Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico Coffee Beans, 1kg
Drink it out of a mug and you will wonder what the fuss is about. Espresso Italiano is built for the small dense shot an Italian bar pours: toasted bread and cocoa, a dry cocoa finish, bitterness that is deliberate rather than a fault. Stretch it to fill a mug and that bitterness is all that survives the journey. Keep the water short, keep the cup small and warm, and it behaves.
Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico Coffee Beans, in brief.
Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico is the everyday member of Lavazza's espresso line 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 traditional Italian bar shot rather than a coffee shop reinvention of one, picked into the Teas.co.uk curator selection as the house espresso bean for people who drink theirs short.
Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico is the bag to reach for if what you want is an Italian bar espresso at home rather than a coffee shop reinvention of one. It is the standard-issue member of Lavazza's Espresso Italiano line, sold here as whole beans in a one kilogram bag, and it is roasted and blended around one job: a short, dark, balanced shot pulled through a machine, with a crema that holds long enough to stir sugar through it.
Buy it in the kilogram if you own a grinder or a bean to cup machine and drink coffee daily. A 250g pack is a fortnight for most households and costs noticeably more per 100g; a kilogram covers roughly two months at two coffees a day and takes the price of a shot down to a level that makes the machine on the counter look like a sensible purchase rather than an expensive one.
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 been trading from Turin since 1895, founded by Luigi Lavazza and still in the hands of the same family. Blending is the whole method: coffees from several origins brought together to a fixed specification so the cup holds steady from one harvest to the next. The Espresso Italiano line is the part of the range built specifically around the Italian bar serve, which is short, hot and drunk standing up, and the Classico is its everyday member.
Lavazza prints the bean composition and its own intensity rating on the pack, and both can change between production runs. Read the bag you are holding rather than a number quoted anywhere online, including here.
Sourcing And Packaging
A blend built for espresso is a different brief from a blend built for filter. Espresso is a high pressure, short contact extraction, so the roaster is working to get sweetness, body and crema out of a 25 second window, which usually means taking the roast further than a filter coffee would want. That is why this bag reads toasted and cocoa-led rather than bright and fruity, and why it behaves well under milk.
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 hand you the controls. The three settings that decide whether this blend tastes rich or burnt are grind size, dose and water temperature, and they matter in that order.
The Espresso Serve
- Dose: 18g into a standard double basket, levelled and tamped flat.
- Water: 92 to 94 degrees Celsius. A darker roast is already close to its bitterness limit, so going hotter usually makes things worse, not stronger.
- Yield: 36g in the cup, a 1:2 ratio. For a traditional ristretto, stop at 27g instead.
- Time: 25 to 30 seconds from the pump starting.
- Read the shot: ashy and drying means over extracted, so go coarser or drop the temperature. Sharp and thin means under extracted, so go finer.
The Bean To Cup And Milk Serve
- Bean to cup: middle grind, medium strength to start. These machines run short, so if the cup is thin, increase the dose before you touch the grind setting.
- Cappuccino: this blend was built for it. A double shot under 130ml of milk steamed to 60 to 65 degrees keeps the coffee audible rather than drowned.
- Moka pot: grind just coarser than espresso, fill the basket level without tamping, start with hot water in the base and lift it off the heat when the flow pales.
- Americano: pull the double into the cup first, then add 120ml of hot water on top. Pouring the shot into water instead knocks the crema flat.
Grinding, Dosing And Storage
- Grind to order: the aromatics in a dark roast are the first thing to go once the bean is opened up. This is the whole argument for buying beans over ground.
- Watch the oils: darker beans carry more surface oil, which can gum up a grinder over time. Brush the burrs out every few weeks if you run this blend continuously.
- Storage: sealed, cool, dark and never the fridge. Condensation is worse for beans than air. Decant into an airtight jar if the bag does not reseal.
- Open bag window: aim to finish an opened kilogram inside a month for the aroma, and keep the bulk sealed rather than sitting in the hopper under the kitchen lights.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Lavazza Espresso Italiano 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 Espresso Italiano Classico Coffee Beans, 1kg is a bar-style blend, so it is at its best short, hot and either black or under a small amount of milk. Six builds below cover the reference shot, the two classic Italian milk drinks, the hob pot, a proper americano and one for the evening.
Made with this tea
The Reference Double Shot
How to pull a balanced double of Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico.
