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Notes -
I bought a bag of pre-ground coffee the other day, thinking I could save some money by getting one of my cups of coffee per day from a much cheaper source. I'm not sure if this was a particularly bad one (a search didn't reveal any customer/reviewer dissatisfaction with it) or my palate has just fully adjusted to the experience of whole beans that I grind myself, but I had a remarkably bad experience with it. The coffee was fucking soulless. It didn't even have the classic smell of coffee. The taste had no appeal or depth at all. I don't know what they did to it when they processed those poor beans, but it was almost unsuitable for human consumption. Jfc. I've thrown the bag in the trash now.
@Muninn
It depends on the brand and what process they use. Some are ok but a lot of it is pretty disgusting. In my experience you won't really save money buying pre ground, because the decent stuff isn't meaningfully cheaper than buying beans.
It could be meaningfully cheaper where I live, but I'm not gonna bother with testing them all. I pay over 20 USD (eqv) per pound of specialty whole beans. I can't order from abroad due to protectionist policies.
It probably depends on the brand, process, and how many months after roasting and grinding it's just been sitting there on a shelf. I remember I bought a different brand of pre-ground coffee right when I got my coffee equipment and it wasn't nearly this bad. It had that typical coffee smell at least, and this new abomination didn't.
There are mass imported non-specialty whole beans available here that I've tried and they're okay. I'll be using those for my "secondary cup" of the day, whereas the primary one is the really enjoyable one.
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