1st is their coffee fresh roasted just before delivery???
I see nothing on their website that says they even roast there own coffee other than contact info calls some locations Roasters...

2nd How fast do they ship?
My sister ordered two gift cards a few weeks ago and I am still waiting on them

I am now hoping even if they do fresh roast that their slow CS will have any coffee I order just sitting for someone to label and mail it in a timely fashion...

Having just ordered from them, I know their website states that they roast to order - the problem I had was the shipment taking 8 days via priority. They shipped the day after I placed the order though.

I suppose in all fairness, the latest shipment hasn't actually arrived yet, but according to tracking information and prior experience it will arrive between 6 and 7pm on the 8th day.

I have written to Intelligentsia stating my concern about their shipping costs. Never a response. I would like to try some really fresh Black Cat because the bags that I buy from the local Fresh Market are typically three weeks old when they receive them. So what you are saying is there is no guarantee that you will receive acceptably fresh beans by ordering direct from Intelligentsia. This confirms my decision not to order direct.

I fail to find the justification, other than profit motivation, that I can purchase a 12 oz bag for $9.99 and must pay $15 for a pound + $9.95 shipping costs for 3 pounds direct. Including sales tax it is still 23% cheaper to by locally. What is even more puzzling is that the Fresh Market does not buy Black Cat direct from Intelligentsia but goes through a distributor which adds their profit.

As good as it is I don't find that it is any better than or as good as in some cases as Redline, Dulce and Palermo. When I am in Chicago in the Spring I am going to stop buy their shop and try some really fresh Black Cat and perhaps pick up a few bags to take with me.

Intelligentsia's policy is to roast to order. There's no way to roast just before delivering your coffee, but they do roast it the day that it's posted. Their website allows you to choose your shipping speed; I believe they offer USPS Priority (you have to call for this) and UPS ground/3 day select/2nd day/overnight. You can look at the UPS ground transit time map to see if the shipping time is acceptable to you. I've usually gotten UPS ground from them going to my home in Houston, TX. Monday orders arrive on Thursday, usually.

I didn't have too much trouble finding their shipping schedule and production schedule:

Intelligentsia Coffee wrote:At Intelligentsia we use UPS as our standard shipping carrier. At the current time, we cannot ship via the USPS through our website. If you would like your order shipped via USPS, please call 888.945.9786 to place your order with Intelligentsia's Customer Support Department.

The map below provides information on standard UPS Ground shipping times for deliveries from Chicago. These times are standard for ground delivery, not guaranteed times. If you need a guaranteed time, please select 2 Day Air or Overnight delivery.



Please Note: UPS does not operate on Saturdays or Sundays, so please choose your shipping options accordingly. All times shown represent business days.

Looks like if you're near Atlanta, GA, you should expect 2-3 day delivery from UPS ground. Sounds great to me, for Black Cat you should get it well before its flavor peaks. Remember to order early in the week if you don't want your coffee to sit in a sorting facility over the weekend.

Also, FWIW I've found Intelligentsia to be pretty good about customer service if you call them. If your gift cards are M.I.A. then you might want to call them and inquire about it, or have your sister do so. It could just be bad luck in the holiday rush.

Yeah, I second Nicholas's post.. Ive ordered from Intelly many times.. And I always get, Roasted to Order coffee, delivered quickly.

Depending when you order, they roast that day, or the next day. They ship the same day they roast.


To keep things simple.. I just always order my coffee Sunday night. That way, its a Monday roast, and gets to me before the weekend. Most roasters us USPS priority anyway, which is my preffered method of shipping coffee. Cheap and Quick.

It's probably just Holiday crap with shipping.. Ive never had a problem with Intelly before.

It's pretty simple, don't use USPS. For hoots, I placed two orders on the same day; one shipped to my neighbor USPS and one shipped to me UPS. I got UPS the next day, three days later my neighbor received the USPS order.

I won't comment on cost, either it is worth it to you or not.

h

harris wrote:It's pretty simple, don't use USPS. For hoots, I placed two orders on the same day; one shipped to my neighbor USPS and one shipped to me UPS. I got UPS the next day, three days later my neighbor received the USPS order.

USPS Priority seems to work well when there are large distances involved. For example, I've had no problem ordering from Washington State (I'm in PA) via USPS Priority. Takes 3 days. UPS Ground seems to work better than USPS Priority when there are short distances involved, e.g. a few hundred miles. For me in eastern PA, ordering from the middle of the country is a toss-up with UPS Ground. If it doesn't reach me by Friday, the next delivery is Monday.

In North Carolina I always get it 2-3 days after I order and 2 days after the "roasted on" date. The same seems to be true for Paradise, Stumptown- even though they are several thousand miles away-, Metropolis, etc. Counter Culture is the only exception and they get it to me the day after it is roasted, but they have the advantage of being just down the street (70 miles). I haven't tried shipping from most of the west coast roasters though.

Whoa, they absolutely roast their own coffee. Goodness. They opened a roasting facility in Los Angeles, instead of shipping from Chicago, when they opened out here.

Hi everyone,

For the sake of clarity we do roast (our own coffee) to order and if you place your order by Midnight CST, it will be roasted and shipped the next day (orders placed on Friday (that is after 11:59:59 P.M on Thursday), Saturday & Sunday will be roasted and shipped on Monday).

If a gift card was ordered weeks ago and has not been received, please call 888.945.9786 and someone will definitely help you. Or email me at dzell@intelligentsiacoffee.com and I will take care of it.

As for our shipping charges, we have based them on what makes sense for running our business. If you have comments about our shipping costs, please email me directly and I promise to consider what you have to say. You can reach me at dzell@intelligentsiacoffee.com.

On another note, Happy New Year!

Kind regards,

Doug Zell