Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico Ground Coffee, 2 Pack 500g
Judge this one by taste and not by the crema. On a pre-ground pack a thin or patchy head tells you how long the bag has been open rather than how good the coffee is, and people bin decent shots over it. What is in the cup is orthodox Italian without the severity: toasted nut and caramel, balanced, moderate bitterness, a clean finish rather than a long bitter tail, which is what makes it drinkable black day after day where darker packs start to feel like a chore. Ground fine for pressure, so an espresso machine or a moka pot; in a cafetiere it will silt through the mesh.
Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico Ground Coffee, in brief.
Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico is the everyday espresso grind from the Turin house, and this is the twin pack: two sealed 250g vacuum packs, 500g in all, picked into the Teas.co.uk curator selection as the best value route into Italian espresso at home.
Two separate packs is the right format for ground espresso coffee, because it stales fast once air reaches it, so you open one and leave the other sealed.
The word that decides whether this is the right bag for you is Espresso, because it describes the grind rather than the roast. This coffee is ground fine, close to table salt on its way to flour, because water is going to be forced through it under pressure in about twenty five seconds and needs something to push against. In a cafetière that same grind gives a silty, bitter mug, because four minutes of immersion pulls far too much out of particles that small. So this belongs in a pump espresso machine, and at a push in a moka pot. If you brew by immersion, buy a coffee ground for it.
Curator notes: the tasting profile is our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description. We run same-day UK dispatch on every order placed before 2pm Monday to Friday. Common questions are answered in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
Why The Second Sealed Pack Matters
Grinding coffee multiplies its surface area enormously, and surface area is what stales it. A whole bean holds its aroma for weeks; the same bean ground holds it for days once air reaches it. That is why espresso coffee is sold vacuum packed rather than in a folded bag, and it is the real argument for a twin pack over a single 500g brick. Open one 250g pack at a time and you get two fresh starts rather than one long decline, and by the end of a fortnight the difference is obvious in the crema, which goes thin and patchy on stale coffee before the taste changes much. Buy the twin pack, use the first, and leave the second sealed in the cupboard until it is needed.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
What You Are Actually Buying
- Weight: 500g in total, as two separate 250g vacuum packs.
- Cups per pack: at a standard 7g single espresso dose, roughly 71 shots across the two packs. If you pull doubles at 14g, around 35.
- Preparation: an espresso machine and a tamper, or a moka pot. No grinder needed.
Ideal Preparation
A pre-ground espresso coffee takes away the one control a cafe relies on, which is grinding finer or coarser to fix a shot. Everything else is still yours, and between dose, tamp and time you can recover most of what a grinder would have handled.
The Standard Espresso
- Dose: 7g for a single, 14g for a double, levelled in the basket. Weigh it a few times until your eye is trained.
- Tamp: flat and firm. Level matters far more than force; a tilted bed lets water channel down one side and the shot runs thin and sour.
- Water: 92 to 94 degrees Celsius, which most domestic machines hold once properly warmed. Run a blank shot through the group head first.
- Time: 25 to 30 seconds for about 30ml from a single. Faster is thin and sour; slower is bitter and over extracted.
The Moka Pot
- Fill: the boiler to just below the valve with hot water, not cold, so the coffee spends less time heating on the way.
- Load: the basket level and do not tamp. A moka pot works at far lower pressure than a machine and a compressed bed will choke it.
- Heat: medium, lid open, and take it off the heat the moment the flow turns pale and starts to sputter.
- Result: a strong syrupy coffee that is not espresso but is the closest thing without a pump, and a medium roast like this suits it particularly well.
Getting It Right in the Cup
- Water temperature: 92 to 94 degrees Celsius through the group head.
- Measure: 7g single, 14g double, 25 to 30 seconds of extraction.
- Storage: open one pack at a time and leave the second sealed. Once opened, seal the pack tightly, keep it in a cool dark cupboard rather than the fridge, and use it within two to three weeks.
- Iced: pull a double, stir sugar in while it is hot if you take it sweet, then pour over a full glass of ice and top with cold milk.
- Caffeine note: this is a caffeinated coffee. A morning and daytime pack; a double espresso after dinner is a decision rather than a habit.
- Best with: a plain pastry at breakfast, dark chocolate, or nothing at all after a meal, in the Italian manner.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico Ground Coffee, 2 Pack 500g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Lavazza
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components 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 Ground Coffee, 2 x 250g is cut fine for pressure brewing, which makes it the right pack for an espresso machine, a moka pot and every milk drink built on a shot. Six builds below cover the standard espresso, the moka pot, a cappuccino, an iced americano and two puddings where a balanced shot does better than a heavily bitter one.
Made with this tea
The Standard Espresso
How to make The Standard Espresso with Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico.
- 7g Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico
- Water at 92 to 94 degrees
- Warm the machine properly and run a blank shot through the group head.
- Dose 7g of Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico Ground Coffee, 2 x 250g into the basket and level it with a finger.
- Tamp flat and firm, checking the bed is level rather than tilted.
