Fish Oil and Damp Cardboard

OK.

I've been patient. I've been quiet.
But I can't cope with this anymore.

American espresso sucks now.

I'm incredibly tired of drinking bad espresso and incredibly frustrated by trying to produce quality espresso from crappy, inconsistent coffee.

Over the last decade the objective quality of American espresso has steadily declined. The basic craft skills of blending and roasting have declined. But most of all, the interest and care that is put into espresso has fallen off a cliff.

American espresso is consistently either sour and astringent and under-developed; or dirty and baggy and poorly selected; or all of the above. In addition, an espresso from a quality coffee bar will taste radically different day to day. An espresso blend from a quality roaster will not only taste different batch to batch - it requires radical changes from a barista batch to batch.

I'm incredibly tired of drinking shots that taste like battery acid, or fish oil and damp cardboard, or super concentrated hot cranberry concentrate, or bakers chocolate and damp mushroom. Do any of these descriptions taste good to you? Of course they don't. But this is the espresso you're serving to us - this is the coffee you're selling to us.

I'm fine with changes in taste and philosophy and approach.
I'm not fine, however, with the idea that the peak of espresso quality in the US has passed.

Honestly... y'all need to try and little harder and give a little bit more a fuck.
Because this shit sucks.