Possibly the best in its price range   January 26, 2004

Here is my review of the product itself.
Among coffees in this price range, I haven't been able to find anything better.
I am an italian who came to US 6 years ago (I think it is relevant to readers) and Illy is an italian brand. I claim my review does not have any shallow food-nationalism bias, but it might well be that I am influnced by my upbringing.
This coffee is roasted much less than what americans are used to think as the "italian roast", Illy calls it "medium roast". It is roasted less than ANY Starbucks coffee I tried so far. The roasting type can be seen by comparing the colour of the powder. This particular Illy is lighter in color and it is bit reddish. It's color is close to the color of cocoa poweder (I mean cocoa powder processed with alkali).
The roasting is key for me because I dislike any coffee which tastes of burnt -- Illy does not.
It's flavor is marked enough to fully come through even when drank with milk in a 50% coffee 50% milk proportion. It actually still tastes of coffee in this proportions.
Some people prefer Illy Dark Roast (the silver and black) to make espresso, but I prefer the flavor of Medium Roast even to make espresso.
I prepare it with a stove-top espresso machine, such as Bialetti.
This particular tin I am reviewing contains coffee beans, an identical tin (the lid is different) containing grounded coffee (same blend) also exists. The grounded one is grounded having in mind stove-top esperesso machine, which is a powder barely coarser than the one for true electric espresso machines (it can be used in them too) and much finer than grounds for dripping machines.
As you probably know, coffee should be drank very soon after roasting. In general this is true. Illy is one of the leaders in vacuum paking, so the shelf-life of its coffee is very long. The metal can is not just for beauty: it does keep the air out better then bags. Still, you don't want to buy it from a merchant who had it on its shelf forever.
All in all, there is better coffee around, but I can't find any better for this price either for delivery on the internet or from small roasters who roast their own coffee in the New Haven area.