- Pull about 30ml in 25 to 30 seconds and drink it at once.
What you'll end up with: Level tamping matters more than hard tamping. A tilted bed lets water channel down one side, and pressure will not fix that.
The Moka Pot
How to make The Moka Pot with Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico.
- 15g Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico
- Hot water to the valve
- Fill the boiler with hot water to just below the safety valve, so the coffee spends less time heating.
- Load the basket level with Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico Ground Coffee, 2 x 250g and do not tamp it.
- Heat on medium with the lid open.
- Remove from the heat the moment the flow turns pale and begins to sputter.
What you'll end up with: Hot water in the boiler and no tamping are the two rules. A medium roast suits a moka pot particularly well, because the method already adds bitterness of its own.
Cappuccino At Home
How to make Cappuccino At Home with Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico.
- 14g Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico
- 150ml whole milk
- Pull a double shot of Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico Ground Coffee, 2 x 250g into a cup.
- Steam 150ml of milk to about 60 degrees, letting more air in than you would for a flat white.
- Pour the milk through the crema and finish with the foam.
What you'll end up with: A medium roast is the quieter partner under milk, so keep the milk volume down.
Iced Americano
How to make Iced Americano with Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico.
- 14g Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico
- A full glass of ice
- 150ml cold water
- Sugar to taste
- Pull a double shot of Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico Ground Coffee, 2 x 250g.
- Stir in sugar while the shot is hot, if you take it sweet, because sugar will not dissolve in a cold drink.
- Fill a glass with ice, add 150ml of cold water, then pour the shot over the top.
What you'll end up with: A balanced medium roast makes a better iced americano than a dark one, because cold flattens sweetness and exaggerates bitterness.
Affogato
How to make Affogato with Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico.
- 7g Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico
- 2 scoops vanilla ice cream
- Put 2 scoops of good vanilla ice cream into a chilled glass.
- Pull a single shot of Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico Ground Coffee, 2 x 250g.
- Pour it straight over and eat immediately, while the contrast is still there.
What you'll end up with: Hot shot, cold ice cream, eaten fast. The whole thing depends on the temperature difference, so assembling it early defeats the point.
Tiramisu Soaking Coffee
How to make Tiramisu Soaking Coffee with Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico.
- 28g Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico
- 200ml hot water
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- Pull four single shots of Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico Ground Coffee, 2 x 250g, or brew the equivalent in a moka pot.
- Stir in 1 tablespoon of caster sugar and let it cool completely.
- Dip the biscuits for one second each, no longer, and build the dish as usual.
What you'll end up with: One second per side. Soaked biscuits collapse, and a balanced coffee gives you a cleaner finished dish than a heavily bitter one.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Component | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Roasted coffee | the whole pack | Roasted coffee and nothing else. A plain ground coffee pack holds no chicory, no filler and no added flavouring. |
| Grind size | fine, cut for espresso | The single most important thing in these packs. A fine grind gives a pump the resistance it needs to build pressure against in twenty five seconds, and is far too fine for any immersion brewer. |
| Roast level | medium, Italian everyday style | Developed enough for sweetness and body, stopped short of the char that flattens everything underneath it. That balance is what makes a classico an everyday pack. |
| Pack format | 2 x 250g, vacuum sealed | Two separate sealed packs rather than one 500g brick, which is the right format for ground espresso coffee because it stales quickly once air reaches it. |
Pack: Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico Ground Coffee, 2 x 250g; finely ground roasted coffee in two sealed vacuum packs, 500g in total, caffeinated. Roughly 71 single shots at a 7g dose, or 35 doubles. See the packs for the best before dates; open one at a time and use it within two to three weeks.
Composition shown at process level rather than by percentage. No origin, species split, intensity score or caffeine figure per cup is quoted here, because none of those is declared in a form we can verify, and a made-up number is worse than no number.
Sourcing & blend. Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico Ground Coffee, 2 x 250g comes from Lavazza, the Turin coffee house, which is heritage rather than a claim about where this pack's beans were grown. Espresso Italiano is the everyday line rather than the speciality one, and everything about it is built around repeatability: a medium Italian roast that is sweet and balanced rather than dramatic, a grind chosen to suit the broadest spread of domestic machines, and vacuum packing to hold the coffee until the seal breaks. The twin pack format follows from the same logic, since ground espresso coffee has an enormous surface area and begins to stale as soon as air reaches it. Origin detail and certification marks are printed on the current UK packs and should be read there.
What's in Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico Ground Coffee, 2 x 250g, and what isn't:
- In: roasted coffee, ground fine for espresso, and nothing else at all.
- No artificial colours, preservatives, added sugar or flavouring: any sweetness in the cup comes from the roast.
- Energy: pulled black with nothing added, a shot contributes negligible energy. The calories come from the milk and sugar you add afterwards.
- Packaging: two vacuum packs. Disposal routes differ by component and by council, so follow the current UK pack and your local authority guidance.
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Lavazza Espresso Italiano Classico Ground Coffee, 2 Pack 500g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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