Lavazza Super Crema Whole Bean Coffee Blend, Medium Espresso Roast, Authentic Italian,Produced in a nut-free facility center, Mild and creamy with notes of hazelnuts and brown sugar, 2.2LB (Pack of 1)

The bottom line: gran crema is an excellent blend of coffee to make cappuccinos and lattes, producing an incredibly velvety crema. The espresso drinker who prefers a stronger taste and full body will also certainly enjoy this roast blend.

Tastes: if everyone had the same tastes and liked the same things, there would only be one coffee in the world. Finding the ‘perfect’ coffee is a personal decision tailored by your own taste and likes, and even then, many times you want to have something different or change, therefore in finding your perfect coffee, it depends on your present tastes and moods at that one particular moment in time…which can change. My best advice is follow your feelings and have a try at different things to find not what you like, but what you definitely do not like. And most certainly do not buy or force yourself to like something, because others do like it or love it. Buy for you, not for them.

Coffee basics: 2 types of beans. Arabica, which have a smoother taste in general but have lighter body and make less crema, and robusto, which make more crema and have a stronger taste and body but carry more bitterness. Plants are grown in warmer climates all around the globe, and each place yields beans with distinct flavors regardless of the same bean used. The roasting of the coffee, different machines, water quality and grind quality also add to these differences. Tamping (espresso styles) and amount of coffee makes a very minimal difference compared to all the other factors, and everyone gets the hang of it with practice (i.e. No need to focus so much on pressures and exact weight and times). What is most important: the water!, the quality of the coffee, the right grind for the style you are making (finer for espresso and turkish, coarser for other styles), and a good machine for that style, which is not synonymous with expensive (stove tops are not). You get these 4 things right, and all the other factors won’t matter much, and you will have an excellent coffee every time. The water here where i live is horrible, and so was my coffee, so i had to spend quite a lot on a filtration system for the water.

Italian coffee: our preferred styles are espresso, cappuccino, and latte (it really means milk and the original italian name is caffè e latte, but we have dropped the ‘e’ over time) and all are served hot. In italy, flavors/things added to these styles are only found in places where tourists are (i.e. No creams, cinnamon, iced, etc) and most italians do not even consider or have heard of adding anything else, other than sugar. In italian bars (this is what we call coffee shops in italy and why they’re called baristas) all coffee is a blend of arabica and robusta, making them versatile. All bars in italy also use whole milk, typically what we call lunga conservazione which stores at room temperature until opened (hence less refrigeration storing space needed). You might find places that use more than just whole milk in tourist areas, but is not a certainty. Whole milk froths better than other milk. Coffee is quite important in italy, so much that the price of coffee is strictly regulated and has been, long before the owners of starbucks were even born.

Lavazza: most sold coffee brand in italy. Lavazza makes 2 lines of coffee geared to the preferred italian styles, one for home use, and one commercial, but each and every one of them is different from each other and any coffee in the home line is totally different from any one in the commercial line. The home line consists of:
1. Qualità oro – 100% arabica beans from a blend of central america and african highlands. Medium roast.
2. Qualità rossa – 70% brasilian arabica and 30% african robusta. Medium roast.
3. Gran aroma – 60% arabica and 40% robusta. All brasilian. Medium roast.
4. Gran crema – 40% south america arabica and 60% southeast asia robusta. Dark roast.
5. Crema e aroma – 30% south america arabica and 70% african robusta. Medium roast.

Qualità rossa is the most readily available in italy and hence the less expensive and most used/sold in italy also. Qualità oro is aimed at espresso style, gran crema is aimed at cappuccino and latte styles, with gran bar and qualità rossa being more versatile. Qualità rossa seems to most to have a balance in taste (smooth vs. Strong) between arabica and robusta. The entire lavazza home line is excellent italian roast espresso coffee but is best to stick gran crema (mixing) and qualità oro (straight) for what they’re geared for, and in the proper use you will find the correct taste, smoothness, and next to no bitterness, if any at all. They are all superb for use in the right manner and none of them are oily.

About me: i definitely do not like bitter or oily coffee (all coffee is oily per se, but i do not like coffee that has a distinct film of oil on top, which you can see at an angle and which is typically bitter coffee). I prefer cappuccinos and ‘lattes’, but regardless i like a strong taste and therefore use gran crema, but i do enjoy espresso also so i do use gran aroma, which still has enough strong taste for my cappuccinos and lattes. My family in italy in general prefer espressos and use qualità oro, but also use qualità rossa (much much less). You will only see me at starbucks in case of dire emergency, which translates to 3 times in 20 years (once after an 18 hour travel marathon in planes). I’m not even mentioning any other coffee places. I use a gaggia at home and drink tea while i travel. My entire family owns gaggias. Not because we’re married to the brand, but because we have tried plenty others, but gaggias last us much better than the rest. My mother’s must be at least 30 years old. However, one glance at her stove top will convince you it was around before metusela.

