The Good: Caffeinated, Aromatic, Strong without being overly bitter
The Bad: Comparatively expensive (but worth it!)
The Basics: One of the perfect whole bean coffees worth tracking down, Lavazza Super Crema Espresso Coffee is delightful!
I love coffee and the truth is, sometimes when I find a great coffee there is a hedging of bets within my mind. There is a calculus for the cost versus the quality and far too often, the brand named coffees that are recognizable and established (especially those based upon coffee chains) often are a bit more expensive than their quality warrants and the result is that the consumer is paying more for the brand name than the quality of the beverage. That is not at all the case with Lavazza Super Crema Espresso coffee. While Lavazza Super Crema Espresso is a little more expensive than some other whole bean coffees, the quality justifies the price; it is worth the expense.
Super Crema Espresso is a Lavazza coffee that is available in bulk (I found mine at my local discount store in a 2.2. lb. whole bean bag!) and that makes it worthwhile on both the flavor and expense fronts, as well as being an environmentally decent way to get the coffee!
Basics
Lavazza is a premium coffee company that recreates (supposedly, I've never been, so I can's speak to its authenticity!) an Italian coffee experience. We found the Super Crema Espresso in a 2.2 lb. bag of unground coffee beans.
The Super Crema Espresso Blend is an aromatic blend that smells, appropriately, of coffee. We blended it for use in both our percolator and espresso machines and found virtually no difference in the flavor quality between the two, making it a great, versatile coffee for consumers who like a lot of gadgets!
Ease Of Preparation
Super Crema Espresso Coffee is easy to prepare, but because it comes in whole bean form, it is not as easy as some coffees. After opening the bag, pour an appropriate amount of Lavazza Super Crema Espresso Coffee into your coffee grinder - I still highly recommend the Cuisinart Supreme Grind coffee grinder (reviewed here!) that I have been grinding with for over a decade since I first found it! After grinding your beans, measure out one heaping tablespoon for every two cups of water in your coffee maker. Super Crema Espresso Coffee is intended for automatic (drip or percolating) coffee makers. This is NOT an instant coffee. As a result, it needs to be brewed and I use a Hamilton Beach machine (reviewed here!) with a Crucial Coffee #4 Permanent coffee filter (reviewed here!). Despite living in fear of it, I have also used the Lavazza Super Crema Espresso in my Mr. Coffee Cafe Espresso Maker (reviewed here!), with good results.
Consult your coffee maker's instructions for how to brew the coffee. However, as far as the basics go, you'll need a coffee filter, which you put the Super Crema Espresso Coffee in and then brew through your coffee maker. The directions recommend making a pot at a time and serving it within twenty minutes and brewing complete pots does seem to net a more unified taste to the coffee (nothing too weak or too strong, no surprise sips that are uncommonly bitter - which has not happened at all with this coffee!).
Taste
The Super Crema Espresso has a very bold, dark coffee aroma to it. The rich scent of coffee is strong and inviting to anyone who loves a potent cup of coffee.
On the flavor front, the Super Crema Espresso is dark and flavorful. Ironically for a coffee called Super Crema, this Lavazza coffee has a very smoky flavor to it. The Super Crema Espresso rides the very edge of coffee flavor between "dark roasted" and "burned" in a strangely delightful way. The Super Crema Espresso is powerful and dark, but does not finish bitter like most very dark roast coffees!
The Super Crema Espresso does not have an enduring aftertaste, either. The dark, roasted coffee flavor fades from the mouth after only about a minute.
Nutrition
This is coffee, not something that appears on the nutrition pyramid! Lavazza Super Crema Espresso Coffee does not contribute anything to one's daily recommended allowance of anything. In fact, the bag does not have any ingredients list that I could find.
The Lavazza Super Crema Espresso is a caffeinated blend and it feels like it! This has enough caffeine to pop one's eyes open between the taste, aroma and caffeine. Because it is a caffeinated coffee, it appears to not have undergone any of the chemical processes that sometimes cause complications in decaffeinated coffees.
Storage/Clean-up
Super Crema Espresso Coffee ought to be stored sealed in its bag with the top firmly closed. Coffee is known to absorb flavors of food nearby it, so keeping the bag tightly closed is highly recommended. There are different schools of thought on refrigerating open coffee and I have a very clean refrigerator with a lot of ways to segregate coffee, so I tend to come down on the side of refrigerate it. The container makes no recommendations on that count, though the bag of Super Crema Espresso Coffee I bought in December 2016 would not expire until April 13 2018, so I doubt it would go bad - especially in its unground form - long before then!
After brewing, coffee grounds ought to be disposed of. These grounds may be thrown in the trash when used or put in a compost pile, if available. Coffee grounds make great compost.
Overall
Lavazza Super Crema Espresso Coffee is pretty much perfect; it has a strong coffee flavor without any of the bitter detractions one usually finds in very dark blends. That makes it worth the price and a great value for anyone who loves dark coffee blends!
For other coffee reviews, please visit my reviews of:
Lavazza Gran Crema Espresso Coffee
Kicking Horse Grizzly Claw Dark Roast Coffee
Celestial Seasonings The Godfather Black Tea Concentrate
10/10
For other food or drink reviews, please check out my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2017 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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