"Illy" news and stories

For all those coffee enthusiasts out there, this year you'll want to remember April 15th not just because it's tax day. The company illy is offering a deal on their brand new espresso machine. After June 30th, it will cost approximately $695. If you purchase this new machine before June 30th, you'll just pay $150.

They are advertising the offer as a "stimulus package that will give back for years to come." After purchasing the iperEspresso machine you can enroll in their automatic coffee delivery program. Illy affirms that their new iperEspresso machine makes an "extraordinarily smooth and full-bodied" coffee.

While I would hardly claim to be a coffee expert, I must admit that I'm a huge fan of illy's coffee. In a recent post from Bruce Watson, he admits that illy's coffee is close to perfect. So, luckily this year when tax day comes around, we'll have something else to distract us and look forward to.

In my ever-increasing attempts to save money, I recently decided to cut back on my coffee expenditures. While I get most of my coffee from my local corner store, where it only costs $1.20 a cup, even that price starts to add up, particularly when I am hard-pressed to come up with something to write about and the caffeine monster beckons.

Choosing coffee isn't such an easy thing. I've tried quite a few brands, generally with mixed success. My wife swears by Illy, an Italian coffee that, I must admit, is damn near perfect. Still, at $12 per can, it's pricey and, given that I am a cream-and-sugar guy, its transcendent wonder is somewhat wasted on me.

I recently retried Café Du Monde, a New Orleans chicory-enhanced coffee that I used to love in college. I don't know if my tastes have changed, or if the coffee has gone downhill, but the last can I bought tasted like incinerated cat turds. Seriously, I don't want to be mean, but it was positively unholy. Bru, on the other hand, is a chicory blend with a solid taste and a good price point; unfortunately, it is sometimes hard to come by. If I'm going to get addicted to a brand, I need a consistent supply!

I have a friend who proudly states that she made her husband fall in love with her on their first date by serving him an espresso martini. I have had the opportunity to taste one of these love-inducing cocktails and can vouch for their potency.

I don't have the recipe for the drink she makes, but over at the Epi-Log, Michael Y. Park has posted five espresso-based cocktail recipes created by Illy's master barista Giorgios Milos that blend espresso with spirits, liqueurs and oftentimes, ice cream. Milos flew into New York City and demonstrated all the recipes at the Mobile Illy Cafe that is currently set up in the Time Warner Center until the end of the month. You can choose from a Coffee Mojito, a Tiramisu-inspired concoction, Jamaican Coffee, Light Coffee Cocoa or an American Wings (which uses two different kinds of ice cream, coffee liqueur and whiskey to appealing effect).

Did you know that the invention of the espresso machine can be traced back to Illy? Me neither. But it all makes sense.

I learned this fascinating fact this morning in a New York Times article that details parent company Illycaffè's strategy to maintain its grounds in what's become an increasingly global and competitive coffee bar arena. The company had sought to have the name espresso legally protected so it could only be used by Italian espresso makers. As any Starbucks fan knows this effort failed; Illycaffè was told that espresso is a generic term that cannot be assigned to any particular nation.

Illy's new strategy is to make customers view espresso as fashionable. Of course espresso was considered a sophisticated drink long before Starbucks brought the frappuccino into vogue. After all, the idea of café society has existed since the 1800s. It seems the espresso pioneer aims to make the beverage even more fashionable. It has opened a chain of espresso bars called Espressamente that with cups and saucers designed by the likes of Jeff Koons look more like fashion boutiques than typical Italian espresso bars.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to Starbucks for my afternoon jolt, but only because there's no Espressamente in my nabe.

Source

I recently set up my home espresso machine. I am not an espresso novice, but this is the first machine I’ve had in my own kitchen. Based upon careful research, I selected the best machine I could find. And by “careful research”, I mean to say that I got a good deal on a good-looking machine. Fortunately for me, it is also an excellent machine that offers great performance, especially for a countertop model. It has a 15-BAR pressure pump and high quality brass hadware inside. The sleek, retro styling and small size are nice bonuses, in my opinon.  I have a Francis!Francis! X3.