Illy Coffee. Ultimate Factories

Lwowiak

Season 5. Episode 18.
Currently on 7mate.
Quite an interesting show, showcasing the Illy factory.
Worth viewing.

I haven't seen any coffee shops (in Australia), using the tins in their grinder hopper. Not recently. A few years back quite a few establishments had them. In Europe, I came across quite a few, and enjoyed the espresso served. Mind you, the shops were busy, so there was a good turnaround of coffee, and it was definitelt fresh. I am not sure how long the coffee lasts once the tins are opened, I believe it deteriorates quite quickly.

In the TV show, they mentioned some of the coffee is aged from 3 to 20 days before it is packaged.
The other interesting aspect was the three stage roasting process. Drying, Roasting and then cooling. Each step taking 15-20 minutes.

I believe the episode will air a few times this weekend.

Brett_H

Excellent!! Thanks for the head's up mate!!! Cheers BH

mycuppa

Have seen this documentary before and it's impressive. Was utterly fascinating to witness such incredible investment into quality. It's just mind-blowing to see the scale and capabilities of their entire campus. Puts every Australian coffee industry players to shame ! Their Super-Taster's are like the top of the temple in the world of coffee. Imagine the golden handcuffs on those rare, talented individuals - keeping the Illy secret recipe alive and enduring through the ages. Considering the role of robusta in the Italian coffee scene, for Illy to produce a superior product using just arabica demonstrates Illy's supreme skill and above all perseverance. They really stand out alone in the Italian market and the world stage in terms of sheer quality. I don't know enough about the Italian coffee industry, but I've often heard that Lavazza is the largest company, but its not clear to me the size differences between Lavazza and Illy and whether Lavazza's change in direction a few years ago to de-centralize it's operations means they have more international investments and remote facilities. It would be interesting to know when the documentary was made and to understand if Illy's presence/footprint/volume has changed from greater competition with the rise of specialty coffee, the explosion in the number of roasted coffee brands and more importantly the changing tastes and preferences of coffee drinkers that enjoy trying or sampling new concepts and flavor experiences. In my mind, it's a difficult proposition to focus the entire coffee spectrum on a single, unified outcome. These day's it would be a risk to play that game, but obviously for Illy it's worked out well - and deservedly so.

askthecoffeeguy

mycuppa wrote:

Have seen this documentary before and it's impressive. Was utterly fascinating to witness such incredible investment into quality. It's just mind-blowing to see the scale and capabilities of their entire campus. Puts every Australian coffee industry players to shame ! Their Super-Taster's are like the top of the temple in the world of coffee. Imagine the golden handcuffs on those rare, talented individuals - keeping the Illy secret recipe alive and enduring through the ages. Considering the role of robusta in the Italian coffee scene, for Illy to produce a superior product using just arabica demonstrates Illy's supreme skill and above all perseverance. They really stand out alone in the Italian market and the world stage in terms of sheer quality. I don't know enough about the Italian coffee industry, but I've often heard that Lavazza is the largest company, but its not clear to me the size differences between Lavazza and Illy and whether Lavazza's change in direction a few years ago to de-centralize it's operations means they have more international investments and remote facilities. It would be interesting to know when the documentary was made and to understand if Illy's presence/footprint/volume has changed from greater competition with the rise of specialty coffee, the explosion in the number of roasted coffee brands and more importantly the changing tastes and preferences of coffee drinkers that enjoy trying or sampling new concepts and flavor experiences. In my mind, it's a difficult proposition to focus the entire coffee spectrum on a single, unified outcome. These day's it would be a risk to play that game, but obviously for Illy it's worked out well - and deservedly so.

I heard that Segafredo was actually more prevalent throughout Europe, but that was a few years ago, not sure now who the market leader is... pat

artman

It was very interesting to see the huge facility. Impressive tins! The ageing of the beans got me. My thoughts were “we let the coffee go stale during it most flavoursome period”. Anyone else find that bizarre? Cheers