Just adding to the excellent responses that others have given. Simple answer to you question = No. However... Dont for 1 second discount the importance of being in good command of your coffee making equipment. Thats not just the operational side of things, its the level of understanding required...getting the grind right, getting the dose right, have good technique, for the beans at hand....which changes as the beans age or as you change from one supply to the next. Someone who does not have a good understanding of the coffee making experience, will produce soso coffee from beans that are said to deliver "liquid gold", and operators that have a great understanding will produce great results from far "lesser" coffee beans. I note your use of the terms "bitter" and "sweet". In the context of sweetness from a sugar point of view, coffee can never be "sweet". Sweetness in coffee is a different concept to sugariness. And many people will call a coffee *bitter* when what they mean it is high in acidity (and well balanced acidity is a definite plus in an espresso).....OR, a cup of coffee may really be *bitter*, because the operator made it that way, through a lesser understanding of all things coffee making. Bitterness in the coffee bean supply is commonly caused by over roasting, which leaves a kind of ashy character OR, a cuppa (regardless of the bean supply) can easily be made bitter by having used a grind that is more coarse than it should be for the application, or by brewing through too many millilitres of espresso in the cup.....OR in the case of using a machine with PID control, by brewing at a higher temperature than is suitable for any particular bean supply. In any case, and noting you have a Pid'd espresso machine, you can use the PID to experiment even further by brewing up and down through a range of temperatures for any given supply of coffee beans, and also you can vary the amount of brew from say, 15 ml to 30 ml. Somewhere in there for any given coffee, you will get a great cuppa. So its not just all about finding some kind of technically superior coffee bean supply (nirvana ;D )....you have to know what to do with it and ultimately in coffee business, we understand that mostly when someone complains about having tried an espresso that he or she found to be too strong or bitter, it usually means the brew was made too weak (refer above, grind too coarse OR low dose of grinds in filter basket, or too much volume in cup). "Coffee Psych 101" : very often *too strong/bitter* is caused by the client himself advising the espresso machine operator ("barista") that he/she doesnt like the espresso to be too strong or bitter....a barista without a full complement of skills then proceeds to make a weak espresso, which gives the client eggzackery what the client did not want..... This is common enough in low end "cafes". An espresso (or ristretto or whatever) made properly by a good operator may well be "strong" in the sense of having high TDS (total dissolved solids) or a full complement of the available caffeine BUT.....it is usually (if also made with a good supply of beans) super smooth, with good body and well balanced acidity and "sweetness". IE......if the coffee tastes strong and bitter and is possibly just not well made, odds are you need to make it "stronger" (read *properly*) and it should smooth out and adjust beautifully. Apologies if you already have a good level of understanding of all this 🙂 I am not sure we know what your coffee making skills are like, and I hope this balances the discussion concerning your taste buds or being able to find a great supply of beans. Regardless of whether you're using unleaded or PREMIUM unleaded in your car, you're still the driver 😉 What I am adding to the discussion is then....have you considered an espresso making class with a reputable trainer?
