Lavazza Super Crema Review 2026: Forgiving Blend

What Is It?

Lavazza Super Crema is a medium-roast Italian espresso blend produced by Luigi Lavazza S.p.A., based in Turin, Italy. It's one of the brand's most popular international blends. The bag specifies an approximately 60% Arabica / 40% Robusta composition, sourced from Central America, Southeast Asia, and Africa.

The name gives away the primary selling point: "Super Crema" refers to the blend's exceptional crema production, which is a direct result of the Robusta content. Robusta beans contribute carbon dioxide retention, proteins, and lipids that create thick, stable crema — the kind of crema that lingers in the cup for roughly two and a half to three minutes rather than dissipating in seconds.

The Arabica component rounds out the flavor profile with sweetness, aromatic complexity, and smoothness, while the Robusta adds body, crema volume, and caffeine kick. It's a classic Italian construction — the same basic architecture that built espresso culture in Naples and Rome.

The 60/40 Arabica-Robusta split in Super Crema is not accidental. This ratio is a deliberate calibration that Lavazza has refined over decades of commercial roasting.

The Arabica fraction — drawn from Latin American and East African origins depending on the harvest — brings aromatic complexity, natural sweetness, and reduced bitterness. You get hazelnut and honey notes, a mild dried-fruit background, and the silky mouthfeel that makes the espresso drinkable without sugar.

The Robusta fraction is where things get interesting for espresso specifically. Quality Robusta, unlike the cheap filler found in budget commercial blends, contributes crema stability, body, and caffeine intensity without introducing the harsh rubber or medicinal notes associated with poor-quality Robusta sources. Lavazza's sourcing is generally solid for a mass-market product; we've never detected the harsh defects that indicate low-grade Robusta.

For home baristas who care about crema quality — and many do, especially those making milk-based drinks — this Arabica/Robusta balance is why Super Crema consistently outperforms pure Arabica blends in the same price bracket for visual crema volume and persistence.

Flavor Profile

Lavazza describes Super Crema as having notes of hazelnut, honey and dried fruit, which aligns pretty closely with what we tasted across multiple sessions.

• Hazelnut: the dominant note, a soft, roasted nuttiness that lingers on the palate without becoming heavy or oily.
• Honey: emerges particularly on the finish, a mild, clean sweetness that makes the shot pleasant without sugar.
• Dried fruit: a background character rather than a foreground note. You might pick up a hint of golden raisin or fig, but it's subtle.
• What's absent: the smoky, tarry or ashy notes that darker roasts often introduce. This is a medium roast, not the ultra-dark style of some Neapolitan blends, so the beans' inherent sweetness remains largely intact.

Straight espresso lovers who prefer bright, acidic or fruity profiles will find Super Crema underwhelming. There's minimal citrus brightness and no berry complexity, and the overall profile is classic and traditional. That's not a flaw, it's the intentional character of the blend.

With steamed milk, Super Crema transforms in a cappuccino or flat white. The hazelnut and honey notes amplify beautifully against whole-milk microfoam. In a 6oz flat white the balance between espresso intensity and milk sweetness was excellent, which is where Super Crema shines and why it's long been used as a café house blend.

Crema is where it stands out, producing some of the most consistent, visually impressive crema we've tested in its price bracket:

• Volume and look: with an 18g dose and 36g yield we consistently got 3–4mm of hazelnut-brown crema with visible tiger striping, the pattern formed by CO2 channels through dense crema that indicates proper extraction.
• Persistence: it lasted about two and a half to three minutes before beginning to dissipate, which is excellent for a bean in this price range.
• Why: the Robusta content is the key driver. Its naturally higher CO2 retention, produced during roasting, is released during extraction and inflates and stabilizes the crema layer. Quality Arabica-only blends can produce decent crema but rarely match the consistency and persistence of a well-constructed Arabica/Robusta blend.
• Latte art: the crema held its structure long enough for simple heart or tulip patterns when milk was poured carefully. Nothing competition-grade, but serviceable for home baristas working on their pouring.

Bag freshness matters significantly for crema quality. We tested bags at three stages: 5 days after opening (excellent crema), 12 days (good crema, slightly less volume) and 21 days (noticeably reduced crema, some flat spots). Buying whole-bean and grinding fresh is the difference between Super Crema's best and average performance.

Espresso Extraction: Dialing In

We dialed in Lavazza Super Crema at 9-bar pump pressure and 93°C, with an 18g dose and a 36g yield. The first pull came out in 26 seconds, marginally fast but within the 25–30 second window we target for Italian-style espresso.

The shot had a clean mouse-tail pull, the thin initial stream thickening to a steady flow without blonding prematurely. In the cup it was a textbook Italian espresso: immediate hazelnut sweetness, low brightness, no significant bitterness and full body.

We then moved the grind coarser and finer to simulate an entry-level grinder:

• 20 seconds (coarser, under-extracted): the shot was noticeably thinner but still drinkable, not sour and not harsh.
• 35 seconds (finer, over-extracted): some mild bitterness appeared but stayed within an acceptable range.

That's what we mean by "forgiving". This blend has a wider acceptable extraction window than many specialty single-origins, which punish grind inconsistencies harshly. For home baristas still learning to dial in, you don't need to be within ±1 second of your target time to get a decent shot.

Testing Setup & Methodology

Testing methodology: we pulled shots at 9 bars using a 58mm professional basket (18g in, 36g out, 26-second pull) as the baseline. We then deliberately under-extracted and over-extracted shots by roughly 6–9 seconds (20 and 35 seconds against the 26-second baseline) to test the blend's forgiveness margin.

At a grind size of 15 on the Sette 30, shots were consistent across three consecutive pulls, with no channeling and even crema.

Brew Results & Takeaways

Compared to fresh specialty roasters in the same sitting: Super Crema can't match the clarity or complexity of a properly sourced Guatemalan single-origin — but that's not the game it's playing. In blind tasting against two other Italian-style blends in the same price bracket, Super Crema produced noticeably thicker crema and slightly more pronounced sweetness.