What are Lavazza Tablì Espresso Double Tabs?
One pressed tab that brews two shots, and the cheapest cup in the Tablì range because of it.
Every other tab Lavazza makes brews one drink. This one brews two: with the machine's tiltable spout down it fills two cups, and with the spout up it puts a double into one. Lavazza rates the blend at intensity 11 on its own 13-point scale, calls it a dark roast, and describes spice with a lingering aftertaste of cocoa and toasted biscuit. A box holds 48 and costs $52.80.
This review covers what Lavazza publishes and what the arithmetic says next to the rest of the catalogue. The flavour description is Lavazza's own, not ours.
The only tab that gets cheaper the more you drink
A Tablì box is priced by the tab, not by the shot, and this is the one tab where those are different numbers. At $52.80 for 48 a tab costs $1.10, and because it brews two shots, a shot costs 55 cents.
Put next to the alternative inside the same system, that is a large gap. A double made from two Tablì Espresso tabs costs $2.00 and takes two goes at the machine; a double from one of these costs $1.10 and takes one. Nothing else in the range comes close, and a household that drinks doubles is paying nearly twice as much for every cup it makes the other way.
It also changes how the system compares with everything else. At 55 cents a shot this undercuts every Nespresso Original capsule on this site, which run 90 cents to a dollar, and sits under the K-Cup median as well. The rest of the Tablì range cannot say that.
Where it sits in the range
Intensity on a pod box is a house scale rather than a measurement, so it is worth reading only against the same company's other coffees. On Lavazza's 13-point scale this is the top of the Tablì range at 11, above the Super Crema tab at 10, the Espresso tab at 8, the Tablì Decaf tab at 7 and the Lungo tab at 6.
Lavazza also publishes a roast level for this blend, which it does not do for the others in the range: dark. That fits the description, and it is the reason this is the tab to reach for if the coffee is going into milk, where a lighter blend gets lost.
What it makes
Two espressos, or one double. The Lavazza Tablì Espresso Machine has a spout that tilts: down, it splits the brew into two cups; up, it sends the lot into one. That is the whole mechanism, and it is worth knowing before you buy, because a household of two gets two coffees per tab and a single drinker gets one big one.
What a double actually is, and why its size is not a matter of taste, is in what espresso is. If the two shots are going into milk, the drinks they make are in what a cappuccino is.
Which machine it fits
One. Tabs fit the Tablì machine and nothing else. No third party makes a compatible tab and no reusable tab exists, so buying into this blend is buying into that machine for as long as you own it. The system as a whole, machine and tabs together, is on the Lavazza Tablì page.
What Lavazza does not publish
The dose. Lavazza says this tab brews two shots but does not say how much coffee is in it, so there is no way to check whether a Double tab holds twice what an Espresso tab holds or something less than that. Nor is there an origin or a species for the blend, which is normal for single-serve coffee and still the thing that stops a tab being compared with a bag that carries a roast date.
The freshness question applies here as everywhere in the format. A tab has no sealed wrapper of its own; what protects it is the paper tray sealed with plastic film that the tabs come in, and Lavazza does not publish how long a tab keeps once the tray is open. What air and heat do to ground coffee meanwhile is in how to store coffee.
Is it worth it?
Of the six boxes Lavazza sells for this machine, this is the one that makes the strongest case. It is the cheapest coffee in the system per shot, the strongest in the range, the only one with a published roast level, and the only tab that beats mainstream capsules on price rather than matching them.
It is the wrong box for a household that drinks one small espresso a day, because then $1.10 buys one shot and the Espresso tab buys the same thing for a dollar. Everything here depends on the second shot being drunk rather than poured away.
Who should buy it (and who should not)
Buy it if
- You drink doubles, or there are two of you drinking at the same time.
- You want the strongest coffee the machine can make, or you are putting it into milk.
- You want the cheapest cup the Tablì system offers.
Skip it if
- You do not own the machine; nothing else brews a tab.
- You drink one short espresso at a time and would waste the second shot.
- You find dark roasts harsh; the Lungo tab is the other end of the range.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many shots does a Tablì Double tab make?
Two. With the machine's spout down it fills two cups, and with the spout up it puts a double into one.
What does a Tablì Double tab cost per cup?
$1.10 for the tab, which is 55 cents a shot. A box of 48 is $52.80.
How strong is the Tablì Espresso Double?
Lavazza rates it 11 on its own 13-point scale, the strongest tab in the Tablì range, and publishes the roast as dark.
Do Tablì Double tabs need recycling?
Not the tab itself: it is pressed coffee, so a spent tab is wet grounds, which Lavazza says can be thrown away or composted. The packaging does. The paper trays and box go out under your local recycling rules, and each tray is sealed with plastic film.
Can I use Tablì Double tabs in a Nespresso machine?
No. Lavazza states the tabs work exclusively with Tablì machines.
