Italian Import Freshness? - Page 5

Discuss flavors, brew temperatures, blending, and cupping notes.
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mariobarba
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Joined: 13 years ago

#41: Post by mariobarba »

FYI, I was in my local Italian grocery store last week and picked up a bag of Lavazza Top Class. To my surprise it included not only a best before date, but a manufactured on date as well! The bag was from the end of July and it was the beginning of October, so 2 months old. Not necessarily fresh, but not the year old stuff some people claim Italian espresso is.

appa
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Joined: 17 years ago

#42: Post by appa »

peacecup wrote:Just opened a bag of Musetti blue that was clearly either packaged improperly or got a hole on the way. It exhibits all the characteristics of stale espresso. It demonstrated to me, in fact just how well the "freshness" is conserved with proper packaging.

It was also interesting to me, however, that I could eventually dial in the stale beans to get a decent shot.

PC
When I first started with espresso, I do remember being able to get some mild yet sweet shots from stale "Italian style" roasts you would find in places like the fresh market, etc. I would grind very fine to get this.

Many people here would probably find the shots inadequate, but it was still better than what you would get at most cafe's and restaurants.

It may be worth it to try some again, just to see how my tastes,technique, etc has changed...

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peacecup
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#43: Post by peacecup »

one point here is that the "fresh" Italian beans are obviously fresher, and make much better espresso. But the "stale" ones seem to be a little better than what I remember getting from my N. American fresh roasts if they went stale. It could be that Italian blends are created to taste better when stale, or it could be that I just don't remember properly...
LMWDP #049
Hand-ground, hand-pulled: "hands down.."

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peacecup
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#44: Post by peacecup »

And just a reinforcement - I just opened another bag of the Musetti blue Arabica. This one was clearly properly sealed and "fresh" . The shot pulled very gloppy, 90% crema, and tasted great.
LMWDP #049
Hand-ground, hand-pulled: "hands down.."

Ted
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Joined: 14 years ago

#45: Post by Ted »

I'd suggest those that slag-off Lavazza ( unfairly in my opinion ) that they try & obtain some other Italian producers. While I'm able to drink coffee from excellent artisan roasters such as Hasbean, Squaremile, Londinium, Union, & James Gourmet to name a few, it doesn't preclude me from enjoying coffee from the likes of Hausbrandt, New York, Danesi, La Brasiliana, Costadoro, Izzo, Blaser, Mokasol, & Musetti. Lavazza's Top Class is good too along with Pienaroma.
Finally, as with all my coffee beans, I don't have any problems in freezing them after opening to keep their freshness. Infact it's essential to do this, as all the coffee's above ( artisan included ) spoil quite quickly if you don't. I don't buy for a minute that the Italians supply a cheaper quality of bean. Enjoy the Italians along with your own home roasters.

Cheers.

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