I think I need to start with a bit of background story to explain why I’m asking this.

I’ve been drinking coffee for about a year now, mostly instant - Nescafe Gold. I don’t drink it in the morning, I like a good energy kick after my lunch, so that’s the only time I have it. My usual recipe is 6g of instant dissolved in 120ml of water, 15g of honey, and 100ml of milk.

The first thing I consider is caffeine. Since Nescafe Gold has between 50 and 90mg of caffeine per 2g, I’ve considered that an average of 35mg/g. I make my coffee with 6g of instant, which would be around 210mg of caffeine per dose. I weigh about 75kg, and the maximum recommended dose of caffeine is 3x your body weight in kg, so I’m thinking I’m around that number. I know there is a lot of leeway between 50 and 90mg, but what are you going to do?

I spent a couple of weeks at my folks’ place and my dad has a Gaggia Classic, which I made my coffee with. I used 18g of ground coffee (Lavazza Crema E Aroma) from which I got ~90g of coffee. I know some of you are screaming at the screen at this point, but I just went by taste. I proceeded to put my 15g of honey and 100ml of milk in that and it tasted marginally better than the instant and also felt like about the same dose of caffeine. I know how it "feels" isn't exactly a precise measurement, but I didn't shit my pants or get the jitters and I was able to sleep fine, so I'll take it.

So I made up my mind that I would start making “real” coffee at home.

My first attempt was with a French press. I got pre-ground coffee and did a 1:15 ratio with a 5 min brew time. It tasted kinda bitter, but since I never drink coffee straight anyway, I proceeded to make my usual by adding the milk and honey to 120ml of the French press coffee. It tasted horribly watery. I also hated the fines that you get with a French press but got around that somewhat by pouring it through V60 filters after it was done to further filter them.

I then tried a 1:10 ratio, but the result was the same.

My last attempt was to make a cold brew. I now bought specialty coffee, asked for them to grind it for French press and did a 1:7 ratio at room temp for 16 hours. What came out of the French press tasted a bit more promising, but after mixing with the honey and milk, it was once again disappointing.

All coffee I’ve tried to make with the French press has a very characteristic taste I can’t really describe. It’s not exactly stale, and it’s not papery, but something of the sort. I can tell it’s going to have that even by the smell. And this is with all of them, the store-bought pre-ground coffee, the coffee that went through a paper filter, the one that didn’t, etc. That taste wasn’t there with my dad’s espresso machine, nor have I tasted it from coffee shops.

So my question is, how do I get a baseline for what good coffee tastes like to know where I’m going wrong? All the coffee I’ve made tasted bitter to me, but then it tasted very watery when mixed with milk and honey. Does that mean it’s over or under-extracted?