Pino wrote:I would also suggest Arcaffè. See: www.arcaffe.com/our-coffee/philosophy/
It is located in Livorno on the Tuscan coast.
It has been a while since I purchased this, so I am not sure if this meets your expectations in flavour. However it is a very quality orientated company.
BTW, on another note the bag you referred as vacuum packaged appears that way as it was in the cargo of the plane. At least that was my experience when bringing bags of beans many times when flying from Germany years ago. Usually with a bag of Lavazza Crema e aroma in the suitcase. You will see a one way valve (once known as a Goglio) (www.goglio.it/en/speciality/valves/) indicating beans packaged in a 'soft' package.

If you look closely on the Passalacqua bag it states vacuum packed.

I love these threads because there's a sort of romance with the Italian coffees, the brands and the culture (everything). I don't feel the same about North American coffee culture regardless of how much the artisans boast about being passionate. It's probably because I'm Italian....

Having said that though, I don't prefer the Italian coffees over my other choices in Canada or the USA. It's the robusta that makes the Italian coffees really unique, to me, but I haven't been able to find a coffee that can be consistently delicious. Maybe this is because my preference is espresso and not milk based drinks, nor do I ever add sugar to my drinks. I don't know.

I like to try new coffees. I have tried Lavazza Top Class, Super Crema and Pienaroma, Kimbo Extra Cream, Superior and Premium. Of these coffees, it seems my palate agrees with a more general consensus which is that Lavazza Super Crema is better than Top Class and Kimbo Superior is the better of what I've tried. I prefer the Superior blend by far and I would say that the Premium was great compost material - maybe. It was terrible.

All this to say that I would really like to try Passalacqua's better blends. There seems to be a consensus that they can be tastier than Kimbo's Superior blend so I'm really into this. My issue is that these coffees are super expensive, like... really expensive relative to almost anything I can buy. I can't find a local retailer that carries Passalacqua.

What I'm trying to mitigate is the risk of buying another Kimbo Premium for about 2x the price and throwing it out after 1 shot.

How good are the Passalacqua blends, can you give us some specific details about why they're so good relative to the blends I've tried?

I'm still laughing about the comments above...might be my reason too- who knows- the old world of Italy is a mystery and a treasure to some of us...

I can't tell you to jump out and blow some dollars on Passalacqua or not- it really depends on your own taste buds and experience. I mentioned this earlier we drink mostly macchiatos and cappuccinos with whole milk and no sugar. The key is to get the metrics just right.

We have nailed it down to the following:

14.5g in the portafilter- be exact about this
9 bar- also key you get this right
18-20g out in the cup
25-30 secs brew time from when the first drops hit the cup
...and the variable is 92C +/- 2 C _ this last one is the variable that you have to get right to extract the most flavor.

You will see that this is tighter than most brew shots and videos but the flavor will tell the whole story. Darker roasts like Passalacqua should be on the low end of the temp range- lighter roasts like Hausbrandt on the higher end.

I have some updates and ranking for comparisons.

Current Ranking:

1. Caffe' Hausbrandt
2. Passalacqua Miscela Napoli
3. H. Hausbrandt (see notes below)
4. Lavazza Super Crema
5. Segafredo Extra Strong

Yet to be opened Passalacqua Harem (100% Arabica), plus we want to add one or two more to this list. Oro Caffe' Premium is one. Danesi Gold might be the other. That would spread the list out to 8, any other suggestions to try?

Notes: When we first tried the H. Hausbrandt we didn't like the taste and assumed that since this was the oldest of the group in terms of expiry dates (shortest time to expiration) that this was the cause. I admit that it could still be part of the problem. However, we pulled a second batch out of the freezer and decided to up the game. We went to a pre-infusion mode with 4 seconds of infusion followed by 3 seconds of rest before the shot. We also maxed out the brew temp at 94C and held the shot to 14.5g in and 16-17g out. We allowed for 25 seconds of time to expire starting from the first drop to hit the cup. The results were amazing, what we got was a sweet chocolate taste with some hints of herbs and nuts. It moved up the leaderboard and left us thinking about how we treat each one to its fullest potential. We have yet to try this methodology with the Caffe' Hausbrandt but expect to see even better results.

Phillycheese wrote: other suggestions to try?

I'll still suggest Guglielmo: https://lespressousa.com/
And Morettino: https://morettino.com/en/

My favourite is Illy. I consider illy as very basic in terms of taste compared to beans from my local roastery. It's like comparing a manufactured brand of baked goods and the homemade ones. But if you compare it to instant coffee, I'll go illy all the way.

Phillycheese wrote:we drink mostly macchiatos and cappuccinos with whole milk and no sugar.

Current Ranking:

1. Caffe' Hausbrandt
2. Passalacqua Miscela Napoli
3. H. Hausbrandt (see notes below)
4. Lavazza Super Crema
5. Segafredo Extra Strong

Interesting... I also like macchiatos and cappuccinos with whole milk and no sugar but also espresso (without sugar.) I really enjoyed the Caffe' Hausbrandt for espresso - sweet, rich, with no hint of acidity. Amazing. BUT - although it was also good for milk-based drinks, I think I prefer some acidity there...

Segafredo Extra Strong on its way here...

[quote]Segafredo Extra Strong on its way here...

Let me know when you get the Segafredo, we are hit and miss with that one and are somewhat puzzled why we can't seem to recreate the magic.

Phillycheese wrote:Let me know when you get the Segafredo, we are hit and miss with that one

It was a big "miss" for me. No crema, no striping, burnt, bitter taste. No matter what I tried I could not get a good extraction. The "good by" date was Jan 2021 - so possibly too old.

Segafredo --> trash can. Moving onto the Lavazza Super Crema now.

Domestically, an Italian style espresso blend, roasted by Italians, folks should consider Mr Espresso. Especially their Tuscan Espresso.

https://mrespresso.com/coffee/espresso/