Performs best through pour over and aeropress where its tamarind-grapefruit acidity and dried florals land clean, but the near-absent body means there is no buffer when extraction goes wrong.
Built for espresso and moka pot drinkers who've cycled through grocery blends that thin out in milk and darks that turn one-note under a long pull, Black Cat delivers maximum body and high sweetness with enough acidity to keep the shot three-dimensional.
The drinker who needs espresso at 9pm without the caffeine and refuses to sacrifice acidity for it: this semi-washed medium is the right answer in the decaf category.
For the home espresso setup that needs body and sweetness in the shot, this medium washed blend pulls dense and grape-edged with enough structure to hold under steamed milk.
At $1.46 an ounce, Intelligentsia's name carries part of the price; the low acidity and genuine body carry the rest.
Dense through espresso and forgiving in a moka pot, with baking spice and dark chocolate that survive the roast where similar blends flatten out.
Dark chocolate bitterness with a caramel-sweetness backbone that keeps the cup from going flat, but the roast has consumed most of what Nicaragua originally offered.
Pipe tobacco and unsweetened molasses settle at the back of the cup; maximum body, maximum bitterness, and a roast that has consumed everything else.
