Intelligentsia Group Buy

RE*AC*TOR

Hey Brothers and Sisters (Eclectic),

Here's what I suggest: It is possible to buy Intelligentsia Beans directly from them online. They only ship with UPS (2 day) though, so the shipping is relatively expensive. However, this is somewhat of a sliding scale. If for example someone were to order 10lb of beans, it would only work out around €15/€16 per lb. This would be in line with what you might fork over to Ariosa on a Saturday morning.

What I'll suggest is that we need at least 5 people (incl myself) to buy at least 2lb each.

If some people order more than others I'd suggest shipping is split proportional to weight of ordered goods.

The logistics will be a bit tight, ideally I will take delivery of the order, and we will meet that evening. Then everyone has the freshest possible beans to use.

I suppose Paypal would be the handiest method to use as well. Only problem is they shave a little off the top, so we'd need to adjust for that.

The one other caveat, is that we could get stung for customs (UPS are fairly good at this). Should this arise the bill would be split proportionally as well.

have a look at the store here http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/store


1. RE*AC*TOR
2. Mr Magnolia
3. hshortt
4. kencleary
5. SeaSide

Mr Magnolia

Count me in. You can put me down for at least 2lb. I'll take 3/4lb if we're short 1 or 2 people.

cgf

Their t-shirt looks cool

http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/store/wares/logo/black-cat-project-tee

eclectichoney

Great idea Reactor - if I didn't have a shedload of beans in the press from recent birthday presents at the moment I'd jump at the chance, but I better pass up. Fair play to you for organising it comrade

hshortt

I'll join!

Cheers

RE*AC*TOR

eclectichoney wrote: »

Great idea Reactor - if I didn't have a shedload of beans in the press from recent birthday presents at the moment I'd jump at the chance, but I better pass up. Fair play to you for organising it comrade

No probs.

hshortt wrote:

I'll join!

Cheers

\0/

Mr Magnolia

Oh RE*AC*TOR, is it safe to assume you're ordering the black cat blend?

RE*AC*TOR

I plan to order for myself 1lb of Black Cat and 1lb of Kid-O blend. And maybe another bag of something filtery...

But we can order any combination we like, if you fancy some of the other stuff.

Khannie

Excuse the ignorance, but why is this gear so special?

RE*AC*TOR

Intelligentsia, alonside Stumptown probably pay the most money (per lb) for their beans in the world. Geoff Watts, the director of coffee, and head purchaser for Intelligentsia is a serious celebrity in the coffee world.
The Black Cat espresso blend, if you read any of the US coffee forums is obscenely popular, and it's the blend Mark Prince over at coffeegeek uses for all his testing. Basically it kicks ass.
I was hesitant to buy into this hype, until I recently tried it. It really is very special (so are some of the other ones I tried from the US as well - but Intelligentsia we can buy from).
If I had the money, I'd probably set up a standing order to have a bag or two of beans delivered each month to me indefinitely. Now I realise I'm building this up beyond all possible expectations, but bottom line for me, is that Black Cat is probably one of the best espresso blends in the world, Kid-O is supposed to be great also, but I haven't had it (yet). If you want to try one of these (or some of their filter stuff) this is a way to do it, which won't burn a huge hole in your pocket.

/rant

kencleary

Ok put me down for 1lb of Black Cat and 1lb of Kid-O blend too please

As an aside never bought so much roasted coffee before - anyone know where I might be able to get air tight jars that would hold a full lb of coffee?

RE*AC*TOR

kencleary wrote: »

Ok put me down for 1lb of Black Cat and 1lb of Kid-O blend too please

Done.

kencleary wrote: »

As an aside never bought so much roasted coffee before - anyone know where I might be able to get air tight jars that would hold a full lb of coffee?

Home Store & More, Arnotts, House of Frasier, a lot of the big department stores will do em.
So will places like Stock, Kitchen Complements etc.

Some of the bigger TK Maxx's with the kitchen departments probably will too.

RE*AC*TOR

Right here's the calculation:

If 5 of us order 1lb of BC and 1lb of Kid-O

It ends up at €32.80 each (according to Xe.com)

€16.90 per pound

If we do it by Paypal - add €1.50 on to that - €34.30

€17.15 per pound

By the way - make sure you check out the site - there may be other things you are interested in getting. Also they can be bought in half pound bags as well. So you could get half pound of black cat, half pound of kidO, half bound of summer solsitce, half pound of whatever. Would only work out as slightly more expensive (same shipping cost).

SeaSide

kencleary wrote: »

Ok put me down for 1lb of Black Cat and 1lb of Kid-O blend too please

OK you talked me into it too. ditto to above for me

RE*AC*TOR

right - that's 5.

So do we give it another 24 hours and see if anyone else wants to get on, or do we just plow ahead with the 5?

If we order now, we might have it by Friday.

