What is Intelligentsia Season's Best Bundle?
Three of the roaster's favourite seasonal coffees in one box, packaged as a set.
Seasonal blends are where a roaster shows off. Freed from having to taste the same all year, the blender uses whatever is at its peak, which is why coffees like Summer Solstice cost half again what the house blends do and are worth it for an occasion.
Intelligentsia describe this as three of their favourite coffees in one perfectly packaged bundle, featuring their carefully crafted seasonal blends. Single origin bags are 10 oz and blend bags are 12 oz. It is $78.00.
What's in the Intelligentsia Season's Best Bundle box
Seasonal blends throughout, which means the bright and ambitious end of the menu.
The seasonal coffees here are the ones that reach for Kenya and Ethiopia and get roasted on the Bright profile. Summer Solstice at $30.00 for a single bag is the reference point for what goes into this class of coffee.
That makes the box coherent rather than a sampler of everything. Anybody who wants chocolate and dark roasts will find little here, and that is the correct decision for a box built around seasonal releases.
Is it better value than buying the bags?
$78.00 for three bags, which is close to what three seasonal coffees cost separately.
Their seasonal and premium blends run from around $24.00 to $30.00 a bag, so three of them bought individually land in the same territory as the box. As with the flavour profile bundle, the selection is the product rather than the discount.
Note the sizes: single origin bags are 10 oz and blends are 12 oz, so the box is not three identical bags and the per-gram figure depends on what is inside it.
How it arrives, and what you choose
The roaster calls it perfectly packaged, which makes it the gift option of the two bundles.
That is the language of a present rather than a purchase, and it is the clearest difference between this box and the Flavor Profile Variety Bundle, which is described as something to experiment with.
Three seasonal bags from a roaster with this reputation is a straightforward gift for somebody who already drinks specialty coffee, which is the audience that will recognise what a seasonal release is.
Intelligentsia Season's Best Bundle vs Cooper's Cask Barrel Aged Box Set 48oz
Against the Flavor Profile Variety Bundle at $56.00, this is the packaged gift and that is the tasting exercise.
The Flavor Profile bundle covers the three flavour directions and is aimed at somebody working out their taste. This gathers the seasonal releases and is packaged to be given. The $22.00 difference is the coffee inside, since seasonal blends cost more.
Against buying Summer Solstice on its own at $30.00, this is three coffees of a similar class for $78.00.
For a gift, this. For a first order to find your own direction, the cheaper one.
Who should buy it (and who should not)
Right as a gift for somebody who already drinks specialty coffee; wrong for a beginner or a dark roast drinker.
Buy it for a person who follows seasonal releases and will understand why three of them in a box is a good present. It is packaged for that, and the coffee inside is the ambitious end of the range.
Take the Flavor Profile Variety Bundle instead if the recipient is new to the roaster and needs to find their direction first, or a bag of El Diablo or Organic French Roast if they drink their coffee dark. Nothing in a seasonal box will suit them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is in the Season's Best Bundle?
Three of Intelligentsia's favourite coffees, built around their seasonal blends and chosen by their coffee team. Single origin bags are 10 oz and blend bags are 12 oz. The roaster describes it as perfectly packaged, which makes it the gift option of their two bundles. It is $78.00.
Season's Best or the Flavor Profile Variety Bundle?
Season's Best is $78.00, gathers the seasonal releases and is packaged as a gift. The Flavor Profile Variety Bundle is $56.00 and covers the three flavour profiles for somebody working out their taste. The first is a present; the second is a tasting exercise.
Does the Season's Best Bundle save money?
Not meaningfully. Intelligentsia's seasonal and premium blends run from around $24.00 to $30.00 a bag, so three bought separately land close to $78.00. The selection and the packaging are the product rather than a discount.
What is a seasonal blend?
A blend built for one part of the year rather than to taste the same in every month. That frees the blender to use whatever is at its peak, which is why the seasonal coffees here are the brightest and most expensive on the menu, and why they are rebuilt each year.
Is this a good gift for a beginner?
It is a better gift for somebody who already drinks specialty coffee, because the value of a seasonal release is not obvious to a newcomer. For a beginner, the Flavor Profile Variety Bundle at $56.00 covers the three directions and is the more useful introduction.
Why are the bags different sizes?
Intelligentsia sell single origin coffees in 10 oz bags and blends in 12 oz, and the box takes whichever the coffee is normally sold in. It means the total weight and the per-gram price depend on what the coffee team put in that edition.