- 18g Espresso Italiano Classico beans
- Filtered water at 92°C
- Scales that read to 0.1g
- A warmed cup
- Grind 18g fresh into a dry double basket, level it and tamp flat.
- Flush the group head briefly, lock in and start the pump straight away.
- Pull to 36g in the cup over 25 to 30 seconds.
- If it tastes ashy, go coarser or stop at 30g. If it tastes sharp and thin, go finer.
What you'll end up with: A full, cocoa-led shot under a thick crema. Judge every other setting on the machine against this one.
Ristretto, Italian Bar Style
How to pull a short shot of Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico.
- 18g Espresso Italiano Classico beans
- Filtered water at 92°C
- Sugar, if you take it
- A preheated 60ml cup
- Grind one step finer than your usual espresso setting.
- Stop the shot at 27g in the cup rather than 36g, around 22 to 25 seconds.
- Serve immediately in a hot cup; a cold cup takes the temperature straight out of a small drink.
- If you take sugar, stir it through the crema rather than into the liquid underneath.
What you'll end up with: Denser and sweeter than a full double, with less of the drying finish. This is the serve the blend was designed around.
Cappuccino
How to make a cappuccino with Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico.
- 18g Espresso Italiano Classico beans
- 130ml whole milk, fridge cold
- A milk thermometer if you have one
- Cocoa to dust, optional
- Pull a double straight 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 on the counter to pop the big bubbles.
- Pour through the middle so the foam sits on top rather than folding in.
What you'll end up with: The coffee still audible through the milk, which is the reason Italian bars use a darker blend for this drink than for filter.
Moka Pot on the Hob
How to make stovetop coffee with Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico without scorching it.
- About 17g Espresso Italiano 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 valve, so the coffee spends less time over the flame.
- Grind slightly coarser than espresso, fill the basket level and do not tamp.
- Set it on a medium hob with the lid open and watch it.
- Lift it off the moment the stream pales and sputters, and stand the base on the damp cloth.
What you'll end up with: A strong, syrupy coffee to drink short or lengthen with hot water. The damp cloth stops the last of the brew boiling bitter.
A Proper Americano
How to lengthen Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico without flattening it.
- 18g Espresso Italiano Classico beans
- 120ml hot water
- A warmed mug
- A splash of milk, optional
- Pull the double shot into the warmed mug first.
- Add 120ml of hot water gently on top, down the side of the mug.
- Do not pour the shot into a mug of water; that breaks the crema and the drink tastes flatter.
- Taste before adding more water. A dark blend lengthens further than a light one before it goes thin.
What you'll end up with: A long black coffee that still has a crema on it. The order of pouring is the whole trick.
Coffee-Soaked Tiramisu Layer
How to use Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico in the kitchen.
- 36g Espresso Italiano Classico beans
- 200g sponge fingers
- 500g mascarpone
- 75g caster sugar
- Dark chocolate or cocoa to finish
- Brew four double shots, about 150ml in total, and let them cool completely.
- Beat the mascarpone with the sugar and three egg yolks until smooth, then fold in the whisked whites.
- Dip each sponge finger in the cold coffee for one second only, then layer.
- Chill for at least four hours and dust with cocoa just before serving.
What you'll end up with: A pudding where the coffee reads as coffee. A dark bar blend holds its own against mascarpone and sugar where a light filter roast disappears. Note this version uses raw egg.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Roasted coffee beans | 100% | The whole of the product. Blended and roasted to an espresso brief, which means sweetness, body and crema developed for a 25-second, high-pressure extraction. |
| Bean composition | 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 and toasted notes in the cup are roast development, not flavouring. |
Pack: Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico Coffee Beans, 1kg; whole roasted beans, caffeinated. Best before date printed on the bag; aroma is at its best within about a month of opening.
Composition shown as stated on the pack.
Sourcing & blend. Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico Coffee Beans, 1kg is put together by Lavazza, the family coffee house trading from Turin since 1895. Blending is the company's entire method: coffees from several origins combined to a fixed specification so the cup holds steady from one harvest to the next instead of following a single crop up and down. A blend built for espresso is a different brief from one built for filter, because the roaster has only a 25-second window at nine bars of pressure to get sweetness, body and crema out of the grounds, which is why this roast runs darker and reads toasted rather than fruity. The beans arrive in a sealed foil bag with a one-way valve that lets roasting gas escape without letting oxygen in.
What's in Lavazza Espresso Italiano 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 Espresso Italiano Classico Coffee Beans, 1kg, please cite teas.co.uk.
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