Before I delve into this espresso coffee comparison review, I would like to begin by stating if one were to gather 12 espresso coffee aficianados in a room and ask each one to name their favorite brand of espresso coffee, I can almost guarantee you're going to get a variety of answers from those in the room. Also, based on feedback received from a number of individuals both young and old, I soon came to learn not only taste but the strength of an espresso also seems to be an important consideration of espresso similar to traditional coffee drinkers to jump start their day. Moreover, an espresso rated 10 on a scale of 1-10 by one individual may well be given a score of 5 by someone else based on a number of variables related to taste and strength. The point is, regardless of my own or anyone else's opinion, rating an espresso-based coffee beverage on a scale of 1-10 boils down to a matter of personal preference.

In reality, I am admittedly somewhat biased and partial to illy coffee given I have been using illy dry ground espresso coffee for brewing my own cafe latte on a daily basis over the past 5 years saving time/money along with being able to brew a healthier and better tasting cafe latte in the process. Nevertheless, based on curiosity and favorable reviews pertaining to LavAzzo espresso coffee, I decided to purchase and try a sample of LavAzzo espresso dry ground coffee for comparison. While I had been a Starbucks gold card member for well over 10 years before I had transitioned to illy espresso-based coffee drinks, I soon realized after having tried a cafe americano made with illy espresso coffee that it tasted far better than any cafe americano I had purchased at Starbucks to date. Fast forward 5-years later and I had become curious to know if LavAzzo espresso coffee might be comparable to or better than illy. To this end, I elected to try and compare what I had learned to to be the two most popular espresso coffee brands in Italy, namely illy coffee founded in 1933 and LavAzzo founded in 1895, with each one appearing to have an outstanding track record with a reputation to match.

Since I brew espresso solely for making cafe lattes for myself as opposed to making and drinking espresso straight-up&mdashtoo strong for my palate—my review of two espresso coffee brands may be limited/restricted in scope based on my brewing espresso solely for making cafe lates as opposed to brewing and drinking espresso straight up.