aab1 wrote:I ended up getting the Lavazza Crema E Aroma because I found it at costco for $13 instead of $22 for 1 kg and I could tell from the smell out of the freshness valve that it's a coffee I'd like. I did try it in my regular non espresso single serve machine and it's one of the best coffees I had even though it's not locally roasted.

Why don't you try some fresh coffee from a Canadian roaster? See my Social Coffee recommendation. Whatever Lavazza is to begin with, it's a pale shadow of its former self once it's gone through the supply chain and picked off the shelf in Costco.

aab1 wrote:I ended up getting the Lavazza Crema E Aroma . . . .

Glad you listened to our advice.

I agree with the advice re:Lavazza or any other imported bean in a supermarket. I found a 2 lb bag of Lavazza in a Costco type store in NF Canada for around $14.00. It actually tasted quite stale--ended up grinding it for my office Bunn drip where noone could tell the difference but as far as espresso goes I would not use it. I get my beans from a local roaster in Kenmore NY. Premier Gourmet has a roaster and roasts daily.

aab1 wrote:I ended up getting the Lavazza Crema E Aroma because I found it at costco for $13 instead of $22....

"Set low standards... You'll never be disappointed." -RG

When you make coffee the taste comes from two sources- water and coffee, and water is generally tasteless.

When it comes to coffee, freshness is key:
Green coffee is best if used within 12 months.
Roasted coffee is best if used within 12 days.
Ground coffee is best if used within 12 minutes.
[NOTE: some say "15" instead of 12, but the overall intent is the same. TO me, a roasted coffee that is two weeks old is about three or four days beyond reasonable use.]

Once that package of coffee you bought, roasted in Italy at least one month ago (if not twice that long or more) is opened and exposed to air, it will take about ten minutes (or less) for it to be stale. Packing it in a vacuum or in nitrogen does not preserve it- it only isolates it from oxygen. The chemical process that makes coffee stale continues, and once exposed to the air the beans drink up the oxygen rapidly.

AS A RULE: If a bag of coffee has a date next to a statement which says, "best if used by," instead of, "roasted on," you shouldn't buy it.

I'll stop there...

Thanks for the details. Although I thought the Lavazza smelled good and wasn't bad in my non espresso machine, I didn't like it in my new super automatic machine and much prefer the light roast beans I get at the grocery store.

Anyway I will order fresh roasted coffee from Social Coffee and Tea in a few days and try it.

Were you serious about the 12 minutes for the ground coffee? I set my super automatic to pregrind a portion of coffee so the next coffee can start brewing as soon as I press the brew button, this cuts off about 10 seconds on the time before the coffee is ready after pressing the button. Should I set it to grind immediately before brewing? I didn't really notice any difference.

aab1 wrote:Were you serious about the 12 minutes for the ground coffee? I set my super automatic to pregrind a portion of coffee so the next coffee can start brewing as soon as I press the brew button, this cuts off about 10 seconds on the time before the coffee is ready after pressing the button. Should I set it to grind immediately before brewing? I didn't really notice any difference.

Well, the bold I added above tells the story. If you can't tell the difference then do whatever works for you. Maybe with better beans you will be able to tell the difference. Maybe with that machine it doesn't matter. I can make coffee with two flat rocks rocks to grind, a pot of water on a campfire, and a clean sock. If it is quality coffee it would still be better than what most people around my community drink... On the opther hand, cheap, poorly roasted, or stale coffee would taste nasty if I made espresso with it on my $3000 espresso gear.

Everything is relative.. as are some of the people in my community, but I'll save that story for www.inbredgenetics.com.

I had some old K-cups (for the Keurig brewer) laying around unopened. They were about a year to 18 month old. I would brew with them due to their age, so I opened one and for about one or maybe two seconds it smelled like OK coffee. Almost instantly in the third second the coffee smelled absolutely nasty and putrid.

Once that package of coffee you bought, roasted in Italy at least one month ago (if not twice that long or more) is opened and exposed to air, it will take about ten minutes (or less) for it to be stale. Packing it in a vacuum or in nitrogen does not preserve it- it only isolates it from oxygen. The chemical process that makes coffee stale continues, and once exposed to the air the beans drink up the oxygen rapidly.

AS A RULE: If a bag of coffee has a date next to a statement which says, "best if used by," instead of, "roasted on," you shouldn't buy it.

I'll stop there...[/quote]
Awesome points. I agree totally with you having made the same mistake as John. But hey, those Lavazza bags look so inviting...

The Lavazza blends you mentioned are really made for Moka pots (most Italian still refer to that as espresso) If you want to try Lavazza in an espresso machine I would recommend using their Cafe and Restaurant blend, found in blue bags of the 1kg variety. there are many different blends of this quality and it is much better than what you can get at costco. These bags range from 25-30$/Kg. Despite what most people will tel you on this site, you are able to make very good espresso with this kind of Italian coffee. I actually know some very good Italian coffe bars here in MTL that use Lavazza for their espresso.

I am starting to think that it is all a matter of taste. Italian espresso is very different than third wave North American espresso. I grew up on Italian espresso served in Italian bars and have recently started to try some third wave stuff (Social, Metropolis, JJ Bean) and prefer the old school (first wave?) espresso.

My two cents