HomeGourmet FoodsCoffee / TeaIntelligentsia Coffee Black Cat- Regular, Whole Bean Blend |
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7 of 7 found the following review helpful:
 Best Espresso Roasted in the USA Feb 21, 2011
By Acoustico
"music hound"
I have been making and drinking espresso for well over 15 years. As I am sure many of you know, the keys to good espresso are: a good machine, a good grinder, a fresh roast, and freshly ground coffee.
I use a Pasquini Livia 90 and a Mazzer Mini grinder. This coffee is not designed for presses or drip coffee makers.
That said, short of what you might experience in Tuscany or Northern Italy, this is the best espresso you might hope to make at home.
When fresh, as it should be bought, the aroma from the bag is enough to convince you of the coffee's character.
The crema is thick, the flavor is rich and full without the bitter aftertaste you experience with many of the Seattle blends (including Starbucks). This coffee is to be enjoyed on it's own, with maybe a touch of sugar or possibly as an Americano, it may be OK as a macchiato, but does not hold up as well as a cappuccino, or a latte, since the milk has a tendency to overwhelm the delicate flavor of this coffee.
Once you have experienced Black Cat, it will make an indelible impression on your palate and you will likely become a Black Cat aficionado trumpeting it's amazing flavor to all your friends.
4 of 4 found the following review helpful:
love this stuff Jun 23, 2010
By Madelyn Grey
"pendrell3"
I can not tell you my love for Black Cat!!!! I mean I'm ordering espresso beans online come on I think that says it all! I first ran into this at Whole Foods and decided to try it, hands down one of the better beans out there. There is no bitter after taste and your breath isn't stale for days afterwards, also has an excellent crema oh and the beans aren't oily which ruins machines and gives you crappy espresso! If you like espresso I really recommend getting a bag of these you won't be disappointed!
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Good Jul 31, 2011
By AAA
This is the only espresso bean I've bought, so I can't really compare it to other beans. But I like it. I just make regular coffee with it.
Despite the instructions for my French Press to brew for only 4 minutes, I found that I had to brew for longer to bring out the rich sweet chocolatey taste. I let it stew for at least 8 minutes, but 15 minutes tastes good too. Brewing this bean for only 4 minutes results in a relatively diluted, tasteless coffee. I use a ceramic grinder to grind the beans immediately before brewing.
It has a thick, mouthy texture. The beans smell strongly of smoky chocolate/truffle, almost cloyingly so. The taste is thick and sweet. I would recommend brewing for longer if possible to try and bring out more flavor.
You get a 16 oz. (1 lb.) bag for the price, so it ended up being $20+ after shipping.
3 of 4 found the following review helpful:
Excellent Espresso Mar 19, 2011
By Aaron Martin-colby
"Renaissance man"
Pros:
Very complex
Rich
Excellent for doubles and triples
Cons:
A bit expensive
Only adequate for singles
Overall:
I very much like Black Cat Espresso. I consider it the bar against which other espressos are measured. I like it more than Kicking Horse, Lavazza, and Stumptown. Its flavor profile is very complex. It has its fair share of caramel and chocolate, but it also has a spicy, savory nature to it, and very fruity notes that come out well in singles.
This is not a large-scale, homogenized coffee. Different regions and roasts result in different flavors from each bag. Sometimes that spiciness becomes a sort of salty flavor, and the fruits can turn very flowery. It is an easy espresso to make. Even shots that aren't perfect come out tasting pretty good. It's also a forgiving blend in that the shots are not prone to channeling.
Singles are good, because any good coffee becomes light and toasty in a single, as opposed to the rich, crema-bombs of doubles and triples. Still, this espresso is very much intended for doubles or triples.
In drip coffee, it's alright. And by drip, I mean any immersion process, be it French press, Aeropress, drip, pour-over, etc. The flavors get blown out, with the spices overwhelming the chocolates and caramels and resulting in a coffee that's not terribly smooth. Of the immersion processes, Aeropress tasted the best, probably because it most closely approximates espresso.
Black Cat is a bit expensive, but not terribly so. Especially when one considers the increases in coffee as of late, -even Starbucks Tribute was $14 per pound- the price isn't crippling, but it is definitely above many other brands. You can save a little money by buying in five-pound bulks on Intellgentsia's website, but it's not a good idea to keep coffee beans around for that long when you can just as easily get it fresh.
All said, Black Cat is espresso that more often than not finds its way into my machine.
UPDATE:
Something that I forgot to mention in my initial review is that Black Cat is a very complex blend. That means that cheap stepped grinders WILL NOT grind the coffee correctly for espresso. Some higher-end stepped grinders will do the job, like the Rancilio Rocky, but you'll want a good, stepless grinder to fine-tune the grind. This is especially important if you have an espresso machine that's very picky about grind.
Finally, this is not a terribly cremariffic espresso, which means to get a good amount of crema out of it, and thus really have a good canvas for latte art, you're going to have to prepare triples.
3 of 4 found the following review helpful:
One of the best coffees I've ever tested Aug 09, 2009
By M. Castelazo
"cyberlat"
The price definitely worths it. This coffee is pure crema. The flavor is in its point. The texture is unparallel. If you gather with friends to share good espresso shoots or lattes, this is the bean you must acquire.
Suggestion: This coffee should be use JIT (just in time). Order it once you are running low of beans and you'll always have fresh coffee.
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