Unpopular opinion: When most of the specialty coffee one buys tastes like the same swamp water, perhaps it's not the coffee at fault.
Post the exact recipe and I'm sure the resident coffee nerds can make suggestions. Brewing light roasted specialty coffee is tough, requires good equipment, precision by weight, and a lot of trial and error. Any Baratza should be capable of producing a decent grind for non-espresso brewing methods, but I've never been able to brew a great cup with Aeropress and their brewing instructions suck imo. There are a ton of ways to use them and I prefer the inverted method with a longer steep time. They're travel friendly and can be quick, but outside of that I don't see a reason to use one at home as the main brewing method. I'd rather have a pourover, french press, or a good drip brewer.
I agree tasting notes can be overly ambitious and marketing sleight of hand. Maybe it's all in my head, but I feel like I can discern broader notes like citrus/stone fruit (sour/tart), other fruit (lightly acidic and sweet), chocolate, dark chocolate (bitterness), and floral (perfumy, tea like) notes. Anything woody I would call bad recipe/grind/technique, truly bad coffee, or really old. When roasters put really specific stuff on the label I group them into my categories and have an idea of whether I want to try it. The main flavor will always be coffee, but the tasting notes are the subtleties that differentiate them so you can pick one that suits your taste. The only roaster I know of that puts (and quantifies) "coffee" in the tasting notes is George Howell.
Post the exact recipe and I'm sure the resident coffee nerds can make suggestions. Brewing light roasted specialty coffee is tough, requires good equipment, precision by weight, and a lot of trial and error. Any Baratza should be capable of producing a decent grind for non-espresso brewing methods, but I've never been able to brew a great cup with Aeropress and their brewing instructions suck imo. There are a ton of ways to use them and I prefer the inverted method with a longer steep time. They're travel friendly and can be quick, but outside of that I don't see a reason to use one at home as the main brewing method. I'd rather have a pourover, french press, or a good drip brewer.
I agree tasting notes can be overly ambitious and marketing sleight of hand. Maybe it's all in my head, but I feel like I can discern broader notes like citrus/stone fruit (sour/tart), other fruit (lightly acidic and sweet), chocolate, dark chocolate (bitterness), and floral (perfumy, tea like) notes. Anything woody I would call bad recipe/grind/technique, truly bad coffee, or really old. When roasters put really specific stuff on the label I group them into my categories and have an idea of whether I want to try it. The main flavor will always be coffee, but the tasting notes are the subtleties that differentiate them so you can pick one that suits your taste. The only roaster I know of that puts (and quantifies) "coffee" in the tasting notes is George Howell.