muddy coffee, grittty sugar

[thedaffodils]

PICTURE yourself in a smoky café somewhere in the middle of Europe—Prague, say—in late 1989. Sipping muddy coffee sweetened with gritty sugar, served by a sullen waiter at a greasy table, you are discussing the future with friends. Their ill-cut clothes are in dull blue, brown and green, the hallmarks of planned-economy tailoring. Your foreign gear stands out a mile.

The above text was excerpted from an article titled Walls in Mind of The Economist.

Are muddy coffee and gritty sugar not good? If yes, what are the good coffee and sugar?

Thanks!

[Anglika]

They are revolting and a sign that the restaurant can only afford the very cheapest forms of coffee and sugar, which is what life was like in the Eastern Bloc at that time.

Good coffee is highly aromatic, almost black and clear. Refined sugar is white, pours smoothly and is very sweet. If it is gritty, then it is adulterated with bits of rubbish.

[thedaffodils]

Thank you very much for your help.