Three coffees for home espresso, from crema-heavy to bright

The best coffee beans for espresso on most home machines in the UK are a medium to dark blend: Lavazza Crema e Aroma is the cheap, crema-heavy option with robusta in it, and Rave The Italian Job Nº 2 is a speciality roaster's darker blend that Rave says punches through milk. If your grinder and machine can handle a lighter roast, Ue Coffee Roasters' Guatemala Seasonal Espresso is a washed single origin that its roaster describes as citrus and caramel rather than roast.

Which coffee beans make the best espresso at home?

For most home setups, a blend roasted medium-dark or darker. Kev at Coffee Blog, who now sells his own blends, puts it plainly: 'blends are more forgiving for espresso than single-origin coffees, and darker roasts are more forgiving as well.' A forgiving coffee still tastes good when the grind, dose or temperature is slightly off, which on an entry-level grinder it often will be. Single origins can taste better, but Kev warns that some, 'particularly high-grown, washed-processed varieties', are hard work on entry-level kit.

The three picks below run from forgiving to demanding. Every per-cup price on this page is for an 18g dose, which is a double shot on Union Hand-Roasted's espresso recipe of 17 to 19g in and 28 to 36g out over 22 to 30 seconds.

Lavazza Crema e Aroma: best for crema

Lavazza Crema e Aroma is a blend of arabica and robusta from Africa, Asia and South America, roasted to medium. Lavazza rates it 8 out of 10 on its own intensity scale, where Qualità Rossa sits at 5, describes notes of chocolate and calls it 'ideal for milk recipes'. As the name promises, Lavazza sells it on its crema, and the robusta is what does that work: good robusta goes into Italian espresso blends 'to provide a full-bodied taste and a better foam head (known as crema)', in the words of Wikipedia's entry on the species.

It cost around 37p a cup when we last checked, about 26p under the 63p median for whole bean coffee. Independent write-ups of this particular blend are thin, so the description here is Lavazza's. Lavazza does not publish the arabica to robusta ratio.

Skip it if you drink espresso black and dislike bitterness, since robusta brings more of it than arabica does.

Lavazza Qualità Rossa, the milder arabica and robusta kilo on the same intensity scale, is reviewed in full. Lavazza Qualità Rossa review

Rave The Italian Job Nº 2: best for flat whites

Rave calls The Italian Job Nº 2 its take on the continental blend: 'We roast this blend darker than our usual style and added a splash of high-quality Robusta.' The result, Rave says, punches through milk and 'delivers a welcome kick of caffeine', with notes of walnut and dark chocolate. Rave rates it 5 for roast, against 4 for its Signature Blend Nº 1.

Two bloggers have written it up. The Ninja Refinery blog brewed it five ways, espresso included, and described 'a rich, very round and almost "thick" drink' with 'a lovely cakey sweetness' and a dark chocolate aftertaste. H is for Home, writing about a taster pack Rave sent for review, called it the strongest of the three blends in the pack, 'yet has a smoothness and nuttiness that works in a classic espresso, doppio or macchiato'.

It cost around 59p a cup in the kilo bag when we last checked, just under the 63p median; the 250g bag works out at about 85p. Skip it if you want a light, fruity shot: Rave roasts it darker than its usual style, and says so.

Rave's lighter, more versatile house blend, and how its owners split between espresso and filter, is reviewed in full. Rave Signature Blend Nº 1 review

Ue Coffee Roasters Guatemala Seasonal Espresso: best single origin

Ue Coffee Roasters sources this coffee from the Zacapa region of Guatemala, near the Honduran border, through the FEDECOCAGUA cooperative of smallholders. The cherries are hand-picked, pulped, fermented and patio-dried, which is the washed process, and Ue's own page for its Zacapa coffee gives the altitude as 900 to 1,100 metres and the varieties as Bourbon, Catuai, Pache and Typica. The espresso listing describes sweet citrus, caramelised sugar and a nutty finish with 'lively acidity', and marks the roast as light.

That is the opposite end of espresso from the two blends. Kev notes that some single origins are a real challenge for entry-level grinders and need a higher brew temperature than some entry-level machines can deliver, and his warning about washed coffees applies here. Ue says it works in milk too, with the citrus softening and the caramel staying. There is no independent review of it yet, so every flavour word above is Ue's.

It cost around 54p a cup when we last checked. Skip it if you have a pressurised basket or a budget grinder, or if what you want from espresso is chocolate and body.

Another single origin kilo, a natural-process Brazilian at the gentle end of the scale, is reviewed in full. Segafredo Single Origin Brasil review

How do the three compare?

The two blends carry robusta and the single origin does not. Crema e Aroma is the cheapest at around 37p a cup, 22p less than The Italian Job, which at two double shots a day is about £161 a year.

A year of two doubles a day is 730 doses: about £270 for Crema e Aroma, £394 for the Guatemala and £431 for The Italian Job, against £460 at the median. The cards at the top carry today's prices.

Is a blend or a single origin better for espresso?

A blend, unless you already know you like bright espresso and own the kit for it. A blend is built for a steady, balanced flavour; a single origin shows what one place tastes like, and espresso concentrates its acidity along with everything else.

Union Revelation is the blend that most clearly shows what a blend is for: Union's founders built it to come through milk in a large café drink. Union Revelation review

Does espresso need a dark roast?

No. Wikipedia's article on espresso calls the dark-roast idea a 'widespread myth' and notes that any bean or roast can make espresso: in southern Italy a darker roast is generally preferred, and further north the trend moves lighter. What a darker roast buys you at home is forgiveness. Kev's advice is that a medium/dark or dark blend is easier to get a good shot from on an entry-level setup than a medium-roast single origin.

What does 'espresso roast' on a bag mean?

It means the roaster intends the coffee for espresso, and nothing more precise than that. Coffee Blog says there is 'no such thing as espresso coffee beans' and that any beans can be used for espresso. There is no standard behind the word either: Ue's Guatemala is sold as an espresso and listed as a light roast, while The Italian Job is sold for espresso as a dark one. Read the roast level, the beans and the tasting notes, not the word.

Does robusta give better crema?

Thicker crema, yes, at the cost of more bitterness. Good robusta is used in Italian espresso blends for body and crema, and Wikipedia notes it is usually more bitter than arabica. Coffee Blog says Italian blends are commonly 20% or so robusta, sometimes more, roasted dark. Taylors of Harrogate's coffee team describes robusta as toasty and spiced with a heavy body, carrying almost twice the caffeine of arabica.

Who should skip all three?

• Bean-to-cup owners. Medium roasts with a matt surface suit those machines better, and the bean-to-cup shortlist picks three.
• Anyone with a machine that only takes pre-ground coffee or ESE pods. Buy ground espresso instead.
• Anyone cutting caffeine. All three are caffeinated, and two have robusta in them; the decaf shortlist has dark decafs for espresso.

The verdict

Buy Lavazza Crema e Aroma if you are learning espresso and want crema and body for little money. Buy Rave The Italian Job Nº 2 if your drinks are mostly flat whites and cappuccinos and you want a fresher speciality blend. Buy Ue Coffee Roasters' Guatemala Seasonal Espresso only if your grinder and machine are up to a light roast and you want espresso that tastes of fruit rather than roast.