Sorry, but that coffee is too large
Sorry, but that coffee is too large
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#1Sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 11:43am
"Starting Aug. 1, Intelligentsia Coffee, the Chicago company with three local cafes and whose coffee is served in more than 900 restaurants and other outlets nationwide, will phase out its 20-ounce coffee and espresso beverages. It's not economics talking; it's about showing respect for your daily brew.
"Drinking our coffee is not like drinking jug wine," said Intelligentsia Coffee founder and Chief Executive Doug Zell on Tuesday. "We're focused on intensity of flavors and providing coffee in the way it tastes best. And it's not in that size."
Zell claims that the large size "throws off the proportions of the beverage" in espresso drinks and you end up with "a watered-down, Big Gulpish version." Regarding drip coffee, he asks: "Do you really need 20 ounces of drip coffee?""
Well coffee drinkers, do you?
Small, Medium, Gone
Borstalboy
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/9/04
#2re: Sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 11:45amOh, the liberal elite are just getting pushier every damn day!
#2re: Sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 11:46am
BS.
I'm still petitioning Starbucks to add a new size: the centottanta.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#3re: Sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 11:52amHow can there be one shot of espresso in an 8 ounce drink, 2 in a 12 ounce drink and 3 in a 20 ounce drink? Don't they all taste different?
#4re: Sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 11:54am
How can there be one shot of espresso in an 8 ounce drink, 2 in a 12 ounce drink and 3 in a 20 ounce drink? Don't they all taste different?
-----
Using that math wouldn't a 20 oz. be stronger than the usual size anyway?
#5re: Sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 11:56am
Yes, the cigarette-butt taste from the burnt coffee gets a bit stronger with each size.
My proposed 180-ouncer would recreate the experience of sitting in a non-ventilated room with Eileen Heckart and Lucille Ball!
KrissySim
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/08
#6re: Sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 1:40pm
Ha! When I buy an espresso (mocha) I usually buy the 20 oz. with 4 shots. The place where I get it is not a chain and each drink is somewhat custom made.
If they weren't talking about "assembly line" drinks the proportions could be tailored to the customer's taste.
For example, I usually want a drizzle of a special dark chocolate syrup over the drink after they make it. They use a stylus to make various designs with the syrup, like a rose or a "marbled" pattern. That's custom coffee.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#7re: Sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 1:54pm
Intelligentsia is the absolute finest coffee around- there is nothing assembly line about their drinks. It is the anti-Starbucks.
So if your Mocha is 20 ounces/four shots what are the other sizes? 5, 10, 15 ounces? Do they purchase custom cups in those sizes?
KrissySim
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/08
#8re: Sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 2:05pm
They have 4 different sizes. The cups are not custom and I don't know the sizes, because I usually want the largest. The size of the cup doesn't matter anyway for the resulting flavor, it's what you put in the cup and the proportions.
But they do customize the drink by request, and for the customer who wants to try something non-standard but isn't sure what, they offer a lot of suggestions.
All the coffee is certified organic, shade grown (Arabica, of course) and fair trade, is Intelligentsia's?
Thinking about it, I recall 8, 12, 16 & 20. But the number of shots is per the customer's request.
Updated On: 7/9/08 at 02:05 PM
StockardFan
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/19/08
#9re: Sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 2:07pm
I'm LMAO at that picture of the huge Starbucks cup.
Anyway, I am a one cup a day person. Anything else makes me a little nauseous.
#10sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 2:28pmi have a 17 oz. insulated cup and it takes two bouts with the office coffee machine. i like to mix the french roast and the columbian and do one k-cup of each at 8 oz. in my morning cup. pay for coffee? seriously?
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
KrissySim
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/08
#11sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 2:37pm
For non-espresso coffee that I make at home, I usually like shade grown Sumatra straight black. Nothing added.
(Though I have been known to throw in a little maple syrup when I'm in an unconventional mood.)
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#12sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 2:58pm
I'm not a coffee drinker and the pissing contest of "Organic, free trade shade grown Sumatran" makes my eyes cross. Intelligentsia offers a few thousand words on the "misconceptions" of shade grown coffee. You can read it if you really care. I was just trying to make the point- this is a company that's really passionate about their coffee.
A few thousand words on Shade-Grown
#13sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 3:05pmeh, i drink green mountain.
