My experience with people who "don't like the taste of coffee" usually has been that they don't like how bitter and strong the taste is, which is almost always tasting the "roast" instead of the bean. Single origin light roast is the way to go if you want a really good non-coffee tasting cup of coffee. My recommendation is central america single origin (Guatamala, Costa Rica, etc) - the beans from this region tend to lean towards caramel / chocolate / hazelnut tastes which goes a long way in getting non-coffee lovers to like a cup of coffee.
I don't like the taste of coffee. I don't like coffee in chocolate (though I don't like chocolate much to begin with), I don't like Tiramisu, I loathe coffee-flavored jelly beans, I've tried light roasts & didn't like them, medium roasts & didn't like them, dark roasts & definitely didn't like them, and several varieties of bean and liked none. I just don't like coffee flavor.
I used to be the same way. Although I liked the smell of coffee, I absolutely hated the taste. Then I met my wife, who would make a pot of coffee (and not "brown water" either) at 8PM and I guess I just got used to it. Now it's an everyday thing.
I was in the same boat for many years (as in, my whole 35 year life), and today I still hate “coffee-flavored” stuff. But one day I was really tired and had to get stuff done, and asked for a recommendation for a coffee drink for someone who doesn’t like coffee. The suggestion was a vanilla latte. Fast forward a year and a half, and now I drink coffee almost every day.
If you haven’t given that or a caramel macchiato a try, I’d highly recommend it. You might be surprised. I was.
I have. I can tolerate them. But I still don't like them, and most places that serve coffee also have tea which I can drink without having to add large amounts of something to mask the flavor.
And that's the other side of the coin, some just don't like it. I think even for many people who do like coffee it is still an acquired taste initially.
> say what you like about coffee - it's disgusting, bitter, horrible tasting stuff.
And so is chocolate, unless you put an absurd amount of sugar in it.
I drink my coffee black, though, no milk or sugar. When I've got a good bean and I prepared it just right, it reminds me of unsweetened chocolate, in a good way.
After all, coffee and chocolate both originate with the roasted seeds of a fruit.
I have recently been impressed by the quality of Mexican coffee (currently drinking one grown in Chiapas). Medium roasts tend to play nicely with beans from this region.
