{"id":5738,"date":"2019-04-03T10:00:42","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T15:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=5738"},"modified":"2019-04-02T20:40:06","modified_gmt":"2019-04-03T01:40:06","slug":"review-intelligentsia-coffee-honey-badger-espresso-chicago-illinois","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=5738","title":{"rendered":"Review: Intelligentsia Coffee Honey Badger Espresso (Chicago, Illinois)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

During my short visit to Chicago in February, I popped into Intelligentsia Coffee’s Monadnock location and picked up this bag of their Honey Badger Espresso. They had lots of really fresh beans that day, but I was curious to see if I would like this better than their Black Cat Classic<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whole bean: Fresh, fruity, and very sweet aromas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Espresso: These beans make for some very fruity shots. If you’re looking for a classic nutty\/toasted\/chocolate flavor to your espresso, you won’t find it from these beans. Instead, the flavors that came forth were those of sour cherry, brown sugar, and raspberry. Reminded me of a really nice fruit pie. Assertive, energetic flavors, like its namesake<\/a>, the shots were tart and lively with some sweetness to take the edge off. Higher temperatures dampen the fruit and bring out more of the brown sugar flavor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Favorite parameters for this blend: 18 grams in, 40 grams out, 25-27 second extraction. Temperature – it was nice at a wide temperature range, between 200-209 degrees F! No one shot stood out as “best” in that temperature range.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With milk: I never actually tried this espresso with milk… it was so bright and fruity that I didn’t really feel compelled to try it as a milk drink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AeroPress: Toasty, sweet cup of coffee with a juicy and fruity character. It tasted primarily of mango, red berries, and sweet brown sugar. When I tried the Black Cat Classic, I personally liked it better brewed in the AeroPress vs. having it as an espresso shot, and I think the same is true of this Honey Badger blend. It’s hard to get the flavor balance just right when concentrated into just 1.5-2 oz of liquid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

French press: THIS was the best preparation method I tried for these beans by far. The coffee came out sweet and obscenely fruity, with a rich and delicious aroma of vanilla ice cream. What a stunning cup of coffee this was!! Once I tried it this way, I ONLY drank it in the French press until the bag was gone. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Summary<\/strong>: Even though Intelligentsia sells this as an espresso blend, try it brewed as coffee – it really shines in a French press, as that method brings out a plethora of flavors that I think espresso shots do not. When pulled as espresso, this blend is like a sour cherry\/berry pie with brown sugar. Bright flavors with some lovely sweetness on the finish. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the roaster: raspberry, tangerine, brown sugar<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intelligentsia Coffee Honey Badger Espresso<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Review conducted 14 days post-roast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During my short visit to Chicago in February, I popped into Intelligentsia Coffee’s Monadnock location and picked up this bag of their Honey Badger Espresso. They had lots of really fresh beans that day, but I was curious to see if I would like this better than their Black Cat Classic. Whole bean: Fresh, fruity, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"The Honey Badger blend is not a typical, traditional espresso, but true to form, \"honey badger don't care\"! I enjoyed the refreshing fruity sweetness of these espresso shots but thought these beans were at their best when brewed in a French press.","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[158,87,8,157,159,3,154],"tags":[108,28,80,89,372,69,81,347],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/IMG-6143-e1554254844613.jpg","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":693,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=693","url_meta":{"origin":5738,"position":0},"title":"Follow-up Review: Intelligentsia Black Cat Classic Espresso (Chicago, Illinois)","date":"June 29, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I hope you all enjoyed reading my friend David Cooper's excellent guest post\u00a0on Intelligentsia's Black Cat Classic Espresso back in April. This espresso\u00a0blend\u00a0is a celebrity as far as espresso blends go, and for some reason I didn't buy a bag of this for myself on that trip (oh yeah, now\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AeroPress"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/tn_IMG_1104.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":231,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=231","url_meta":{"origin":5738,"position":1},"title":"Review: Intelligentsia Black Cat Classic Espresso (Chicago, Illinois)","date":"April 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"(Guest post from David Cooper, principal horn of the Dallas Symphony!) There is nothing better than a good friend showing up at your door at 10 pm with freshly roasted Intelligentsia coffee! Saturday night after my concert I had just made it home and was sitting on the couch when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AeroPress"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_0894-e1430540633125.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":969,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=969","url_meta":{"origin":5738,"position":2},"title":"Review: Sightglass Owl’s Howl Espresso (San Francisco, California)","date":"August 3, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Sightglass Coffee is a family-owned roaster based in San Francisco. I have known this roaster by reputation for a while, but this is the first time I've ever gotten a chance to try their product. I picked up this bag from B2 Coffee\u00a0at the same time that I picked up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Espresso"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/tn_IMG_1200.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5923,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=5923","url_meta":{"origin":5738,"position":3},"title":"Review: Intelligentsia Coffee Black Cat Analog Espresso (Chicago, Illinois)","date":"September 2, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The first time I tried Intelligentsia's Black Cat Analog Espresso was in a coffee shop. I was in Northern California for work back in 2015 and had a beautifully pulled shot at Vero's Coffee Bar in San Jose. I enjoyed it so much, I use the photo of it that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AeroPress"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/IMG-7216-e1562605959648.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":216,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=216","url_meta":{"origin":5738,"position":4},"title":"Review: Counter Culture Hologram Espresso (Durham, North Carolina)","date":"April 17, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm excited to check another roaster off of my coffee bucket list. Counter Culture is a major player in the specialty coffee world. Unlike Stumptown, Blue Bottle, Intelligentsia, etc., they do not seem to run their own cafes;\u00a0they instead seem to focus their efforts on the roasting and on their\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AeroPress"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/IMG_0869-e1430540623304.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1459,"url":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/?p=1459","url_meta":{"origin":5738,"position":5},"title":"Review: Roseline Coffee Roasters Catapult Blend (Portland, Oregon)","date":"October 5, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I picked up this bag of Roseline Coffee from the downtown location of Portland's Barista. Barista regularly features multiple roasters, and though I desperately wanted to buy a bag of everything\u00a0(roasters featured on my visit also included Case and Olympia), I allowed myself to only purchase this bag of Roseline\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blends"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/coffeecantata.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/tn_IMG_1588.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5QIia-1uy","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5738"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5738"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5762,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5738\/revisions\/5762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coffeecantata.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}