your morning coffee has not delivered.
Being hit with the disappointment of a bad coffee can be hard, it can feel even harder getting over how it makes you feel after. Should you immediately try again or leave it and walk away? Here are some things that have helped me when I’ve have been hit with bad coffee blues:
- Treating myself to a professional cup: maybe today is the day I don’t make coffee at home. Instead I could visit my friendly local barista and drink a reliable cup outside of my home and disappointment.
- Drink the coffee cool or have it iced: sometimes those imperfections from badly extracted coffee is muted with cooler temperatures. I’ll even add a little sugar or syrup and it surprised me how my drinks have been way more palatable.
- Clean up and walk away for a moment: I’ve found the few minutes it takes to put everything away and taking a break is a good opportunity to reset before attempting to make my second coffee.
- Try again but set limits and expectations: Agreeing with myself that I’ll only try one remaking the coffee one more time or even promising to wait for an hour before they reattempt has helped me stop spiralling into despair.
I have noticed that I tend to make a ‘bad’ coffee when my internal head space is a mess. I’m trying to preempt these moments and instead of trying a more ‘technical’ extraction like an a espresso – I’d opt for another much easier drink like a cup of tea or a pour over coffee which can be a bit more forgiving. Maybe I need to sit down and reflect on what is affecting my mood. Mainly, I’ve accepted that ‘bad coffee’ happens. A little bit of acknowledgement can save a lot of frustration.
I’ve accepted that ‘bad coffee’ happens.
Take this morning, once the coffee had choked, I checked in on myself. I could feel shadows from last night creeping into my present. It had made my dreams frightful and upsetting. I was in a bad mood because I hadn’t slept well. My coffee machine was also playing up, one of the modifications kept breaking. I wanted to be left alone for the day.
I also revisited my parameters and noted that I was using a new distributor (it was a 3D printed WDT tool that I reviewed here). It was likely that the new tool was changing things. Maybe I had to adjust my grind size and make my grounds a little coarser. A few clicks on the grinder and some minutes later, I pulled an espresso and drank my latte. Even though it wasn’t perfect and didn’t lift the mood I was in, I took each sip and acknowledged “this coffee isn’t bad” and sometimes, that is good enough.
Until our next reflections,
Coffee Log 
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