...global warming can manifest itself as heat, cool, precipitation, storms, drought, wind, or any other phenomenon, much like a shapeshifter. -- jim geraghty
pray to st. jude
i'm a sonic reducer
he was the gimmicky sort
fenchurch=mejusthavingfun=magwildwood=mmousefan=bkcollector=bradmajors=somethingtotalkabout: the fenchurch mpd collective
KrissySim
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/08
#14sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 3:05pm
Fair enough. Shade grown is a broad definition, but many coffees in the past 20 years are hybridized and grown in direct sunlight. I could offer you links about that, if you are interested, but since you are not a coffee drinker...
I'm glad to see that larger companies are caring more about the product they are selling.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#15sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 3:15pmI just wish purveyors paid as much attention to their Diet Cokes (A FAR more complex product) than the damn coffee. So many places serve it with too little ice, in a Styrofoam cup-- and don't get me started on bad CO2 levels or incorrect syrup ratios! When in doubt I stick to a 20 ouncer, kept submerged in a 50/50 ice/water ratio for 22 minutes- BUT not from the Philadelphia bottler! Not with those labor conditions, thankyouverymuch!
KrissySim
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/08
#16sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 3:44pm
... Diet Coke... I must admit that I like an occasional Coka-Cola. (I love their early posters.)
For soda "pops" I can only suggest to people Blue Sky, Hansen's or R.W. Knudsen Spritzers. I believe they all carry a diet cola, but I prefer root beer and their fruitier sodas, though frankly I'm not much of a soda drinker after all.
StockardFan
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/19/08
#17sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 6:11pmJoe you are a real diet coke conneseiur (I know that's spelled wrong, sorry)
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#18sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 6:11pmYes, I am! I had a brief flirtation with Coke Zero but I'm back on "The Stuff" full time now.
StockardFan
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/19/08
#19sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 7:08pm
LOL! I actually heard that some people that drink too much diet coke show signs of MS, but when the stopped drinking the DC the symptoms went away totally. So if you ever get signs of MS, stop drinking the DC and see if it goes away.
Although I think that's really rare.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#20sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/9/08 at 10:00pmI looked up the symptoms just in case. As long as I didn't shake out the carbonation I'd keep on drinking.
KrissySim
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/08
#21sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/10/08 at 7:32am
JoeKv99, I have looked a little further into Intelligentsia's website and I am not thoroughly convinced by some of what I read. In regard to organic certification basically they say that certification often makes coffee too expensive and there is no proof that the use of certain synthetic chemicals is harmful. Also that the certification process is sometimes too flawed to be meaningful.
It's a complex issue, but some coffee suppliers and roasters do inspect the product at the growers and certification is partly or wholly subsidized by the importer. Naturally, certified organic coffee is going to be more expensive.
The Intelligencia site states that "certified organic" means no "zero chemical fertilizer, fungacide, herbacide, or pesticides". It in fact refers to no synthetic chemical fertilizer, fungicide, herbacide, or pesticides. Certification also means no use of sewage sludge for fertilizer and nothing is genetically modified.
He is right about certain small growers being "organic by default", but it is clear from what I read that Intelligensia imports non-certified coffees which may use synthetic chemicals. The website's analysis of the supposed "no health effects" to the consumer is not convincing. And it's not just the health effects to the consumer, but the environmental impact of synthetic chemicals that is of concern in organic certification.
I would feel more comfortable patronizing a place that was committed to using certified and site inspected (by importer or roaster) organic crops through a trading process that subsidized the certification process, and they do exist.
This is just a brief overview. It is a complex subject and this is not the place to delve any further into it. Intelligensia may be better than other large companies, but it looks like they are using some practices and products that are not commensurate with a commitment to Fair Trade Certified Organic coffee.
It's really up to the consumer to demand Certified Organic and Fair Trade to make the important changes occur.
#22sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/10/08 at 7:52am
A classic shot of espresso in a French or Italian cafe is a little more than 1 ounce and a doppio is a little more than 2 ounces.
20 ounces is obscene.
KrissySim
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/08
#23sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/10/08 at 8:02am
LOL
True for those drinks. But try a mocha. 
Actually my favorite is Turkish coffee brewed in a sand bed. 20 oz would be way too much there, too.
However, for a mocha, let me (customer) decide what I want!
StockardFan
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/19/08
#24sorry, but that coffee is too large
Posted: 7/10/08 at 8:09amNow I could go for a Skinny Vanilla Latte on ice.
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