Illy

Read our reviews of all the Illy coffees we could get. Premium packaging, premium price - but are they worth it? Check for Illy in our scoreboard of the UK's best coffees.

Illy is probably the biggest name in coffee. It's the name we all see plastered on cups and machines all over the world, or splashed across the front of a cafe's awning. We'd bet that a lot of people know the brand without even realising that it's actually a make of coffee. They are the Waitrose of the coffee world - everything is priced at the highest level. The packaging is always the same - an uber swanky tin that you will all be fighting over to open. But are they worth the premium price you have to pay for an Illy Coffee or are you better off with a tine of Lidl's own? Check out our Illy reviews below - and then give us your opinion.

illy Espresso Dark Coffee

After our last illy scoring a 9/10, this one was stacked up to be even better. I mean, it's a dark roast this time, which must equate to a strength 5 on the usual coffee strength scale. It's been a problem though, as usual with espresso super-fine grinds. If you do it as you'd normally do it, it will blow the top of your head off in a caffeine and powder OD catastrophe. So much so on the first cup I wasn't all that partial. So over the next few cups we toned it down a bit, coming down to 5 spoons (from 6) for the 3 cups. By the end it's pretty good - but still not quite what I was hoping for. It's chocolatey, dark, and not a whiff of a logan berry. I suppose it's more economical in that you need less coffee than the medium roast (for the same piss taking price!). Great though it may be, it scores down again one point for expense, and another for the fact we just couldn't get it right. (8/10)

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Illy Espresso Medium Roast Coffee

We've been putting off this one for some time on the grounds of cost. How can anyone justify £6.13 for a standard pack of coffee? It would have to be phenomenally good. Errrr - it is. From the moment you hold the sturdy tin with its brushed aluminum lid in your hand, you know it's gonna be good. The lid unscrews with an engineering precision - this is not just any old Ikea storage jar. Inside, the coffee is again sealed with a ring pull membrane, which opens with a satisfying rush of air. As far as coffee packs go - this is as good as it gets. We've done two cups today and both are packed full of flavour and somehow feel fresh. Like the coffee is straight out of the roaster. There is definitely a hint of the "floral note" they claim on the tin - maybe slightly citrus even. The grind is very fine - which means some care is needed to press it down slowly, otherwise you could end of with a mouthful of grinds. All in all - it can't be faulted. But sorry - it cant get a 10 score - at over six quid a tin it's just crazy money. It's more of a gift package than an every-dayer. Come on Illy - make us one in a standard vacuum pack for half the price and we'll be on it everyday. Until then it's a 9/10 from this Judge.