Top positive review
5.0 out of 5 starsFirst and foremost
Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2024
First and foremost, I paid full price for Lavazza Super Crema and received nothing for this unbiased review. My machine is the Breville Barista Express with a manual tamper. I have used these beans for several weeks now. Here are my thoughts:
1. Beans - The beans are medium roast so they are not oily and thus pass through the hopper and grinder without problems. The beans reach proper pressure on the gauge essentially every cup. This is an important consideration with the Barista Express machine. In you are new to making espresso, then these beans should work well for your machine. I have used many beans over the years and in my experience, the oily beans tend to hang up, and even when an appropriate amount is dispensed, they will not reach enough pressure in my machine, despite making the grind very fine.
2. Smell - Beans were fresh, expiration date was several months away, and the aroma was pleasant. In my opinion, some other brands of coffee beans have a off-putting smell, almost a burnt rubber smell, especially with a really dark roast. These did not have that smell.
3. Taste - I really enjoyed the taste, as did my family. Unsurprisingly, Super Crema creates a good "crema" with making espresso with provides a silky mouth feel. Brown sugar tasting notes. When blending with milk, this makes for an especially good latte or cappuccino-- velvety smooth, but with just the right amount of "bite." No harsh bitter aftertaste. I typically add a sweetener to my coffee drinks, and these did not require as much sweetener to be added as some other coffee beans. Obviously, the brewing machine plays no small part in the taste, and these beans worked well with my Barista Express.
4. Caffeination - There are two different beans in Super Crema, arabica and robusta, which you can differentiate when looking at them closely. Visually it appears to be about 70-80% arabica and 20-30% robusta, which is also consistent with what I have read. If you are used to dark roast arabica, expect some moderately increased caffeination due to the medium roast (less roast leads to more caffeine) and the addition of robusta beans (also more caffeinated).
There you have it. For making cappuccinos and lattes, these beans are 5/5 in my opinion. I will be buying them again.
