Jan 25 2009
Imported Espresso
As most people know, espresso is a wonderful Italian creation and although there is great espresso and espresso machines made all over the world, the best quality does come from Italy.
Of course, you can’t actually get imported espresso since it’s something you make fresh. But that doesn’t mean you can’t add a little Italy into your home espresso brewing. Specialty grocery stores often carry imported espresso beans, and many good roasters offer online ordering from their websites.
Be aware that roasted coffee beans only stay fresh for about 2 weeks (even less if they are already ground). Whether you are buying at a gourmet supermarket or directly from the roaster, check the roasting date. If the beans sat on a boat for a week before you even see them, you will need to brew up your espresso as soon as possible or they will soon be stale. You should also have the option to order unroasted or “green” beans, which would stay fresh during their travels. You’d have to roast them yourselves, and that would sort of defeat the purpose of getting them from Italy since you’d be doing all the work yourself.
A couple of well-known Italian coffee bean roasters are Segafredo and Illy, both of which can be purchased online from their websites. Illy is even found in some major supermarket chains.
When it comes to imported espresso machines, there are a number of excellent Italian manufacturers that you can count on for quality. Saeco, Gaggia and La Pavoni are some names you should look for. These won’t be cheap machines, and many of their models could be considered “professional”.
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