Lavazza Gran Espresso Intenso E.S.E. Coffee Pods – 150 Count

I've ordered this Lavazza Gran Intenso 150 ese pods 18 times now over the last several years and found it constantly delicious. Rich and bold. I've never had a torn or damaged pod or a noticeable flavor variation. I use a Mr Coffee Cafe Barista machine which accepts the ese pods. I always make lattees, either 2% milk or oat milk. No added syrups or flavors. When I first got my machine, I tried half a dozen different brands and several blend/roast variations, and this is hands down my favorite. Ese pods in a machine designed to use them is the greatest improvement to my long love affair with coffee. Price has varied from 35 to 45 cents per pod; less than Keurig Kcups and I drive right past Starbucks because my favorite latte is waiting when I get home.

The media could not be loaded. I got this machine brand new at a garage sale for 15 bucks because I wanted to practice on this older model before spending 1000 on a machine I was to inexperienced to use and would end up breaking. I work in fine dining so I’ve made plenty of espresso beverages before but not with an at home type of machine . Anywho I figured out that there’s Pods for this thing and apparently that E.S.E. Sticker on the front means easy serving espresso or PODS . Yes these Gran Espressos are incredible, yes they’re easier to use in a hurry, and yes you can be as happy with them as I am. My model (EC155) did not require any special baskets or anything to use these however you do need to use the single serving basket to ensure a tight fit. Hope this helps someone. Cheers!

I've personally sipped hundreds of espresso shots brewed from the Lavazza Gran Crema E.S.E. pods using my Delonghi DEDICA (EC680M). Full disclosure though, my wife does not like it, and she prefers other roasters, but for me it's the perfect flavor profile - not bitter at all as an espresso shot (that's very important to me), and I find the aroma wonderful on its own but it becomes absolutely amazing when I rub the rim with some lemon peel before enjoying the aroma.My Delonghi DEDICA does not brew a very thick crema in general, and the crema with these are as rich and thick as I can produce with any other coffee - either E.S.E. or fresh ground. I assume your results will differ if you have a different espresso machine. On this same machine, my wife likes the flavor of the Illy pods but I think this machine has too low a pressure to brew them quickly - takes anywhere from 20 to 30 seconds for the Illy pods (possibly due to a finer grind) but with no better richness of flavor and no thicker crema. The Lavazza pods are a breeze, typically only taking about 8 to 10 seconds, and that's perfect for me.[Update Feb 27, 2019]I used a timer this morning to check my brewing times and the Lavazza pods came in at 16 ot 17 seconds after pre-wet, and 22 to 23 seconds total brewing time. I guess I was so happy with the "short" brewing time that I exaggerated, just a little! ;-)

I recently switched to the Lavazza pods after trying the Starbucks pods for a month. The difference is like night and day: the Lavazza pods are disgusting! Compared to the espresso I can get from a Starbucks pod, and also compared to the espresso I can get in any coffee shop in town, the shots produced by the Lavazza pods are watery and tasteless. They're not simply 'marginally' worse than the Starbucks pods. The espresso produced by the Lavazza pods has a hideously bland taste, to the extent that it pains both me and my wife to drink them (which is surprising, because neither she nor I have particularly demanding taste buds).The first problem with the Lavazza pods is that they include a LOT of excess filter material around the pod, which prevents the espresso machine from making a good, water-tight seal and results in water dripping out of the brewing chamber. We experimented at great length with trimming away the excess material on these pods to try to get a better espresso. With some finesse (by trimming excess filter and carefully positioning the ESE pod in just-the-right spot), it is possible to get a good seal. Once my wife and I accomplished this, the quality of our Lavazza espressos improved dramatically...but was still light-years behind what we expected. No matter how hard we've tried, we can't get a good shot of espresso from these pods (and we've tried manually tamping them, trimming excess filter material, making sacrifices to various caffeine-related deities, and even performing special brewing dances to appease the coffee gods).Our advice: AVOID LAVAZZA ESE PODS AT ALL COSTS!!!!!! You can find incredibly better alternatives at a 10-20% higher price point!

I make this espresso with my DeLonghi EC155 Espresso Maker and it comes out beautifully. The espresso that comes out is a rich dark chocolate color with a nice layer of crema.As another review as noted, the espresso is not packed as tightly in the pod as other brands, such as Starbucks, but this issue is easily resolved if you wet the pod and then press it down with a good metal tamper. Once you do this, the espresso that comes out is perfect. If you buy this product in bulk and then on auto-delivery from Amazon, the value is very good and much cheaper than going to a coffee shop every day for a latte or cappuccino.I like pods because the clean up and measuring is done for me - super easy. I love being able to make lattes in my home. Companies like Lavazza make it easy!