Lavazza Crema e Gusto Classico Coffee Beans, 1kg
Oily beans at the bottom of the bag are not a fault. A roast taken this dark pushes the oils to the surface, and that sheen is where the syrupy body and the dark cocoa come from. It does mean the hopper wants wiping out more often than usual. Acidity is close to absent here, so nobody chasing fruit or brightness should start with this one.
Lavazza Crema e Gusto Classico Coffee Beans, in brief.
Lavazza Crema e Gusto Classico is the body-and-crema blend from the Turin family roaster, sold here as whole beans in a one kilogram bag for espresso machines, bean to cup machines and moka pots. It is the heaviest, darkest, least acidic end of the Lavazza range, picked into the Teas.co.uk curator selection for people who judge a shot by the thickness of the head on it.
Lavazza Crema e Gusto Classico takes its name from what it is built to deliver: crema and taste, in that order. It is the blend in the Lavazza range aimed squarely at people who judge an espresso by the thickness of the head on it and the weight of it in the mouth, and it is sold here as whole beans in a one kilogram bag for anyone running a grinder, a bean to cup machine or a moka pot.
Buy it in the kilogram if coffee is a daily habit rather than an occasional one. A 250g pack costs noticeably more per 100g and lasts a fortnight; a kilogram covers roughly two months at two coffees a day and takes the cost of a shot down to small change. For a household that gets through a moka pot every morning, that is the difference between buying beans weekly and buying them twice a season.
Curator notes: the tasting profile is our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the blend's stated brief, and the brewing figures are our recommended starting points rather than pack instructions. We run same-day UK dispatch on every order placed before 2pm Monday to Friday. Grind settings, storage windows and extraction ranges are set out in full in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind Lavazza
Lavazza has traded from Turin since 1895, founded by Luigi Lavazza and still in the hands of the same family. The company's method is blending: coffees from several origins combined to a fixed specification so the cup holds steady from one harvest to the next. Crema e Gusto sits in the range as the body-and-crema option, distinct from the sweeter all Arabica bags above it and the general purpose household blends beside it.
Lavazza prints the bean composition and its own intensity rating on the pack, and both can change between production runs. Read the bag in front of you rather than a figure quoted online, ours included.
Sourcing And Packaging
Crema is not decoration. It is an emulsion of coffee oils and carbon dioxide forced into suspension by pressure, and how much of it you get depends on the beans, the roast and the freshness. Robusta produces more of it than Arabica, which is why blends built for a dense head almost always contain some, and why a bag like this one holds a spoon of sugar on the surface longer than an all Arabica shot will. It also carries more caffeine and more body, which is the rest of the brief.
Packaging: one kilogram bean bags are sealed foil with a one way degassing valve, letting carbon dioxide out of freshly roasted beans without letting oxygen in. Follow the current UK pack and your local authority guidance for disposal; foil, valve and label can require different routes.
Ideal Extraction Conditions
Whole beans give you the controls. Grind size, dose and water temperature decide the cup, in that order, and with a blend this dark the temperature deserves more attention than usual.
The Espresso Serve
- Dose: 18g into a standard double basket, levelled and tamped flat.
- Water: 92 degrees Celsius is a better starting point than 94. A heavy, dark blend reaches its bitterness limit early.
- Yield: 36g in the cup, a 1:2 ratio. For maximum body, stop at 30g.
- Time: 25 to 30 seconds from the pump starting.
- Read the shot: a crema that collapses within seconds usually means stale beans or too coarse a grind, not a fault in the blend. Ashy and drying means go coarser or drop the temperature.
The Moka, Bean To Cup And Milk Serve
- Moka pot: arguably where this blend is happiest. Grind just coarser than espresso, fill the basket level and untamped, start with hot water in the base and lift it off the heat the second the flow turns pale.
- Bean to cup: middle grind, medium strength. If the cup reads thin, raise the dose before you touch the grind; automatic machines run short and hot.
- Cappuccino: the body is the point. A double under 130ml of milk steamed to 60 to 65 degrees keeps the coffee clearly in front.
- Cafetiere: it works, at 60g per litre for four minutes, but you lose the crema that you are paying for. Use it up this way if the bag is getting old rather than as your first choice.
Grinding, Dosing And Storage
- Freshness drives crema: crema needs the carbon dioxide still trapped in the bean. Stale beans give a thin, fast-collapsing head no matter how well you pull the shot. This is the one blend where the open bag window genuinely matters.
- Grind to order: ground coffee sheds its aromatics and its gas within minutes.
- Watch the oils: darker beans carry surface oil that builds up on burrs. Brush the grinder out every few weeks.
- Storage: sealed, cool, dark, never the fridge. Decant into an airtight jar and keep only a few days' worth in the hopper.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Lavazza Crema e Gusto Classico Coffee Beans, 1kg, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Lavazza
Packaging: follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; foil, valve and label can require different disposal routes.
Our commitment to the planet
Sourcing and packaging details are printed on the current UK pack; the brand page carries the fuller story.
The taste profile
How does it compare
Lavazza Crema e Gusto Classico Coffee Beans, 1kg is a body-and-crema blend, so the methods that use pressure suit it best and the ones that do not are a waste of what you paid for. Six builds below run from the moka pot up to a proper cappuccino, with two cold serves and one pudding.
Made with this tea
Moka Pot, the Way It Is Meant to Be Made
How to make stovetop coffee with Lavazza Crema e Gusto Classico without scorching it.
- About 17g Crema e Gusto Classico beans
- Hot water to the valve line
- A three-cup moka pot
- A damp cloth
- Fill the base with hot water to just below the safety valve, so the coffee spends less time over the flame.
