Intelligentsia Black Cat Analog Espresso - 12 oz - Dark Roast, Direct Trade, Whole Bean Coffee

Finally decided to try Intelligentsia's Black Cat beans.In short its a "oh wow" experience. thats really all one need to say about these beans.But, Intelligentsia make a number of comments in the description that is worth keeping in mind, this is micro-lot batches, roasted when you place the order, this is naturally why there are no "order in 15 minutes to get tomorrow option"But more important, these are typically roasted the next day after you click BUY-NOW.As much as you really want to dig in, hold your horses, look at the bag, WAIT 7+ days, honestly 10 is probably a good number, at that time the bean is very consistent.BREWINGI find the bean brews best with a slightly finer grind, and around 32sec brew time. Im currently running 197° Fahrenheit, and get a very mellow incredible tasty cup brewing roughly 21gram in to 44 out.Once set, I don't measure, just push and go.That said, let your tastebuds guide you, freshly roasted beans settle over time. tweak grind and brew as you go.Closing.. promises, remember Intelligentsia, call this micro-lots with seasonal changes. its NOT always the same bean and mix, let them surprise you.

Hands down the best coffee in the world and worth every dollar! Other brands/"Premium Beans" can eat their hearts out. We have a Breville espresso machine to make our own shots with these beans and the lattes/mochas couldn't be more tasty! Only downside, it ruined other coffees for us. Now we are addicted and have to have our "Black Cat" every morning.The company, on a whole, is really impressive. From how they conduct their business to the quality of their beans, they really are the whole cup of coffee!

I like very much their Black Cat Classic Espresso, but this failed for me. I was unable to find any of my friends who appreciated it either, so it went into the trash after sampling it every few days until over 2 weeks had passed. Too many details detracted from the experience, and nothing stood out as something I liked. maybe an off batch? But I see other not-good reviews here too, so I'd likely not buy another bag hoping it'd be "better nest time" as I do for the Black Cat Classic Espresso, when it has an off-batch. But the latter is still a completely acceptable coffee when it's not a solid 4 to 5 star batch, and this was not.

After many different beans, we ended up liking this one the most.Many espresso machines and beans used, at the end this is just perfect especially with our new semi-automatic espresso machine.We like milk base drinks, cappuccino etc. and flavor this coffee brings!!! Nothing matched so far.Thumbs UP!!!

Best coffee ever!

I don’t typically leave reviews but this espresso is one of the best I have ever tasted. You will not regret it.

One thing I love is that they give you the date that the roasting occurred on both the front and back of the package - very nice! My package indicated a roast date of Oct 30 2017, and I received it on Nov 2 2017, so this came very, very fresh! When grinding, you get an almost cinnamon fragrance which is interesting and got me excited.Unfortunately if you are a cold brew fanatic like me, don't bother cold brewing this - flavor is too light and the blend is primarily medium with some dark roasted beans thrown in probably to add some depth/body to the flavor profile (see pictures). The package itself does not have any text indicating that it is a dark roast, and neither does their website - the title here on Amazon is the only place that specifies "dark roast" which is incorrect. When cold brewing, it is very weak in flavor and fragrance, and looks exactly like other medium roast cold brews I've done in the past which are typically disappointing.

Great taste