Intelligentsia Black Cat Classic Espresso, Whole Bean Coffee, 12-Ounce by Intelligentsia

Actually a really nice coffee, perfect taste

I'm honestly so shocked this espresso has a 3.9 rating. I think it has lot to do with the fact I'm guessing people aren't pulling the shots correctly and following the right process with espresso. This is by far the BEST espresso I've ever had outside of an actual coffee shop. I don't even go get coffee/lattes anymore I just make it at home. I always check the date obvs to make sure it's fresh, but the taste is great. It's very smooth, and smells like espresso you'd grab from your fav coffee place. And, the price is perfect for the quality. I use the Breville Barista Express machine, and this espresso has pulled the best shots. Thank you!

Good coffee, makes a great espresso martini

I'm an espresso nut and have several machines that I call my friends. One of these is a Jura S9 Avantgarde, and after trying dozens and dozens of various beans to find the perfect mate, Intelligentsia Black Cat Classic prevailed as the very clear winner. There may be better beans out there, but not for this machine. I've served thousands of shots of this espresso out of the Jura, and everyone is impressed by it... actually, not just impressed... blown away. It's not uncommon to have neighbors coming in the back door in the morning to grab a shot. This bean produces a perfect espresso... great crema, thick legs... smooth with no bitterness and a slight nut/chocolate finish. The best thing is the consistency... the beans are always the same... which is not true of so many other small producers. It's also great in cappuccini, macchiati, etc. I live very close to Intelligentsia in LA and buy beans there in person... but, my other house is 2 hours away... and when there, I order these beans online through Amazon. These mail order ones are fine... and are very similar to what you get in the store. It is a serious downer that Intelligentsia switched the size from 16oz to 12oz, which essentially upped the price by about 30%... but, it's still much cheaper than Illy or some others. When you buy in the store, the beans have usually been roasted only a few days before. From Amazon, it seems to be about 2 weeks... something like that. To be honest, it really doesn't make much difference... since the beans are whole and sealed, the taste between beans that are a few days from roasting versus 2 weeks is virtually indiscernible. If the beans were 1 day old versus a month or so, there would be a slight difference, but here... there's nothing really worth mentioning... and certainly nothing to prevent me from ordering them. There's lot of hype about this... but... As an aside, I much prefer these Classic beans to the Organic beans. The Classic seem to produce better crema, have less bitterness and less of the bright-forward flavor I try to avoid. UPDATE 7/30/2012: Purchased again from Amazon and the beans were about 2 months old. That's really pushing the limits of acceptability... probably will not order from Amazon again. Changed from 5 stars to 3.

I was searching for a different espresso coffee other than the usual Illy or Lavazza. I cam across this variety that was billed one of the best tasting, so I had high hopes. So far, I am disappointed. I don't care for the flavor. I have experimented with the ratio of grinds to water and the grind size and no matter how I change the levels I don't care for it.