I Bought 2kg of Drip Roast Decaf from driproastcoffee.com.au. Dialled It In Properly. Still Bitter.
I’m writing this because I honestly wish I’d seen a post like this before I bought 2kg of Drip Roast decaf.
Not because I’m trying to trash a business — but because I’m sick of the coffee industry acting like every bad result is “user error”.
Sometimes… the coffee just isn’t good.
The Background
I normally drink Merlo Decaf.
It’s smooth, sweet, reliable, and easy to dial in. It tastes like proper espresso.
After seeing Drip Roast advertised, I thought I’d give them a go.
Their decaf is described as:
- Honduras
- Water EA decaf (ethyl acetate from sugarcane)
- “Smooth and balanced”
- Notes like spiced plum, brown sugar, floral hints, chocolatey finish
Sounds great.
So I bought 2kg.
The Reality: Bitter, Hollow, Not Enjoyable
From the first shots, it tasted:
- extremely bitter
- hollow / thin
- low crema
- not remotely “brown sugar” or “chocolate finish”
And this wasn’t a subtle “hmm it’s not my favourite”.
It was:
“This tastes rubbish.”
Their Response: “It’s Over-Extraction”
To their credit, Drip Roast replied quickly and politely.
But the core response was basically:
“Extreme bitterness usually points to over-extraction rather than the beans themselves.”
This is where my patience starts running out, because…
My Machine Pulls Great Decaf (Just Not This One)
I’m using a Breville BES820.
That’s not some weird exotic machine.
That’s one of the most common espresso machines in Australia.
And here’s the key point:
Merlo decaf tastes excellent on this machine.
Same grinder.
Same basket.
Same workflow.
So when one coffee tastes great and another tastes awful, it’s not reasonable to hand-wave it away as “over-extraction”.
I Bought Scales and Removed the Guesswork
I didn’t want this to be an opinion piece.
So I did what coffee people always tell you to do:
I bought scales.
Then I pulled a proper, controlled shot:
- 18g dose
- 38g yield
- ~1:2 ratio
- low-30 second shot time
Still bitter.
So at this point, it’s no longer:
- “maybe I tamped wrong”
- “maybe I should grind finer”
- “maybe my machine is the issue”
Because the same machine pulls sweet espresso from Merlo.
Their Follow-Up: A Brew Guide
They later replied with their recommended guide:
For 18g basket:
- 18g in
- 36g out
- 24 seconds
That’s fair.
But here’s the issue:
I was already in that zone.
And the coffee was still bitter.
“Works on Our Machine” Isn’t Good Enough
This is the part that matters.
If you’re selling coffee online, you are not selling to:
- cafés with $15,000 machines
- lab-perfect grinders
- controlled water chemistry
You’re selling to normal people with:
- Brevilles
- Sunbeams
- Baristas
- Delonghis
- common grinders
And the expectation is simple:
The coffee should taste good on normal machines.
If it doesn’t, then you don’t get to blame the customer.
What I Learned
If you’re thinking about buying coffee online:
Don’t buy 2kg until you’ve tried 250g.
And if you’re a roaster:
Don’t tell customers their taste is “over-extraction” when they’ve proven it isn’t.
Final Verdict
Drip Roast Decaf may work well for some setups.
But on a very normal home espresso machine, dialled in with scales and correct ratios, it was still bitter and unpleasant.
Merlo decaf remains the winner for me.
One Last Thing
This isn’t a personal attack on Drip Roast.
It’s a simple consumer review:
I tried it.
I dialled it in properly.
It still tasted bad.
And I don’t think the customer should be blamed for that.
How was your experience with driproastcoffee.com.au? Did you manage to get a good shot? Please let me know 🙂
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