We're in Paris finishing dinner right this minute. Having dessert in fact, and ordered up a couple of espressos. We're no strangers to this game. We've been to Paris and Nice dozens (and dozens) of times. We were not and never have expected any semblance of third wave in "our Paris 'hood" (we always, every time), stay deep in 5th or 6th arrondissement (Latin quarter). It's our adopted neighborhood in Paris.

And after 17 years of marriage, my wife decides to drop "the bomb" on me. No, not what you think. But almost as bad... She said, "I like this espresso better than that bright, third wave you make at home!" Doh!

Now I must admit that I don't mind ILW (Illy Lavazza Whatever) espressos with dessert a handful of times a year overseas. They're so different than what we aspire to here that they shouldn't be compared on an apples to apples basis. Sooo... I'm thinking of getting my first ever tin of Illy.

Since they are canned beans:
1) Can/should I grind them with my filter/drip/ Aeropress grinder, and get adequate performance? Would you worry that residue would foul my espresso grinder?

2) should I expect to grind super fine to reach the kind of flow/time that we normally expect from fresh beans? Or are those considerations out the door with canned beans?

I would be really ashamed if I could not duplicate the same taste we get with ILW beans all over Europe. But I can see how not having the slightest idea where to start could lead to frustration and waste.

Ok, got a tin of Illy red just now. We finished dessert and walked over to a Monoprix for some other supplies and I grabbed it.

-Peter

Try the lavazza super crema. don't worry about fouling your espresso grinder. it will be fine. If you open the bag, grind what you want, then freeze the rest it will last a while. If you open the bag and leave it out it will be stale in a few days. You will have no problem replicating those shots.

Or, you could just never expose her to them, head over to Coutume cafe in the 7th for coffee and have dessert there (they have Patisserie des reves products), and avoid the pain of having to get off your 3rd wave horse...

Thanks, mate.

Paris has finally come of age IMHO re 3rd wave. It's no longer the wasteland it used to be. But the smoky old restaurants that serve traditional French faves, are old skool tinned espresso all the way. We're fairly serious hip and cool foodies of the world, but when it comes Paris, we like the old standbys: confit de canard, cassoulet, beef bourguignon, steak and frites, that kind of thing.

Will try Coutume tomorrow before we fly out.

-Peter

As about Illy, I'm just finishing the one I bought a few weeks ago, about a month post roast. Roast month/year seems to be Best before date minus 2 years, day seems to be indicated by mark ICNG or so I think. Immediately after opening I moved the beans to several small mason jars and put into freezer, otherwise it gets stale in a few days. These are still ok in freezer after about a month, while the previous tin I bought during the summer got stale even in the freezer in less than 2 weeks after opening.
I grind them a bit coarser than light/medium roast SO from local roaster - I set Feldgrind to mark 2 1/2 after 1 full turn, while SOs I'm grinding slightly below mark 1 after 1 full turn
Quality of the beans in the last can was indeed terrible - about 5-10% defects/broken beans. Even heavy on robusta blend for vending machines we buy in the company for 10EUR/1kg has half the amount of defects ...
Espresso was decent on my Flair, with dominant chocolate etc notes and quite a lot of crema. Coffee from tins I was buying in the past (perhaps 3-4 in total) had brighter taste, less crema but much less defects ...

These can you can buy an adapter for this can and mount it in your grinder
Seen them used in Portugal https://www.amazon.com/Scuro-Roast-Whol ... B0055ZU898


Randy

Canned vs the Kilo bags won't make too much of a difference if they were roasted within a year, and you can usually save money buying a kilo bag and freezing it over buying cans.

However if you still have a preference for the canned beans you can find a fair amount of whole bean coffees in cans at EspressoZone. Of the ones offered in cans I have liked the Miscela D'Oro and the Bristot. Although as mentioned before I usually buy them in the kilo bags and freeze them in mason jars to store them.

pcrussell50 wrote:Thanks, mate.

Paris has finally come of age IMHO re 3rd wave. It's no longer the wasteland it used to be. But the smoky old restaurants that serve traditional French faves, are old skool tinned espresso all the way. We're fairly serious hip and cool foodies of the world, but when it comes Paris, we like the old standbys: confit de canard, cassoulet, beef bourguignon, steak and frites, that kind of thing.

Will try Coutume tomorrow before we fly out.

-Peter

I had an espresso made with Vietnamese beans at the Coutume in rue de Babylone last January. It was superb. (The food's good too.)

For espresso, I prefer traditional style (Kimbo, Lavaza, etc). For milk drinks, I like varieties. So, alternate between SO and Italian blends. I tried coffees from Vivace, Dragonfly, Klatch, Counter Culture, Joe, and more. For darker Italian roast, it is hard to beat Kimbo Superior, Filicori Zecchini, or Trinidad. They are cheap (comparatively), and they keep well for long long time.

I'm with your wife on Third Wave bright espressos. Not my cup of tea, but as someone who enjoys more traditional medium/dark blends, I'm going to offer an alternative to buying expensive imported canned coffee. Why not try some fresh locally roasted traditional espresso blends? I admit these days they are harder to find, since it seems like all the "good" roasters are on the blonde bandwagon, but I've found a couple reasonably local to me, and once you find a blend you like you can just keep going back.

My favorite for a while has been Bohemian #5, but it's only available at Bohemian Bakery which was fine when it was a walkable distance from my house, but since I moved I had to find a new favorite that I could get relatively fresh at a store near my home. My new favorite is Notes from the Underground by No. Six Depot in Stockbridge, MA.It's available at one of my local markets, and it's just as good if not better than Bohemian #5! Not local to you though, so I offer it up more as proof of concept than as a recommendation.

https://store.thanksgivingcoffee.com/no ... o-p41.aspx Pretty much nails the Kimbo/Illy flavor profile. Your wife might also enjoy a shot pulled from a good Brazil s/o or blend. https://bvroastery.com/products/organic ... ian-coffee Sweet, creamy chocolate with a few other interesting flavors. Polar opposite of the typical light roast OJ.