Mr Magnolia

Entirely up to you.



My hopper will be empty around friday though :pac:

kencleary

Friday??!! hmmmm wasn't expecting to get it till next Friday. Having some for this weekend would be nice but i'm not too pushed either way! Happy to leave it in your capable hands Reactor.

RE*AC*TOR

ORDERED!!!111!!!11

I'll PM you guys my paypal address thingy.

Mr Magnolia

w00t!

Mr Magnolia

Also, what'd you order for me?

RE*AC*TOR

oh crap - I assumed you were going for 1lb of BC & 1lb of Kid-O

If this is wrong - I can contact them to change it...

Mr Magnolia

No, that's perfec. Look forward to it.

hshortt

Thanks for arranging this and going through the hassle. I've popped off my payment and will look forward to it. I'll have to source more containers too! haha

Cheers

kencleary

Do post up here if you come across any good containers in town. I'm gonna go hunting myself later in the week assuming the weather picks up!

RE*AC*TOR

I've definitely seen them in Atlantic as well. I think they're fairly ubiquitous.

Gran Hermano

I really recommend these containers from Lakeland in the UK.
Shipping is pretty cheap and fast. These preserving jars are
fully airtight and a design classic atthis stage.

RE*AC*TOR

I use very similar ones to those - although in an ideal world I'd have ones that didn't let light through.

mayordenis

paint them black . . .

kencleary

So don't keep us in suspense.......has our order shipped?

RE*AC*TOR

Here's the story so far:
1. Placed the order.
2. Realised that orders placed are roasted and sent the following day.
3. Realised this might mean the beans are sitting in a sorting office over the weekend.
4. Emailed Steve at Intelli and explained the situation.
5. Steve said ok, we'll roast and send them today (yesterday), but in future don't be so naughty and check the roasting schedule.
6. Asked him do they supply tracking numbers.
7. He said yes, but "I don’t have access to your tracking number yet, but you should receive one within the next 24 hours. "

So I haven't gotten a tracking number yet, but I'm assuming they were shipped yesterday, and hopefully we're on course for Friday.

RE*AC*TOR

Tracking number: *deleted* (actually just PM that to the guys)
Should be here tomorrow.

Mr Magnolia

RE*AC*TOR wrote: »

Should be here tomorrow.

/does a merry dance

Mr Magnolia

Location: DUBLIN, IE 08/08/2008 7:03 IN TRANSIT

RE*AC*TOR

Mr Magnolia wrote: »

Location: DUBLIN, IE 08/08/2008 7:03 IN TRANSIT

RE*AC*TOR

Good news:




Bad news:


Oh UPS!

Mr Magnolia

No probs, fix you up later.

hshortt

Typical eh? No worries.

hshortt

Many thanks for the man that could, and did! Sincerely, thanks very much.

The fresh coffee aroma is making me popular in the office!

Mr Magnolia

hshortt wrote: »

The fresh coffee aroma is making me popular in the office!

Tell them to fupp off. It's not for sharing




Thanks again too RE*AC*TOR. Looking forward to it.

kencleary

The delivery man just paid me a visit too. Only problem is I now have to wait a few hours to get home and try one! Couldn't resist opening a bag and smelling though......aaaahhhhhh safisfying

Thanks again Reactor.

RE*AC*TOR

You're very welcome lads - nice doing business with ye. It all goes a lot smoother when everyone's sound (and ye all were).

Haven't been able to get a hold of SeaSide, but his bags are waiting for him.

Mr Magnolia

Likewise mate.

If it's as good as I expect it to be we'll be coffee-running again

RE*AC*TOR

Definitely consider up-dosing and going down the ristretto route with Black Cat.

If you can get about 18g in the basket, and go for 20-30ml in 25-30s. Worth trying.

Mr Magnolia

I'll get 18g in no problem. I was going to look into the methodology of the ristretto, this is basically it?

RE*AC*TOR

If you get 18g in no problem, you could even push towards 20g. I've given up weighing but I generally go the 18-20g for a double.

You may have to grind finer also, but it's an easy equation to figure out.

Just make sure you preheat the cups with boiling water, as the increased mass of coffee and decreased volume of brew water, means it'll be a bit cooler than a normal double, and will get cold quickly.

Mr Magnolia

Nice. I don't normally weigh at all myself, I will break the scales out for this though. I'll try it tomorrow and report back.

hshortt

Just finished my fourth and am about to line up another couple! Fantastic stuff, flows thick and even. Highlights the importance of a recently roasted bean.

Thanks again.
Howard

RE*AC*TOR

No sleep for you tonight...

hshortt

Who needs sleep!? I knew that once I got home I was going to be wired. God help me missus tonight! haha

RE*AC*TOR

Is it just the one you're tried or both?

hshortt

Just the Black Cat so far, very impressed. I'll be in NY in January and I'll be putting this on my list.