Coffee aficionados: Saturday morning, I want you to switch your taste buds to turbo. Go to the Smiling Goat and strap yourself in. Wear a hemet with a swizzle straw, because Goat owner Smilin’ Geoffrey Creighton tells me that starting tomorrow, he’s unleashing Chicago-based Intelligentsia coffee into the Halifax consumer market.
Intelligentsia’s s Black Cat Classic will be a standard feature on his espresso menu from now on. “Intellie” as coffee hounds call it, is a world-renowned top cuppa. Read the press. Local dealer Robert Csar sold Creighton the beans. Csar is not a giant, he is a transplanted Vancouverite. He recently moved here, works as a barista at Steve-O-Renos and deals Intelligentsia beans on the side through his company, Grey Coffee.
Worried about the Goat increasing your carbon footprint? Creighton will continue to serve local Java Blend-produced house blends (JB makes their standard espresso blend, Fog City). But, he says, although Black Cat is not organic, it does correspond to Intellie’s strict direct trade specifications, which you can read here.
This article appears in Feb 5-11, 2009.
Intelligentsia Coffee has less of a carbon foot-print than you might think. Most of what Intelligentsia offers is Direct Trade which basically means – purchased directly from the grower and sent to the roaster… no in-betweens or third-party organizations.
Most if not all coffee that is not Direct Trade (a term coined by Intelligentsia) travels quite a bit before it arrives at the roaster (from the grower to the co-op to the broker or buyer to the distributor to the roaster etc, etc)…
Intelligentsia cut out the middle-man so that they know exactly where their coffee is coming from.
From the grower, to the roaster, to you.
Intelligentsia also has an extensive organic selection (including tea)… and they also have a unique ‘in season’ program so that you know that your coffee is being sold to you when the crops are in season. A lot of coffee is roasted and sold sometimes years after the crop was produced… Intelligentsia believes that green coffee beans should be treated like any other produce and only be available once a year.
Thanks very much for the article… I am really excited to be able to introduce Halifax to Intelligentsia.
Kind regards,
Robert Csar
Andy,
Thanks for the update. I am happy to hear about Black Cat coming to Halifax and the Goat. Now we have two of North America’s best coffees available in YHZ with 49th Parallel from Vancouver and Intelligentsia from Chicago.
Last year, Intelli took a bit of heat on the internet when they ‘messed’ around with the blend and the profile significantly changed from the Black Cat that many knew and loved. Yet, I think they are definitely back on track with another, albeit different blend that is still pleasing the old ‘spro customers. Even better, the espresso blend is now 100% Direct Trade which is a great thing.
In terms of carbon footprints, the last time I checked there are no productive coffee trees indigenous to Nova Scotia. Regardless of the roaster location, all of these beans are making more than a 100 mile journey from their origin. So lets get over it, if you want to enjoy great coffee.
lawrence
Intelligentsia + 49th Parallel in YHZ
=
Happy coffee drinkers
– Ken
now we just need Stumptown, ritual, ecco, novo, counter culture, PTs, and Terroir and we would never have to leave home.