Anecdote: i was quite entertained when i learned about the craziness to obsess over tamping pressures, weighing, and stopwatches. Out of curiosity on a british espresso machine that uses no electricity or stove (but you have to have boiling water so you need it anyway), i found a video of this american guy showing the rok coffee maker which was totally obsessed with this and i learned that it was quite common. I told my mother, who laughed, and shared it at the local bar in her neighborhood the next morning. The barista (our friend) had to call me at 4 a.m. My time (it’s ok, mamma has been doing it all these years). He almost didn’t believe me. I had to send him youtube links, including the rok guy. He asked ‘are they crazy? People believe we use scales and stopwatches at the bars?’ about tamping he said it’s common sense. It has to be compact enough so that you get the flavor out of the coffee, but not too compact that breaks the pump on the machine.

We have a breville barista express that we use daily. We love coffee, we are not such extreme coffee snobs, but we love good coffee and avoid bad, cheap coffee at all costs. We have a sub $1,000 espresso machine, but i think we take coffee reasonably seriously.

After we got the breville, we were in search of a good quality, consistent espresso blend that didn’t break the bank. We tried the world market brand espresso blends – we have traditionally liked their coffee – as well as several locally roasted blends. We also tried starbucks and a couple of national brands but found them too earthy, dark, bitter for our normal drinks that don’t have any sugar in them.

Then we found this blend of lavazza. The first couple of times we actually got it at a retail store. We loved how consistent it was, it has a nice creaminess to it, it’s very easy to get quality crema that coats the cup. It is great as a straight up shot, as a latte, cappuccino, or as we do it most days, an americano with cream. I never get tired of it, and when we make coffee drinks for guests we always get great compliments.

The beans are also not too oily, so there is no additional maintenance required on our machine versus some of the other espresso blends we tried. Then to top it all off, we have a subscribe and save and get it delivered to our doorstep just when it’s time for a re-up. In short, this is a great espresso blend, a good price, and the convenience can’t be beat!

We’ve been using the super crema for months and love it so i ventured out to try something different. The package it arrived it was loose and not air right like the super crema, but the beans were fine. I use the breville barista express at 18g and a 6grind which is the same setting i use for the super crema. I made my latte the same way i make the other and i immediately tasted the difference. Has a bolder taste with a stronger bitter follow thru. Not terrible to my pallette at all, but a little to overpowering for me personally. I’ll see if the beans mellow as i go thru the bag but my experience is that bitter notes tend to intensify the older the beans get. I’ll have to try something else in the future as i will most likely not go back to this blend.

I’ve been a heavy and avid coffee drinker for about 30 years and this rates right up among the top 3. One sip of my first ever home made espresso and it was a moment to savor. I was literally smiling as i strolled to the table with this rich flavorful cup of heaven. My taste buds were spoiled completely. Maybe its the way i made it, but i’ve never had such an experience from any local bistro. This was a huge treat and worth the machined effort. Not a strong cup, didn’t make me sweat, but more than made up for it with aroma and taste and i certainly didn’t yawn as most weaker caffeinated brands illicit this response. Highly recommended. Hope to try a bolder darker version soon. This is going right on my re-order list.

I originally found this coffee at costco, but it was sold out so fast i never got to buy another bag. I found it on amazon and they have a steady supply. I’m not into espresso but it’s great to use as regular coffee in my bunn coffee maker. Just grind it up and use it by itself or mix it with regular coffee for a different taste. I’m not a coffee connoisseur but this stuff is far superior than regular ground coffee you buy in the store. The price continues to rise, but what hasn’t gone up in price? This is just one of those luxuries i am willing to pay more for, at least in the short term. It’s definitely worth a try if you haven’t already.

If yiu want to make italian mocha coffee use these beans.

I got a zpresso kmax plus hand grinder for these beans for use with my ten year old bialletti mocha express 6 cup. I hand grind the beans, load up my bialletti, and i have italian mocha coffee. Mocha is not espresso, but this stovetop coffee is quintessential italian coffee….no fluff, no wrinkled nose, no snobbery. Every italian household has one. You will even see them in european films. If you do it right, you will curse the day you heard the name starbucks. This is not snobby coffee. This is practical genuine italian household coffee. Yiu will even have this coffee in germany or denmark or france.

These are the beans to use.

