'Ello fellow HBers.
I've noticed that Intelligentsia offers an unprecedented number of options (13) as far as grind is concerned when purchasing their beans online. From looking around it seems you're all vehemently against store bought, preground beans...but I've yet to find any comments on Intelligentsia's pre-ground product tailored to specific brew methods. I was interested in hearing some opinions on that since 'intelly' is a somewhat special case and is highly extolled here. Has anyone tried it?
For what it's worth, personally, I plan to buy 1/2 pound bags rather than the usual offering so mitigate air-induced damage. Also, I intend to use this method of obtaining coffee for at least drip brewing some Black Cat. Is that fine?

Thanks.

Intelly sells preground coffee because even those like you, who know to a moral certainty that grinding their own coffee, be it on a $20 spice mill, is always better than preground, still demand to buy the stuff.

Intelly would, I think, be ecstatic to sell only whole bean coffee; but they have to make a living.

Some pepper comes packaged with built-in disposable grinders. I wonder if that's possible for coffee as well.

Ron? Why do people buy pre-ground coffee? ANY pre-ground coffee? Because, simply put, not everyone has a grinder. That accounts -- right there -- for 99.9% of all pre-ground coffee sales by individual consumers, be it from a roaster like Intelligentsia or a can of Maxwell House in a supermarket. The other 0.1% of retail pre-ground sales are from people who actually have a grinder but are curious to see if a "real" grinder (?!?!) makes a difference (e.g.: they have the proverbial $20 Krups blade grinder and they want to see if a Mahlkönig VTS-6 (aka "Robbie the Robot") really makes a difference . . .

Since ground coffee begins to go stale within 15 minutes of grinder, the 0.1% of the populace who are experimenting learn nothing. And, were I to hazard a guess, the majority of the 99.9% of the people who do not own a grinder -- sadly -- do not know what a difference there is between pre-ground and fresh ground coffee.

Jim is (IMHO) absolutely right: Intelly (and other premium roasters) would . . . be ecstatic to sell only whole bean coffee; but they have to make a living.

Cheers,
Jason

another_jim wrote:Intelly sells preground coffee because even those like you, who know to a moral certainty that grinding their own coffee, be it on a $20 spice mill, is always better than preground, still demand to buy the stuff.

Perhaps 'vehemently' wasn't a strong enough word.
Thanks for your input. I guess then -if you put it that way- one really can't justify using pre-ground....unless it's for your overall convenience (Mr.Weaner's anecdote).

Intelligentsia has made aggressive moves around seasonality, fresh crop coffees, retail drink volumes, Direct Trade buying models, etc. I wouldn't be surprised if they do away with their preground offerings at some point.

another_jim wrote:who know to a moral certainty that grinding their own coffee, be it on a $20 spice mill, is always better than preground

another_jim wrote:Seems that on an espresso machine, well ground coffee that's completely stale still beats fresh poorly ground coffee.

from Imported Italian Espresso?

Jim, I'm confused by your position(s) on this.

I'm not trying to nitpick. I actually think it's an interesting discussion topic. Grind quality being equal, fresh ground is clearly superior to preground. However, the grind quality is rarely equal. In fact, it can be quite disparate.

Good catch.

I stand by both points, and I don't think they are contradictory. For espresso, grind is completely vital, since you cannot properly brew the espresso without it being ground properly. Stale coffee properly brewed is better than fresh coffee mis-brewed. On the other hand, drip coffee through paper, or cupping style steeping (i.e. in a container that loses heat and no stirring) is pretty fault tolerant in terms of overextraction. With both these methods, poorly ground fresh coffee will taste better than stale preground coffee.

Got Beans and no grinder at all? Use a mortar and pestle and an Ibrik; or crush the beans on a cutting board with a saucepan and cup. Good coffee really does not need to be high tech.

I've happened across a cache of old maxwell house preground master blend at least months old (older than that would still be a relatively safe bet). It was superior to a bag of starbucks beans I picked up and had ground. It boasted this smooth chocolate+almond flavor which I found surprising. The Cafe Verona was often bitter and I know it could have been better after having put several bags of it through a steam-based espresso/cappuccino contraption in the past.

Thanks to you all, I've come to my senses,reconsidered whole bean as an option, and will be getting a zassenhaus by default. Not sure if my wooden pestle&mortar would take to the coffee oils well.

Completely stale medium roasted coffee tastes, not unpleasantly, like nuts and cocoa; but has zero aroma. High end coffee is mostly about the aromatics; but it helps if it tastes good too.