Is it a genetic thing?

Probably more of a cultural one. Like how even Americans with Scandinavian ancestry consider black liquorice taste bud poison but us Scandinavians IN Scandinavia generally can't get enough of it 😁

i’m from melbourne, australia which is one of the best places in the world for coffee… when i go to the US i try to find good coffee but our version of good tends to be VERY different

US good is a dark roast - which i find very bitter… australian coffee (and melbourne in particular) is quite a light roast, which is more acidic but less bitter

i find most good coffee in the US to be pretty undrinkable (this probably comes down to choice of preparations: black drip is pretty weak; espresso starts out strong), but a starbucks blonde is… inoffensive (note with relation to your comment: a light roast is probably what you’re talking about; especially a light double ristretto… a ristretto is a half shot, twice… the bitterness from coffee comes at the end of the shot, so nero is perhaps a light roast double ristretto… you also tend to get most of the caffeine in the first half i think? so it’s more caffeine if that worries you)

so when i’m in a rush and really just want to not hate what im putting in me, ill find a starbucks not because its good, but because its fucking hard work to find a good coffee that’s also my taste - my usual cues for a cafe just don’t work in the US, and there’s no a fantastic cafe on literally every corner so the choice is even harder