This is my favorite coffee, but i have to get a canister to hold the beans after opening it. These bags don’t have the metal clasp to close them like many others. Other than that little nitpick, this tastes great for a decaf whole bean coffee. No acidity, no burnt taste, mild roasted. It tastes like what i expect from ‘real’ coffee. I typically have mine in an espresso grind with half and half.

I randomly ordered this particular bean after a friend recommended the brand, and ordering bulk from amazon. The flavor and scent is desirable and a match for the coffee style i enjoy. It does pack a punch – dark roasted and strong. I use less grind than normal when making a pot of coffee – which makes it even more economical.

It’s around $15 per pound (unground). Coffee of similar quality can cost $40 per pound, so for me, lavazza is a winner. Currently, i use the very simple aeropress to brew my coffee and still get excellent flavor including some fruity notes. I have yet to try it with other brewing methods, especially an espresso maker, but i’ll bet there is still a world of flavor to be discovered. I highly recommend it.

We started buying this coffee over 4 months ago and we like it a lot. We are coffee lovers and go through one bag in two weeks. The expresso leave a pretty nice crema on top after brewing. We are thinking on buying a little stronger coffee from the same brand.

I have yet to find a comparable locally-roasted decaf bean that won’t break the bank, so apparently i still want to buy beans that circumnavigated the earth. I stopped drinking so much coffee after i figured out it was just functioning on my nervous system like any other stimulant – forcing me to put the pedal to the metal when i was running on empty. In any case, my husband was getting headaches, so he switched to decaf, and he has been enjoying this headache-free. It still seems to bother me, and i am wondering if it is because i had it unfiltered. There are two terpene compounds in coffee, cafestol and kahweol, which are bound by paper filter material, but present in high quantities in unfiltered coffee. These compounds bind vitamin b6 and over time can cause deficiencies. Studies in the turkish population showed that drinking unfiltered coffee also caused cholesterol to become elevated. It’s worth looking into the health effects of these compounds, especially if you’re struggling with mood or fatigue issues.

I am coming to realize that coffee is not a particularly sustainable habit, and i’m questioning the wisdom of drinking it daily. Buying this instead of going to a coffee shop probably isn’t going to help you save up for a house downpayment, but at $5/day and $1825/year (for just one person), it’s still something! Perhaps a month of rent, depending on where you live.

I was looking for a non-oily dark roast coffee that runs well in my super auto machine. I tried the lavazza super crema but it was too light for my taste. The gran crema is a bit darker, which i prefer. While it is not as dark of a roast as i would like, it is darn good. It runs perfectly through my philips 4300. It is definitely worth a try.

My first impression of this coffee was its heavenly aroma. That hit me as soon as i opened the shipping box. The coffee also tastes good, but not as good as its aroma. It’s not as bold as i’d hoped. That was my bad for buying a medium roast. I generally buy french or other dark roasts. With expresso it its name, i expected this coffee to be bolder. It isn’t, but it’s still a nice coffee.

This is the leading brand in italy according to some propaganda. Every time i use the medium roast ‘espresso’ ( omni grind ) i can taste fleet landing in naples. Wretched. Then the good flavors come througb. That first nose is always a little unpleasant…
These whole beans were the same way. I opened the bag and whoa buddy! Is is liberty call in the gut???? ( seedy section of napoli )
first extraction used 11 clicks in on a c2 max, 15 grams whole bean, 175 f. Water, aeropress inventor recipe. Very good.
Cold brew extraction with aero press using same grind was correct as well.
The aroma after taking them out th’ bag is lacking that initial injury of old memories. The taste leans towards richer end of bright toward medium in some front end flavors and the acid is mild. Grind is darker than say kimbo dulce light roast. Still very ‘bright’ (?).
I never quite made peace with lavazza medium ground espresso. This is quite pleasant and i wouldprobably buy it again. The ground? When i got to.
Thinking that lavazza probably has a blend for most tastes.. This one is good to me. The price made it great.

I’ve bought this before, but this batch sseened different. It was too strong for my taste and the frangace was off. Not usual quality.

A very nice dark roast decaf. I grind about a week’s worth at a time and use a refillable k-cup. Much better than most decaf pods on the market, better for the environment and better on my wallet.

My absolute favorite decaf is peets sumatra decaf, but the price of this lavaza via amazon subscription makes it too good to pass up.

This is my favorite! But price doubled and i just can’t..

If you like coffee with a bite it’s great. It was a little bitter for me. No matter what grind size we used it was just a tad bitter. Might be better with a french press.

Me encanto.
Lo tomo todos los días y me gusta su rico aroma.
Cuando lo termine lo compraré otra vez.
La bolsa trae mucho por un buen precio.

Lavazza is a good traditional italian coffee. The moderate price is also a benefit.