Same. I tried espresso at specialty cafés a few times and it's too intense for me. I much more prefer pour over, but my hone setup is an aeropress though.
If my non coffee weirdo friends offer me coffee usually it will be a café latte or anything I can add milk myself to hide the burnt coffee flavor 😬
Although I have to say in my country there's plenty of non mega corp coffee chain (like Starbucks) that are using quality blends and cheaper than mega corps. And they're local/regional companies.