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Lavazza Espresso
(lemmy.nz)
My brother-in-law made me a coffee snob. So, he surprised me with this Lavazza Espresso. I honestly thought it would taste like "Welcome Centre" coffee, but it was not bad. Sweet, oily, and quite easy to enjoy. But, it's just one of those things where I would only buy it if there were not many other choices.
Pointless fun fact with name drop, cause I am the main character right now, the cappuccino cup I am using came as a set, that was a gift from retired NBA player Danillo Gallinari. They were two, one fell and broke when I was in Texas. I have it in a box and will super glue it together some day. Also included were two espresso cups that I've never used.
Lavazza is pretty much the ultimate proof that I lack the sensitivity to be a proper coffee snob. It's basically the nicest coffee I ever buy myself and any real connoisseur probably calls it adequate at best.
I would bet good money half of the connoisseurs have wooden tongues and fake it.
Oh my god, I so hope you're right. One time I was at an espresso bar in Seattle (I'll name and shame since this was like a decade ago, it was Trabant in the U district) and this guy served up an espresso shot SO SOUR that I couldn't even finish the wee shot glass of it.
So I asked him if it's supposed to be this sour and he pulled another shot in front of me, drank it, and looked me dead in the eye and said it wasn't sour.
Hand on a bible, it tasted like an entire crabapple tree that had been infused with battery acid by Dr. Frankenstein and had come to life to kick my ass. It tasted like the metaphorical bitter cup to drink from that this entire last decade has been, so much so that I wonder if things would have been different for the world had I never tasted it.
So, thanks. I felt gaslit, and I've been carrying that with me for a long time.
Dang. Yeah, half the guys in the snobbery are usually poor tastemakers. Critics don't make good movies.
eeewwww that almost sounds like their machine wasnt cleaned properly 🤮
I just grind Dollar General coffee fine and put it in a different jar. Drinking an espresso now!
I feel like it's over roasted. I haven't tied it in many years though, maybe it's better now.
Can confirm. It’s adequate. Also, I’ve been permanently spoiled by single origin light roast specialty coffee. When I’m having a random cup from somewhere, in my mind I immediately compare it with something that costs at least 3 times as much.
Lavazza is fine if you’re playing around with an espresso machine and want to learn the basics. It’s also fine if you’re mixing it with milk.
What would you reach for as an adequate price performing coffee for a moka pot? I know it's not espresso, but it's what I've settled into over the years.
A moka pot is kinda special. If you want something a bit stronger than normal drip coffee, it delivers quite easily.
It can also blow burning hot steam through the grinds unless you know what you’re doing, which results in bitter coffee. Hoffman made a great video about that, so be sure to check it out. If all you want is convenience, get the cheapest coffee you can find and let the steam do its thing. Use plenty of milk to cover the flaws of both the method and the beans. With milky drinks, the coffee doesn’t really matter. The milk does the heavy lifting, as long as it has enough fat.
If you want to make good coffee with a moka pot, watch the Hoff video and grab the cheapest light roast you can find. It doesn’t have to be specialty coffee, as long as it’s light. In my area, every supermarket carries at most 2 light roasts at very reasonable prices due to the massive production volume. The rest of the aisle is occupied by approximately 40 medium roasts and 20 dark roasts, which I ignore entirely. They don’t taste that great even though they cost more.
You’ll need to put some time, effort and skill into the brewing technique, but you can make something quite tasty. Due to the dimensions of the pot, the result is always going to be strong. Don’t expect anything close to drip coffee. With a light roast, you can drink it as is. I’d recommend tasting it before adding any milk.
You can also cut the brewing short halfway, which produces something closer to espresso, but without the fine grind and high pressure. Honestly, I couldn’t tell the difference when I tried it with Lavazza Espresso beans. Apparently that’s where I bump into the limitations of my tasting skills.
One thing you shouldn’t do: don’t put your fancy light-roasted specialty beans in a moka pot. Pour over and AeroPress will produce something far more delightful. Could be a skill issue, but I’ve never been able to make the most of expensive beans in an espresso machine or a moka pot.
With espresso and moka pots, always go with something on the cheaper end of the spectrum. Check what’s available in your area, look at all the lightest options, sort by price, and pick the cheapest. Ignore all medium and dark beans for now.
Thanks! I'll look for a cheap light roast, though they're definitely not as prevalent in my neck of the woods. I do love my aeropress for some things, though it's mostly been relegated to how I take my yerba maté these days. If all I can get is some specialty single origin stuff, I'll treat it more gently.
Yeah, it’s weird how roast level 1 is so hard to find, but anywhere from 3 to 5 is well represented.
James Hoffmann mentions it in a video of his, a lot of commodity coffee uses “strength” to mean roast level, and most people don’t want “weak” coffee so on a level of 1-5, usually 1 & 2 don’t exist. So 3 is light, 4 is medium, 5 is dark. Of course not everyone follows that but it is pretty common.
Me too, light is where it's at