hi everyone,
Ive been drinking for years red bird espresso, metropolis and recently 49th paralel espresso.

A couple of months ago, Ive tried a cheap italian espresso blend, the caffe motta and ive been very pleasantly surprised.

After a couple of search about the most liked italian blend, ive come up with those 4 blends and will compare them.

I have tried the caffe motta the past month and really enjoyed it.
caffe motta 15$ CAD: https://www.google.ca/search?q=Caffe+mo ... Kf2S8eM%3A

Ive just bought the Kimbo, Danesi and lavazza and will be comparing those three
Kimbo superior blend espresso bar 30$ CAD: https://www.google.ca/search?q=Kimbo+Es ... D7OjbkM%3A
Danesi Classic 20$ CAD: https://www.google.ca/search?q=danesi+c ... M23CGHM%3A
Lavazza super crema 35$ CAD: https://www.google.ca/search?q=lavazza+ ... Tmsrn_M%3A

Ill report my impressions after a couple of weeks!

After this round, ill be trying Illy. Any more suggestions for what italian blend to try is welcome!

For the kimbo being your favorite, what's the tasting notes like?

lol, I suck at describing coffee and my technique is not perfect. I use a rancilio silvia with a Pharos v2 grinder.
I drink only latte.
I can say that the taste is Mild, bittersweet, creamy, bit chocolate. very forgiving and mild.

Compared to 49th, its definitely less complex and bright but at the same time, its the charm of that stereotype italian taste.

I may prefer the lavazza super crema though. its more complex while retaining the good parts of kimbo.

It seems I also need to add those blends to my list:
Segafredo Massimo
Passalacqua Moana

I was recently having a discussion with a local coffee roaster here in Japan. There's ZERO espresso in this area, and while we were discussing that he stated, "I think very few Japanese people have had good espresso and know what it's all about." During our ensuing espresso discussion, I realized he was describing Italian espresso, and not the American style espresso that I spent the last few years learning. To that end, once I get my own place and the Strega back online I intend to look into Italian style roasts and shots. Kimbo will be my first stop on the Italian bean tour as it's easily available here.

The above thread is a good read about what to look into. You might also want to look into Italian style dosing and pull volumes to match that experience.

murphythecat87 wrote:lol, I suck at describing coffee and my technique is not perfect. I use a rancilio silvia with a Pharos v2 grinder.
I drink only latte.
I can say that the taste is Mild, bittersweet, creamy, bit chocolate. very forgiving and mild.

Compared to 49th, its definitely less complex and bright but at the same time, its the charm of that stereotype italian taste.

I may prefer the lavazza super crema though. its more complex while retaining the good parts of kimbo.

Haha, I'm in the same boat. I'm not as articulate in describing coffee as I'd hope to be, but there's no shame in that. At the core, as long as we enjoy the cup to our own palates, that's the most important part

All my shots with kimbo comes out the same taste, no matter the dosage. My scale have broken recently so cant weight my shots, so my flow is never the same. with other coffee like 49th paralel, each shots tasted bit different. some amazing some very bad. with kimbo it seems they all taste great.

There are several significantly different KIMBO Bar blends so which one you are using will make a significant difference.

I use the Kimbo superior blend espresso bar.
any other kimbo recommendation I should try?