Don't have a clue what the negative reviews are about...it's a food product and there will always be natural variations in consistency. I haven't experienced any with this product. Even though I received a 1kg bag with a broken seal, it was still excellent (it's a sin to waste it, LOL!). Kudo's to wholelattelove.com (HIGHLY Recommended). As far as the "light" color goes, oily black beans clog super-auto machine's grinders so they're usually not recommended. FWIW, the Illy (see below) is black as night and it's pre-ground so I don't have to worry about clogging as I can manually bypass dose the machine. You can do the same with any espresso you buy pre-ground or grind in an external grinder.

Personally, I love the stuff! I was introduced to it by friends who bought a Saeco Incanto Sirius super-auto (HIGHLY Recommended) and use Super Crema and Illy Decaf pre-ground (fantastic, but you need a mortgage to buy the stuff) and I loved them so much I bought my own Sirius and tons of Lavazza (as well as the Illy decaf). I've had the Saeco from Memorial Day to Labor Day this summer and have brewed circa 800(!) shots, going through SIX (6) kilos (13.5#) of Super Crema in the process and have yet to brew a bad shot. It does fine in cappucino and cafe crema as well. I bring 12 shots into work on fridays (bagel day) and everyone loves the stuff...I haven't met one person who didn't enjoy my Super Crema espresso and that's served from a thermos!

Buy a bag and see for yourself....for LESS THAN the price of Starbucks garbage, you can get the real deal here. I just bought six more bags of the stuff...I'm keeping most of it and giving one or two away as gifts to family/friends. Remember the old caveat: there truly is no accounting for taste, LOL!

Enjoy!

If you have a super automatic (like my Saeco Incanto Sirius), and like an excellent Italian espresso or coffee crema, this is it! The beans are traditional European espresso roast. American espresso beans look like they have been dipped in black oil. The color of European espresso is more brown in nature, without the oily residue on the beans--thus no "gunk" to plug up your super automatic.

The flavor is amazing. It is a balanced coffee, with notes of floral and spice.

I was hesitant to spend $25 on a kilo of coffee at first; this is now my regular!

This is the best espresso I've ever tasted. I like it strong and smooth, not bitter. This is rich, with a thick crema (which I think is more due to freshness than anything else. A side benefit--the beans are completely non-oily, which is good news for my fully automatic espresso machine.

Espresso should be dark, rich, and sweet. If you like an ultra-light roast with sour undertones, this is the coffee for you! Very disappointed.

This was one of the worst tasting coffee's I have ever tried. Something must be wrong with the batch, mis packed or everyone else who reviewed this is nuts.

I have to assume there was some kind of problem with the beans. It was bland and lacked flavor. The beans looked nothing like any espresso beans I have ever seen. No real crema, yuck.

Sending them back, why suffer?