Lavazza A Modo Mio Lungo Dolce Coffee, 16 Capsules

The story behind the pack

Lavazza has been roasting in Turin since 1895, when Luigi Lavazza began blending beans behind a grocery counter instead of selling them as separate origins. Blending is still what the house is for: it is the mechanism that lets a roaster hold one cup steady from year to year while the harvests underneath it move around. A capsule takes the idea further again, because the dose, the grind and the tamp are fixed in the factory, so the three variables that ruin most home espresso never reach your kitchen.

A Modo Mio is Lavazza's own closed system, and it is worth being clear about that before you order. These capsules fit A Modo Mio machines and nothing else. Nothing from Nespresso, Dolce Gusto or Tassimo fits an A Modo Mio, and an A Modo Mio capsule will not go into any of those. Check the name printed on the front of your machine if you are not certain which one is standing on your worktop.

Packaging: Capsules and box can need separate routes, so go by the Lungo Dolce pack and your council's own rules. Parts of the A Modo Mio range are sold as compostable Eco Caps and parts are not, so read the box you receive rather than assuming either way.

How Lavazza A Modo Mio Lungo Dolce Coffee, 16 Capsules compares

• Against the intense capsules in the same range: this is the opposite proposition. The dark ones are built for a short shot and for holding their line through milk; this one is built for volume and for drinking black. Lengthen a strong capsule and it turns dry and bitter at the tail; lengthen this one and it stays civil.
• Against instant coffee in a mug: the same cup size, a very different drink. The capsule is pressure-extracted from roast and ground coffee, so it carries crema, aromatic lift and a mid-palate that instant flattens out. It is worth it if the morning mug matters to you.
• Against ground coffee in a cafetiere: the cafetiere gives you the dose to play with. The capsule gives you the same cup at the same strength every morning with nothing to rinse, which on a weekday is usually the argument that wins.

Getting the best out of it

The machine has already settled the grind, the dose and the tamp. What is left to you is the water, the cup and where you stop the pour.

The straight lungo

• Use the long button: This capsule is built for the larger volume. Pulled as a short espresso it reads thin and under-flavoured rather than concentrated, which is the wrong end of its range.

• Warm the cup: A lungo loses less heat than an espresso does, but cold porcelain still costs you the first mouthful. Rinse it with hot water first and pour that away.

• Fresh water: Fill the tank from the cold tap each morning rather than topping up what stood overnight. Standing water reads flat, and it shows up faster in a mild coffee than in a dark one.

• Drink it black first: Try a cup without milk before you decide. The softness that makes this capsule easy to drink is also easy to bury.

Lengthened and with milk

• Latte or cappuccino: One capsule pulled short into 150ml of steamed milk works, but be realistic about the ratio. A mild roast disappears under a lot of milk, so keep the milk down or use a darker capsule for milk drinks.

• Americano: Put 80ml of hot water in the mug first and brew on top of it, which keeps the crema whole rather than breaking it on impact.

• Iced: Pull two capsules short over a glass packed to the brim with ice, then top with cold milk. Ice dilutes, so start stronger than you think you need.

Practical notes on the pack

• Yield: 16 capsules, 16 cups, one capsule per drink. There is no second extraction in a capsule.
• Machine fit: Lavazza A Modo Mio machines only. Not Nespresso, not Dolce Gusto, not Tassimo.
• Storage: cool, dry, dark, away from the hob and from anything strongly scented. Each capsule is sealed, so the box is protecting them from heat and from being crushed in a cupboard.
• Descaling: scale costs a capsule machine brewing temperature long before it costs it a working pump, and a mild coffee is where an under-temperature brew shows first as a hollow, papery cup. Descale on the schedule in the manual.
• Best before: printed on the box. Crema depends on dissolved gas that fades with age, so a long-dated box builds a better cup.

Ingredients, allergens and storage

What is in it: roasted ground coffee, dosed and sealed in a single-serve capsule. Nothing else.

Ingredients and dietary suitability: Lungo Dolce's formulation and allergy advice may be updated; look at the current UK box before you buy.

Caffeine and sensitivity: Coffee is a stimulant. A lungo is a larger cup than an espresso, so a mild capsule drunk long is not automatically a smaller dose. Allow for that larger cup if you are pregnant, react to caffeine or keep to a medical limit on intake.

Keep capsules out of reach of children and never cut one open or try to refill it, since each is sealed and works under pressure.