I'm a coffee newb - bought an Aeropress and a Rhino hand grinder, and I've sort of flailed around changing things randomly and ended up with an enjoyable repeatable cup by sticking to the same beans, grind, water temperature, brew time & method that seems to work for me.
My issue is I'm not really sure about the terms used to describe the basic aspects of coffee taste - eg bitter, sour, acidic, under extracted, over extracted, etc. I feel like if I did understand them, that would give me the skill to try different things (such as a different roast) and adjust the other factors to match them to get something that suits me, or to be able to make a cup of coffee that would suit someone else's taste.
I'm wondering if you're able to tell me how to deliberately create these other tastes - I imagine I could comparatively taste them and mentally match the words to the sensations. For example, how can I deliberately create an obviously bitter cup, an over extracted cup etc.
The resources I've got for this project are the Aeropress and grinder mentioned, Nespresso machine, a medium and a dark roast, a French Press, and whatever coffee I can get from a supermarket.
Does this sound like a viable plan? If so, what are the tastes I should learn, and how can I create guaranteed and slightly exaggerated versions of them?
Use less water (should go sour) and see how it tastes and then use more water (go from just right to weak).
Then, start playing with the amount of grinds. Try more and see what happens with the fixed water you like. Then go less.
Then you can play with the grind size. Lol there is a coffee compass image you can search for as well to help see what causes things, but play with the water amount first it's the easiest.