- Grind a little coarser than espresso, fill the basket level and do not tamp.
- Set it on a medium hob with the lid open and stay with it.
- Lift it off the second the stream pales and sputters, and stand the base on the damp cloth.
What you'll end up with: A thick, dark coffee to drink short or lengthen. The heavy body of this blend is exactly what the moka pot rewards.
The Crema Test Double Shot
How to pull a double of Lavazza Crema e Gusto Classico and judge the head on it.
- 18g Crema e Gusto Classico beans
- Filtered water at 92°C
- Scales that read to 0.1g
- A teaspoon of sugar, for the test
- Grind 18g fresh into a dry double basket, level and tamp flat.
- Pull to 36g in the cup over 25 to 30 seconds, or stop at 30g for maximum body.
- Set the sugar gently on the surface. On a fresh bag it should sit for a second or two before sinking.
- If the head collapses instantly, the beans are old or the grind is too coarse.
What you'll end up with: A reference shot and a quick freshness test in one. The sugar trick is a bar habit, not a gimmick.
Cappuccino
How to make a cappuccino with Lavazza Crema e Gusto Classico.
- 18g Crema e Gusto Classico beans
- 130ml whole milk, fridge cold
- A milk thermometer if you have one
- Cocoa to dust, optional
- Pull a double into a 180ml cup.
- Steam the milk with three to four seconds of air at the surface, then submerge the wand to spin it smooth.
- Stop at 60 to 65°C and knock the jug once to pop the big bubbles.
- Pour through the middle so the foam stays on top.
What you'll end up with: A milk drink where the coffee is still clearly in charge. Body is what survives milk, and body is what this blend has.
Caffè Shakerato
How to make an iced shaken coffee with Lavazza Crema e Gusto Classico.
- 18g Crema e Gusto Classico beans
- 1 teaspoon sugar syrup
- A cocktail shaker full of ice
- A chilled coupe or small tumbler
- Pull a double and stir the syrup in while it is still hot so it dissolves.
- Tip it into a shaker packed with ice.
- Shake hard for fifteen seconds until the outside of the shaker frosts.
- Strain into the chilled glass, leaving the ice behind.
What you'll end up with: A cold coffee under a thick foam. The oils that make crema are the same ones that make the foam here, which is why this works better with a heavy blend than a light one.
Fridge Cold Brew
How to make cold brew with Lavazza Crema e Gusto Classico for the week ahead.
- 70g Crema e Gusto Classico beans
- 1 litre cold water
- Ice
- A large jar and a fine filter
- Grind coarse and stir into the cold water in a jar.
- Refrigerate 14 to 18 hours, stirring once partway through.
- Strain through paper or a fine cloth and keep sealed in the fridge.
- Serve over plenty of ice, neat or half and half with milk.
What you'll end up with: A heavy, cocoa-led concentrate that keeps three or four days. Cold water leaves the bitter compounds in the grounds.
Affogato with Dark Chocolate
How to serve Lavazza Crema e Gusto Classico as a pudding.
- 18g Crema e Gusto Classico beans
- Two scoops of vanilla ice cream
- Dark chocolate to grate
- Toasted hazelnuts, optional
- Scoop the ice cream into a cold glass and return it to the freezer while you work.
- Pull a double shot, stopping short at 30g so it stays thick.
- Pour it over the ice cream at the table.
- Grate dark chocolate over and scatter the hazelnuts if you are using them.
What you'll end up with: A pudding that holds together because the coffee is thick enough not to turn the ice cream into soup.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Roasted Arabica coffee beans | Part of the blend | Sweetness and aroma. Arabica is what stops a heavy, dark blend reading as flat or one-note. |
| Roasted Robusta coffee beans | Part of the blend | The thick, slow-breaking crema, the syrupy body and the extra caffeine. Robusta produces more crema than Arabica, which is why blends named for it almost always contain some. |
| Exact ratio | Printed on the pack | Lavazza states the composition and its own intensity rating on the bag, and both can change between production runs. Read the bag rather than a figure quoted online. |
| Additives, flavourings, sugar | None | Nothing is added to roasted coffee beans. The cocoa note is roast development, not flavouring. |
Pack: Lavazza Crema e Gusto Classico Coffee Beans, 1kg; whole roasted beans, caffeinated. Best before date printed on the bag; crema and aroma are at their best within about a month of opening.
Composition shown as stated on the pack; the precise Arabica to Robusta ratio is Lavazza's own and is not published as a percentage.
Sourcing & blend. Lavazza Crema e Gusto Classico Coffee Beans, 1kg is put together by Lavazza, the family coffee house trading from Turin since 1895. Blending is the company's whole method: coffees from several origins combined to a fixed specification so the cup holds steady from one harvest to the next. This blend is the body-and-crema option in the range, and the brief shows in the cup: heavy mouthfeel, dark cocoa, almost no acidity. Crema itself is an emulsion of coffee oils and carbon dioxide forced into suspension by pressure, and because that gas escapes from the bean over time, freshness matters more for this blend than for most. The beans arrive in a sealed foil bag with a one-way valve that vents roasting gas without admitting oxygen.
What's in Lavazza Crema e Gusto Classico Coffee Beans, 1kg, and what isn't:
- In: roasted coffee beans, and nothing else in the bag.
- No artificial colours, preservatives, flavourings or added sugar: any sweetness is developed during roasting.
- No dairy, cereals, egg, soya or nuts as ingredients: black coffee brewed without milk or sugar carries effectively no calories.
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Lavazza Crema e Gusto Classico Coffee Beans, 1kg, please cite teas.co.uk.
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