Lately, I’ve been so hyped about coffee, of how the latte here is better
than there, how to brew it using V60, Cold Drip, Syphon, and any way possible.
At first, it was very interesting to hear from my friends that this origin
tastes less bittery and more fruity than the other, and how the other tastes
more chocolaty than the first one. I really couldn’t wait to get a chance to
taste them.
Until one day, my friend came to office with a grin on his face, carrying a
flask, and said, “Here! Taste this Wamenans, perfectly extracted! I am using
V60.” And his grin was transferred to my face, enthusiastically grabbed the
flask and sniffed to the aroma. “Hmm, it’s very good.” I started to drink it,
and tried to identify the flavor, based on what he has explained. Suddenly, the
grin faded, replaced by a confusing smile, “Hmmm, it’s really good. It’s
bitter.” Then my friend’s smile went away too. The next day, he brought another
coffee, that time was a home blend from a namely coffee roastery. Then again,
his smile went further away.
It’s really hard to see, or taste, the fruity, chocolaty, acidity, papery,
woody, nutty, or other taste ended with –ty. I really just noticed the
bitterness, and nothing more. Sometimes I tasted them better than the other,
but when I told my friend, it’s just the overextraction. Not really helping.
Then I thought about the coffee again. Why it’s so hard to differ the taste
of one to another, and why I only noticed the bitterness. Yeah, maybe some said
that has to do with my experience with coffee, which I don’t have. I tried to
relate with my ability to taste sweets, which I am really good at. Then why?
With respect to all coffee-freaks out there, who are graced enough to
embrace the coffee taste, I’d like to refer the sweetness to a goodness, and
bitterness to a failure. What I’m gonna say now, it is easier to taste the
sweetness of things, rather than the layer of bitterness of things. Let’s dig
deeper into this thought.
It’s really easy to taste the sweetness, most likely you’ll ask more of it.
Most of the time, the sweetness doesn’t last long, and you need to have more
and more, and don’t ever forget about the aftertaste. What first taste sweet,
maybe will end bitter, and we never know, right? We are keep going for that
until we are overwhelmed, and start looking for anything sweeter than what we
identified as sweet before.
Otherwise, we will reject all the bitterness in our life, since we wonder
how bitterness always lasts out longer? Even if before it happens, we will say
no at first. It is really humane to accept what’s good, and reject what’s bad,
works the same with sweetness and bitterness. But, have you ever thought about
bitterness to have a sweet aftertaste?
Romans 5:3-5 (ESV)
Not
only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces
endurance, and endurance produces
character, and character produces hope, and
hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been
poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.
And
what we learn from this scriptures, is that the works of God are somehow out of
our thoughts, and sometimes wear us off, dry us off of our faith. The
sufferings work that way, but if God can produce sufferings, He is also able to
produce sweet aftertaste, of hope, which will take us one step higher. And
always in the end, all we can say is, “Thank God for leading me this way, I
never thought it will come out this good.”
