Chicagoist: La Esmeralda: Worth the Price?

guest

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 19:29:48 -0600

Personally I like my coffee to taste like COFFEE, not flowers or fruit. That's why I drink freshly roasted Kona Coffee, a classic cup of coffee if there ever was one.

Chuck Sudo

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:49:45 -0600

Geoff had a few money quotes last night. Near the end of his presentation he said, "the world has never been willing to pay for great coffee." I let that roll around in my head on the train ride home. It's clear that Intelligentsia thinks the opposite. Their success, and seeing a warehouse full of people gathered around to drink coffee, shows how far they've come and how far they've yet to go to change that perception.

JoeM500

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 13:33:33 -0600

Obviously this is a simple media game. We pay an outrageous amount for some coffee beans and we make the news. Every "craft" food or beverage genre has their own version. I'm sure the beans are all that, but Intelligentsia's popularity is already large due to the fact that people that love coffee rave about it. I was at Stumptown Coffee in Portland and when the guy saw me smelling and looking into the coffee (I really know little about coffee) he asked where I was from. They all know people from Intelligentsia and were praising it. I hope this little expensive as hell bean thing helps lead to more awesome coffees and not just making Intelligentsia the "coffeee place that sells the most expensive half pound of coffee in the world". Besides everyone knows the best coffee has to be pooped out of a Luwak. Ha.

bluetangle

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:20:04 -0600

@Stephen: I did enjoy Geoff's statement that "putting milk or sugar into this coffee would be like dumping sugar into your single malt Scotch". Also, nice to meet you. About the coffee: It was good. It was really quite good. Sorry I can't offer any more gripping detail than that. I won't be getting any more of the auction lot, but may get some of the non-auction (if the test run in my french press goes well). And to be nice... thanks to Chris from Mill Park for making us coffee all night.

guest

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 12:10:23 -0600

matty- that is hilarious. French Vanilla half and half and lots of Sweet and Low.

David Nemesis

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:45:26 -0600

@Stephen: The non-auction beans are Geisha, they're just not the cream of the crop. Though neither Daniel nor Geoff really indicated just how far down the cupping ladder they are from the auction lot. I would imagine that they'll be hard to distinguish from one another, rather like the difference in quality between a CD and an MP3 of the same music.

matty

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:26:43 -0600

just to be a dick i would put french vanilla half n half in mine.

guest

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 11:05:35 -0600

Your review = "great-tasting coffee", that's it? For $99 a half pound the better throw in an eighth of hydro.

Chuck Sudo

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 10:57:39 -0600

Paragraph 3, two-thirds of the way down, you'll find my tasting notes.

Stephen

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 10:55:59 -0600

Watts did help put the cost/quality issue into perspective as well, by drawing a parallel between Geisha, and a good single-malt scotch or fine wine. This ain't a pedestrian coffee bean and should not be consumed as such. It's just that most people don't think of coffee in the same terms as fine wines and liquors. I think Intelligentsia is doing a good job of helping cultivate that segment via Geisha and its other specialty beans. I agree with Chuck, the flavors really came out after letting it cool for a couple of minutes. It is a great, complex, tasty coffee. When tasted with some of Intelligentsia's other coffees (which were available at this event), it was clear to me why this had won so many awards. Those who registered for the event received 1/2lb of La Esmeralda beans from a non-auction lot, and I'll be interested to see how those compare to Geisha.

Ferdy

Tue, 02 Oct 2007 10:45:12 -0600

So, Chuck, how did it taste???