Amigos Extra Bar and Blue ESE Espresso Pod Review

Amigos Caffee was founded in 1980 by Severino Mingardi as a family business because he wanted more for his family. Located in Trieste Italy, the family run business has grown and moved twice as a result of their European and worldwide demand behind their coffee products. They have 3 ESE Espresso products, the Amigo Extra Bar, Amigo Blue and Amigo Decaf.

I went ahead and got the caffeinated blends, the Amigos Extra Bar and the Amigos Blue.

Amigos Caffee Blue - When you rip into the foil pack, the pod has a nicely roasted and complex aroma, with a slightly acidic note. In brewing the pod, you get a nice cup with a good crema The espresso is acidic with a hardy and bittersweet chocolate flavor that is slightly thin upfront with a flavorful back end. When put into a latte, the lighter front end is unfortunately too light for me and it doesn't quite come through as powerfully as I wanted. Some sugar does help bring out the mocha flavors hidden in there.

Amigos Caffee Extra Bar - again ripping into the foil pack releases a pleasant aroma that has some nice dark roasted notes. The crema on the cup is good, and it rewards you with a dark roasted and well rounded flavor with a clean finish; not dirty or robusta-like, with a slightly green/grassy flavor. When put into a latte, the flavors really come through well, early and late, with a lot of mocha and rounded roasted flavors present.

If I had to choose, I would go with the hardier Amigos Caffee Extra Bar pods over the Amigos Caffee Blue, as they weren't quite up to the task that I wanted to see with a strong flavor and a versatile pod that can do good shots of espresso and make an occasional latte too.

These ESE Espresso pods are made to be used in popular makers like the Breville Café Roma, the Krups XP4050, and the DeLonghi EC155 espresso machines; all have the ability to use ESE Espresso pods.

Available at PodMerchant and through Amazon.

February 27, 2007

Amigos Extra Bar and Blue ESE Espresso Pod Review