Intelligentsia Direct Trade Black Cat Classic Espresso Roast Light Roast Whole Bean Coffee -12oz

I can see where the negative reviews come from. People don’t understand espresso. Espresso is not about dark or light roast. It’s about skills, patience and right equipment. Yes, light roasts are tricky when pulling espresso shots. I’m using DF64 flat burr grinder and grind pretty fine, finer than the dark roasts. Then, I do longer pulls to keep the sourness to minimum. I found Black Cat by accident but it became my favorite! The smell and fruity-molassy taste keep me looking forward to my mornings. Also, tried it for pour over and it was great too. My advice is to put time and efforts into dialing and you will be rewarded.

This is a light to medium roast. Dry, not espresso roast AT ALL. Should be relabeled “blonde” or “medium” roast.

The packaging is lovely and promises something wonderful. I anticipated a dark roast since the name is black cat espresso. Instead it's a very light roast, super acidic taste, and super dry bean. It compares unfavorably to gas station coffee that's been sitting around all day.

The flavor is great, but it is way too light for an espresso. I think it would be a great light roast coffee. I also noticed when I grind the beans, they don’t grind finely at all. They are super dry and stay in large chunks.

This is not an espresso roast. It is overpriced, sad, dry, and light. I definitely would not recommend or purchase again. Flavor is terrible and also very floral, (it actually gave me a terrible headache). Not what I would ever expect or want from an espresso. I don’t want to see through my espresso, (as an experienced barista). Yuck. What a waste of money.

Beans were dry and faded, and the taste was off... I realized the bag I received was expired!! Do better with quality control!!

I can be picky about my espresso but this was great! No complaints from me or my family!

Been using this for weeks now on our Breville Espresso machine. This tastes sooooo good. Glad to be able to get quality coffee at Target!

Honestly...this is not even close to a dark roast. I'm not against a lighter roast, but I'd like to be aware of it before I buy it. Calling it dark and "espresso" is super misleading. The smell of the beans are the first hint it's not a dark roast. The flavor produces a profile similar to other light roast espressos - heavily acidic/sour indicitive of under-extraction. It's really difficult to make a super drinkable light roast espresso at home unless the beans are fresh/well roasted, and your machine(and grinder!) is in the upper end of most people's needs. I have a mid level machine (~$500) that has been modded to brew a really, really solid home espresso, and it struggles to produce anything that isn't just aggressively bright. I pull a 1:3 ratio or slightly longer, and I can make it at least tolerable. I'm questioning the ability of other reviewers to actually brew a legit lighter roast espresso on a home machine. Maybe they have professional equipment and just failed to note that in their review - which is definitely important, but if you were that serious, you would know the pitfalls of a lighter roast well enough to note them in the review. If you have to drink this roast after you've purchased it, one thing I've noticed that helps produce a slightly better cup is to use a paper filter at the base of the basket. This works in 2 ways; it increases flow rate so it allows you to ultimately grind finer, and it will trap some of the rough edges of the flavor profile. For whatever reason, my ~$100 basic machine seems to do slightly better with this setup...and I mean slightly. I suspect it might have to do with the slightly longer pre-infusion. If you're adding milk or cream to this, sure it's probably fine because it will cut that acidity. I do think it makes an *okay* Americano or a slightly longer lungo, if you're into that.

I stepped out of my comfort zone of Sprout’s organic beans ($12/lb) to try this “high-end” roaster ($17/lb). Just look at how dried out and under roasted the beans are (left) compared to the way fresh beans should appear (right). Poor quality and even worse taste. Never again.

I bought this to use in my espresso machine at home, since i wanted to branch out and try something besides starbucks blonde. However, the espresso shots i got from this machine were pathetic looking - light and watery with hardly any crema on top and hardly any coffee flavor at all when added to a latte. I tried grinding the beans finer, then coarser, and it seems to make very little difference.

This is the same coffee they use on the Virgin Cruise line. I had 1-2 flat whites with oat milk a day. I make them at home I use this with my aeropress and oat milk. Just as good.

Wanted try new coffee. Big disappointment. Didn’t taste good. Won’t be purchasing this again.

Well balanced and good solid flavor. Used in two different espresso machines, for espresso shots. Grinds well and not oily. If you're not getting a good brew from this adjust your methods. A+

Horrible! Do not bother. I made this in my espresso pot and it was light and tasted like dirty water. I then re ground it as fine as possible, still bad. Finally I thought let me try in in my coffee pot, still nope. Buy cafe bustello and save yourself the money

Not at all espresso beans. The taste was not good even though the roasting date was 2 weeks old.

Nope. This ain’t it! I normally use local espresso beans but I was in a pinch and picked these up. They do not make a good cup of espresso at all. For reference, I have the Breville Barista express. It’s not a strong cup and it’s more bitter than bold. It might make a good cup of coffee, maybe, but not espresso. I didn’t tell my spouse beforehand that I used different beans and when I asked how it was, he also wasn’t a fan.

Made the best espresso I’ve had since owning my machine. I was using Blue Bottle and made a change to this and I love the flavors. Never used for pour over so I can’t vouch for that. From what I’ve seen, not so good. But it’s a brilliant espresso.

Really doesn’t taste like a dark roast. Very watery and light tasting, no matter how it was brewed. Super upsetting since I wanted to like it

I really wanted to like this coffee, but I honestly didn’t. I’ll preface by saying that I don’t make espresso so I was just brewing it for a standard cup of coffee, but it seems that other reviewers who used it for espresso weren’t so satisfied either. The flavor just wasn’t there. Also awfully light for a “dark” roast.