Why does coffee taste so bad?

Falling global prices should be a godsend for consumers: better beans at cheaper prices. But in fact, much of the coffee you buy is worse than ever. This year, coffee makers are increasingly substituting low-quality beans in their ground coffee for high-quality beans, according to the International Coffee Organization, a global trade group and sort of an OPEC for coffee. In addition, the purity of the average cup of coffee — the ratio of debris like twigs and rotten beans to actual fresh beans — has shifted markedly in the unappetizing direction over the past two years.

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