Attended an Illy Coffee Lesson

Last week I had the opportunity of attending a real coffee lesson for the first time!
The lesson was directed by Diego Allaix, who is the Vice-Director at the University of Coffee in Trieste, Italy. Mr. Diego was invited to give an exclusive lesson by the coffee brand Illy, since they’re launching 3 new coffee flavors under the name: Monoarabica.
Illy’s main coffee is made out of 9 different flavors and they’ve chosen 3 predominant ones to sell them separately. They come from the countries: Brazil, Guatemala and Ethiopia. My recommendation: Guatemala. It has a very friendly taste, not too strong. The predominant aroma’s in this coffee are: chocolate, caramel, citric fruits and honey.
The lesson was super interesting! I had no idea there’s so much you can learn about coffee:
1. 7 grams is the perfect dosage for a cup of coffee.
2. Water temperature must be 88°/92°
3. Extraction pression: 9 bar
4. Duration: 30 seconds
5. Volume: 25-30 mililiters
Depending on where coffee grows, the taste may vary. For example, my favorite flavor (Guatemala) is grown in higher ground and it’s hand-picked, making the taste different from the others. The soil is a very big factor in coffee beans’ taste.
There are so many different aroma’s that you can find in coffee: wood, burnt, fruit, flowers, grilled bread, caramel, chocolate, etc. Who would’ve guessed?
I had the opportunity of interviewing Mr. Diego Allaix and ask about the recommended use for coffee: Beans vs Capsules, you’ll be able to find that interview + some scenes of what took place during the coffee lesson in my video here:

I hope we all learned something new about coffee! I was personally amazed by this world.
I want to thank everyone at Illy, Mr. Diego and UPR Belgium for inviting me to this lesson, it was an amazing experience!
Buen provecho,
xoxo.
University of Coffe – Trieste, Italy
www.unicaffe.it
Illy:
www.illy.com