COFFEE THE
ILLY WAY
We put the “Cru” in Crucial
In coffee lingo, cru refers to the particular beans selected for the blend. So when you drink our coffee you can be sure that you’re drinking only the finest. Furthermore, through our delicate tasting and re-tasting process we ensure that our beans maintain their original characteristics – the reason we chose them in the first place. In fact, we test them up to eight times before they make the cut to be a part of the illy brand.
This process is no easy feat and is left up to the liquorers – the master blenders and taste experts, equipped with the crucial skills and sensitivities needed in determining and selecting the cru.
Who is a liquorer, exactly?
Where it all begins
Originating in the highlands of Ethiopia, Arabica today represents 59% of the word’s coffee production. This shrub is naturally sensitive to hot and humid conditions and thrives at altitudes of over 2000m above sea level. The higher it is grown, the higher quality characteristics during roasting. Of the Coffea species, Arabica is the only one with 44 chromosomes, and chemically the caffeine content varies from 0.9% to 1.7% in each bean’s volume.
Talking about beans…
What ‘good’ looks and tastes like.
Fully fragrant, sweet and round with a slight and pleasant acidity – often chocolaty – followed by an aftertaste of caramel and a mild whisper of bitterness are key tasting notes to look out for when it comes to a well-prepared espresso borne of exclusively high-quality Arabica. And what does it look like? The quintessential rich, creamy layer known as crema, light reddish brown in hue, consistent and painted with tiger-like stripes.

Thinking About Coffee Inside Out
Coffee is delicate and should be treated so. That’s why we pioneered the first-of-its-kind natural pressurization technology to keep our coffee fresher for longer. 40% of vital aromas are lost after only eight hours of contact with air when it comes to roasted coffee. That goes for common vacuum packed coffee and it’s even worse for soft bags. We had to do something about this.
Coffee is something to overcome all senses, so by packaging illy coffee in cans along with inert nitrogen under pressure, we are able to trap essential aromas and protect them for over a year. Further to this, just by being packaged in this manner helps illy coffee become even rounder than when it was when it was first packaged on account of emerging oils mingling with one another, similar to how a fine wine matures in its bottle.
So next time you open a can of illy, breath in deep the alluring aroma and listen for the signature “whoosh”. That’s the sound of fresh coffee at its freshest.
Oh, and the can is recyclable too.
Coffee is a ritual
Coffee was made to overcome all your senses. illy coffee has all five senses well-and-truly satisfied.

Coffee as a ritual // ITALY
It may only be 10th on the world coffee consumption list, but Italy is largely known as the genesis of espresso and plays HQ to a number of major international coffee roasters. Not only that, it is also credited with giving rise to the coffee bar – the first dating back to 1645 in Venice – where an espresso is usually accompanied by a hint (if any) of sugar. Today, Naples is credited with much of coffee’s modern character. Bellissimo.

Coffee as a ritual // FRANCE
With a history and heritage of coffee dating back to the times of Voltaire and Honore de Balzac between 1600 and 1800, Parisian cafés are a rite of passage. For locals, brewed coffee goes best with croissants and baguettes from their local roasteries. Head to the north to enjoy a “long” espresso with a little more volume than the typical 30ml.

Coffee as a ritual // U.S.
Everything is bigger in the USA, and while espresso, cappuccino and latte are familiar favourites, nothing beats brewed coffee in big cups to meet their range in taste and strength preference. Any time of day is a good time for coffee, which makes it understandable that the U.S is the biggest coffee consuming nation in terms of volume. Side note: Brazil is the biggest producer of coffee.

Coffee as a ritual // TURKEY
Coffee has been a staple beverage since the mid 1500s thanks to the Syrian merchants coming to Instanbul. Since then coffee has rooted itself firmly in Turkey’s society, politics, hospitality and even religious life. Times may have changed since young women in harems would judge an artisan’s coffee prep skills, but one thing remains the same; a coffee shared with someone ensures 40 years of friendship to follow.

Coffee as a ritual // AUSTRIA
After the Turkish retreat in 1683, a number of precious bags of coffee were left behind in Vienna: lucky for the Viennese. From then, they made coffee their own and have since invented around 50 different ways to prepare coffee. Serving suggestion: slice of cake and a newspaper.