Cgr86 wrote:I wish shipping to the US was an option for us , directly from the company.

The company (Caffe Corsini) can ship direct to you in the US. I'm in NY. I've ordered from them direct several times now. They ship with DHL. My last order from them was in August Just a few months ago.

Sorry , I wish more roasters would ship to us directly to the US. My apologies for the misunderstanding.

szephyr wrote:And why would you? The idea that all Arabica is good and all Robusta is bad I consider a fallacy, and one that was put thoroughly to rest when I tried my first Neapolitan blend.
Granted, straight Robustas may be an acquired taste, but as with Arabicas, there are also variations of taste and quality within the world of Robustas. More to the point, Neapolitan roasters have mastered the art of blending Arabicas and Robustas to create a synthesis that transcends coffees containing only one or the other varietal.
As for my own personal taste - I consider blends containing around 80 percent Arabica and 20 percent Robusta to be the sweet spot. (As mentioned earlier, Passalacqua Miscela Napoli contains 80/20 Arabica/Robusta: https://www.passalacqua.com/store/misce ... i-1kg.html).
I've heard Neapolitan roasters talk about their coffee blends in musical terms - where «Arabica provides the melody, and Robusta the rhythm». And along those lines, said roasters can indeed be called true virtuosi!

I think there's lots of truth to your point about blending...it seems the Italians have mastered the fine art of blending to a degree difficult to find this side of the pond. A Wiener melange in Vienna and a cappuccino in Venice are what opened my eyes to the wonderful complexity that espresso could be, and led to my purchase of espresso equipment to try and recreate the experience at home! I look forward to the time I can travel again to sample some fine European coffee houses. Robusta can be good!

Italians take it seriously and they certify blends that meet the standards for Italian espresso. It seems much more objective and they are looking for a uniform experience across cafes rather than a 1000 different flavour characteristics from a 1000 cafes.

frank20 wrote:The company (Caffe Corsini) can ship direct to you in the US. I'm in NY. I've ordered from them direct several times now. They ship with DHL. My last order from them was in August Just a few months ago.

I can tag along next time you order a batch if you live in the city

frank20 wrote:The company (Caffe Corsini) can ship direct to you in the US. I'm in NY. I've ordered from them direct several times now. They ship with DHL. My last order from them was in August Just a few months ago.

Just ordered some. I love Italian espresso... always the best experience.

bjornm wrote:I can tag along next time you order a batch if you live in the city

I'm upstate. Sorry

drH wrote:Just ordered some. I love Italian espresso... always the best experience.

That's awesome! Let me know what you think once you've tried it.

Been there. Searching for "the good italian one" First 5 years of bad news as Italians have the 2 years "best time" It is hard to get new fresh roast. And furthermore. As you find a good one, and try to get the stuff straight from the place, they would not send, or the price is just madness.
Ok, I love neapolitan coffee, and found out there, that "Caffè" with word: Passalaqua of even better: Toraldo youd get a rich taste of Napoli.
But still it is pricey to try those out from roaster. So I found out a german seller: espresso-international.de
and there I get my poison, Moana or Mexiko (100% arabica) and Toraldo Arancio. Both are really oily dark beans, so I got some difficulties to get them drop in my grinder. I did make a cure: I mixed: put a bit of fresh local roast of Monsoon Malabar -which is our all time favorite, and voila! -and furthermore, if got visitors not that keen of "the great caffe Napoli" i'll just put more Indian stuff along. So our mixes varies day to day. Noticed as my local beans are bit of short and italians rise, then wife says in morning sleepyeyes that "this was extra good!" So we are a bit more on Napoli foot on! (if you get my writing, I am a finn so not that clever on english)

another_jim wrote:The last few months I've been enjoying Cartapani Cinquestelle.

To me, this is a quintessential Italian espresso, a no fuss liquid Nuttella shot with neither bitterness nor acidity, from a blend that doesn't seem to ever get worse, no matter how stale. If my tasting is accurate, I think it's about 25% of a very chocolaty high quality robusta, and otherwise mostly a nutty brazil, all roasted medium.

Cartapani is located in the north of Italy, near Brescia, on the Lago Garda.

$30 per kilo.

Finally ordered a bag and drinking my first latte from it as I type. I dosed 14g at 201. No preinfusion. It is very nice. Very sweet as promised. I am not getting any one distinct flavor from it, but it is very enjoyable. Marzipan came to mind maybe. Good recommendation - thank you. It is great to mix things things up. I have been on GMC for quite a while now.