The Coffee Served in Italian Coffee Shops

Francesco Illy, my grandfather, began production of this tin in 1934, the year when he patented the pressurisation principle. Now we find it on the grinders used in more than 20,000 coffee shops, restaurants and hotels in over 140 countries throughout the world: why? Because, at the time, my...

Personalmente sono inorridito quando ho scoperto che 1 litro di benzina, che pesa 770 grammi, si trasforma per combustione in più di 2,3 chilogrammi di CO2! Ovvero se uno consumasse 1.000 litri di benzina all’anno produrrebbe più CO2 di quanta potrebbe essere sequestrata da mezzo ettaro di bosco...

Why is illy (Amici in Switzerland) the only blend sold in the same composition and the same roast in over 140 countries throughout the world? You would probably say that it’s because it’s the coffee that people like best! But what exactly is it that makes it so appealing to people in all these...

This is why, in 1982, after endless discussions, my father accepted my proposal to eliminate that final residue of Robusta (Coffea Canephora): I found the smell of Robusta unbearable and I was right. Since then, the Amici blend has been made exclusively with the finest Arabica coffees in the...

We offer a unique blend, the Amici blend, always with exactly the same sensorial characteristics all over the world, because we believe that this blend is the highest level of excellence that we can achieve. But to maintain the aroma and taste of our blend constant, we have to keep adjusting it...

Buying the finest Arabica coffees available doesn’t mean having a perfect raw material: indeed, as already mentioned, the “aroma turbo” effect due to pressurisation implicates a considerable increase in unpleasant smells too, caused by defective beans. We have to eliminate them. In the...

Our roasting procedure lasts 12 minutes and the temperature curve, determined by our grandfather Francesco and perfected by our father Ernesto, who was a chemist, is subject to the strictest controls. The initial energy is very high. Then, as the temperature gradually rises, it is dosed until it...

These values are of the utmost importance for the final sensorial result. The ratios between acidity and bitterness are directly related to the final temperature: a very light coloured coffee, like our ICC Roast degree, which comes out at about 218° C, is only very slightly bitter, with a strong...

In the 3 kg tin, our coffee just gets better and better as time goes by: if we see the first jump in quality during the first 15 days of “ageing”, thanks to the setting of the aromas in the fat, this phenomenon is not zeroed after this period of time. It simply slows down, continuing to improve...