Give it a try & see what you think. If it's going in milk I doubt it will matter as the steamed milk should offset any robusta bitterness. Mine's been out 13 days so I'm going to stick it in the freezer & see what happens.

I've been wanting to try this one. Notice that it has robusta so I'm wondering how it compares to Malabar Gold which also has robusta.

I find that we prefer chocolaty notes to fruity ones and have enjoyed Malabar Gold, Black Cat, as well as RedBird.

Nicoletti is smoother than Malabar Gold which tends to be a little rough around the edges. Malabar Gold used to be my main squeeze until I discovered Nicoletti. Nicoletti when all the stars align has the overwhelming fragrance and taste of a hot chocolate. If a little off for any number of reasons it can run towards a more dark, slightly bitter chocolate. Either way it's very enjoyable without any hint of fruit or sourness.

caeffe wrote:I've been wanting to try this one. Notice that it has robusta so I'm wondering how it compares to Malabar Gold which also has robusta.

I find that we prefer chocolaty notes to fruity ones and have enjoyed Malabar Gold, Black Cat, as well as RedBird.

I originally recommended it as an alternative to Malabar Gold in another thread several months ago. Unfortunately the recent shipments from Nicoletti have a bitterness that's hard to shake in a straight shot. Might be fine for milk drinks but otherwise I'd pass.

If a shot has a bitter or burnt flavor, I do not find that disappears in milk.

I would think that the sweetness of the steamed milk might offset the bitterness some. I'm not fond of steamed milk drinks myself as I find the shot gets lost in 4-5 oz of milk.

I suspect if you went back to drinking milk drinks regularly, your taste would adjust and you would pick up more subtleties than you can taste now when you have a milk drink. Same if I started drinking straight shots, for me right now they are just a punch in the face and I can't get the nuances, but if I started having that regularly . . .

I like it... and will be my daily now...

This morning... exercising the La Pavoni so pardon all the mistakes in the workflow... not the machine that I use on a daily basis :
That first shot was using a glass cup to show the shot, but I prefer using ceramic cups... and since I just can't have only one...

I reread this thread and realized that back in post #16, I said I was getting some GMC and I would post back with a comparison.

After tasting it alongside Lusso GMC and Redbird Espresso. I can confidently say what I was thinking before the comparison. My Nicoletti was dull and woody, flat and one dimensional. YMMV.

I'll never buy Nicolletti again and I won't recommend it to others. Taste is subjective and those are not the reasons I would not recommend it. I cannot recommend it because it comes in a lined paper bag that is not sealed and does not have a one way valve. The chatter earlier on this thread suggests consistency issues.

I've ordered Nicoletti a few times via Amazon, in all cases the roast was within a couple days of delivery with a hand written Thank you note, and in a sealed oneway valve bag. The taste is similar to what I had in Naples Italy pulled from lever machines, where most all Italians add a packet of sugar to the shot. I believe they are going for true Italian style blends/roasts which would include robusta beans and have a stronger/heavier taste profile than what some may be expecting. Just my opinion, for what they are going for, trying to be true to a blend found in Italy, I feel they hit the mark.