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 the bitterness is the only thing left standing. 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: we built the tasting profile ourselves from the current kilo bag and what the blend is meant to do, and the brew settings are where we suggest you start, not figures from the pack. Kilo bags of Espresso Italiano Classico normally leave the shop in 1 to 2 working days. Our answers below cover starting settings, burnt tasting shots, grinder oil, cups per kilo and how long an open bag lasts.
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: the kilo arrives in sealed foil fitted with a degassing valve; it only works one way, so the fresh roast can breathe out carbon dioxide while oxygen stays outside. Recycling a foil bag with a valve is not simple, so check the UK pack's instructions and your council's list for each part.
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, evened out in a regular double basket and pressed flat with the tamper.
- 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: Expect 25 to 30 seconds from the pump's first hum.
- 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: the foil bag, its valve and the label may each need different handling, so go by the UK pack and local council guidance.
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 freshly into a basket you have dried, smooth the top and tamp it level.
- Flush the group head briefly, lock in and start the pump straight away.
- Pull for 25 to 30 seconds, aiming for 36g in the cup.
- 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. Treat it as the benchmark when you try anything else on the machine.
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 a touch coarser than for espresso, then level the basket without tamping.
- Set the pot on a medium heat with the lid raised, and do not wander off.
- 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. Whatever the web says, the bag you hold is the authority. |
| 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: 1kg of Espresso Italiano Classico as whole roasted beans, caffeine and all. The bag carries a best before date; once open, the aroma stays at its best for about a month.
Composition shown as stated on the pack.
Sourcing & blend. The family behind Lavazza have run their coffee house in Turin since 1895, and this espresso blend is theirs. 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 come in sealed foil with a valve that only opens outwards, so roasting gas escapes while oxygen stays off them.
What's in Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico Coffee Beans, 1kg, and what isn't:
- In: coffee beans, roasted, with no second ingredient.
- No artificial colours, preservatives, flavourings or added sugar: any sweetness is developed during roasting.
- No dairy, cereals, egg, soya or nuts as ingredients: made black, without milk or sugar, the calorie count is close to nil.
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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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