Intelli has fallen off in quality IMO but can still be good. I’d avoid the large distro market bags and go into a location and buy the smaller offerings.
Did you brew the black cat as espresso or drip? It’s not good as drip IMO and needs specific temps for espresso to be good.
Out of the list I posted my faves are Heart, Verve, counter culture and 49th Parallel. Ceremony is also great and used to roast greens stored in wine and bourbon barrels… Really interesting brews.
intelligentsia is completely overrated- almost as much as blue bottle.
how dare you, that’s all we have in LA. Other city’s chains. ![[snort.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/b/bdc3944606213c4dca6c1169cf0a166c8bc4f8c9.gif "snort.gif"){kind=small}
(i also don’t drink coffee so i don’t care)
you guys have urth- i still miss it.
The fact that Intelligentsia is available at every Target I’ve been to says a lot.
enjoying a fantastic philz new manhattan- todd, this is a wonderful light roast.
That’s disappointing. I’ve bought locally from them and never had an issue – didn’t realize that they expanded into retailers like Target.
I’ve had some truly mind bending shots at both intelli and blue bottle locations, but if your only experience is possibly old beans languishing on a grocery shelf I can see how one might think they are overrated.
No, I am not talking about grocery store shelves- lol. I can honestly say I haven’t bought grocery store beans in a decade. Blue bottle is flat out terrible. Intelligentsia used to be good, but it has been a couple years since they maintained higher standards of quality.
Here is a ranked order of my favorite Portland Roasters
Coava
Extracto
Oblique
Heart
Stumptown
Case Study
Tananger
Water Avenue
Courier
Public Domain
In no particular order…
Olympia Coffee Roasters
Coava
Wrecking Ball
Cherry Street (Dillano’s)
Bluebeard
Heart
Slate
They just opened in Pasadena. Yoga pants galore!
Lol- enjoy some single origin coffee roasted by a village of Maori tribesmen, and then fully cleanse with a wheatgrass enema. Namaste!
intelligentsia is completely overrated- almost as much as blue bottle.
how dare you, that’s all we have in LA. Other city’s chains. >
If you’re ever down in Newport Beach there’s actually a decent roaster http://www.keancoffee.com/
small operation but legit on a real Diedrich roaster.
I’ll let you know. My experience with Black Cat was not as you say, but roast was on the darker side but I bet my beans were fresher.
It’s worth noting the black cat blend changed at some point in the last few years… The original classic was better IMO (50/50 Brazil/ Peru blend I think) and produced a bright orange-ish and lightly chocolate shot when pulled right. I’m not a fan of the current black cat, I don’t think it’s close to the original.
you said you wouldn’t roast but it is awesome–you get fresher coffee, more variety, cheaper, and can roast exactly how you want it–it has a short learning curve. Everyone I have given coffee to says it is the best they have had and I now have to mail it to both kids who are coffee lovers. Commercial over.
Kean Coffee is fantastic. I find Intelligentsia and Blue Bottle severely overrated, as well.
I’ve been ordering 5 lb bags from Red Bird Coffee that last me about a month per - light to medium roast, no tax, free shipping, and solid beans that cost about $12/lb delivered.
Yep, it is popular stuff. Can’t really complain, as sharing the goodness provides an excuse to buy more green beans every week…