What are Lavazza Tablì Super Crema Tabs?
The fullest of the everyday Tablì tabs, and the one built for a crema.
Super Crema is a name Lavazza has used on its beans for years, and here it is a pressed tab for the Tablì machine. Lavazza puts it at intensity 10 of 13, describes it as full bodied with a velvety crema and irresistible notes of roasted hazelnut, and sells 48 for $48.00. Like every tab, it has no packaging around the coffee.
What follows is the published specification measured against the rest of the catalogue. The flavour words are Lavazza's.
Where it sits in the range
Three of the six tabs make a single shot, and this is the strongest of them: intensity 10, against 8 for the Lavazza Tablì Espresso Tabs and 7 for the Tablì Decaf tab. Only the Double tab is rated higher, at 11, and that one brews two shots rather than a stronger one.
Intensity on a maker's own scale is a guide to its own range and nothing more. What it tells you here is useful anyway: this is the Tablì to reach for if your espresso disappears into milk, and the milder Espresso tab is the one to reach for if you drink it straight and want the floral side.
One tab, one shot
This is a single-shot tab. If you drink doubles, two of them is two dollars, where Lavazza's Espresso Double tab makes both shots from one at $1.10, which is the cheaper way to a double even though its box costs more. For a single-shot household the arithmetic runs the other way and this box is the better buy.
There is nothing to adjust in either case. The machine sets the dose and the extraction, so strength is chosen at the shop rather than at the counter, which is the trade single serve always makes. It is worth being clear about what that costs you: a bag of beans and a grinder let you change the dose, the grind and the water, and a tab lets you change the box. What those levers actually do, if you ever want them, is set out in what espresso is.
The milk problem, and it is the machine's not the tab's
A hazelnut-heavy, full-bodied espresso is a cappuccino blend. The Tablì machine does not steam milk: it brews espresso, lungo and a double, and Lavazza sells a milk frother as a separate accessory. So the blend most suited to milk drinks is sold for a machine that cannot make one without another purchase. That is worth knowing before you buy 48 of them.
Cost, and the size of the commitment
$48.00 for 48 tabs is $1.00 a shot, the same as the Espresso and Decaf boxes and at the top of what Nespresso Original capsules cost here. The tab has no capsule to recycle, which is the trade the whole system offers.
The commitment is the box. Forty-eight shots is six weeks of one coffee a day, and Lavazza sells no smaller pack of a single blend. The Variety Collection holds twelve of each of the five blends, which is the sensible way to find out whether this is the one you want 48 of.
No wrapper, and what that leaves open
Tabs have no individual packaging, which is the point of the format and also the thing Lavazza says least about. A capsule is sealed until it is pierced; a tab is protected by the box it came in, and nothing is published about how long one keeps after that box is opened.
It matters slightly more for this blend than for the milder ones. A fuller, oilier roast is the kind that shows staleness first, and 48 tabs is six weeks at a shot a day. Keep the box closed, cool and dark on the reasoning in how to store coffee, and ask the retailer whether a date is printed on the pack.
Super Crema against the rest of the shelf
A dollar a shot is what the dearer Nespresso Original capsules cost here, and about 36 cents more than the cheapest K-Cup pods. Both of those systems sell a full-bodied, nutty espresso of their own, and both let you buy it in tens.
The trade is the one the format asks of everybody: one supplier and a 48-count box, in exchange for no capsule at the end of it. If that appeals, this is the blend in the range that behaves most like the espresso people already drink.
Is it worth it?
Worth it if you have the machine and take milk, or if you like a fuller, nuttier espresso and would rather not deal with capsules. The price is ordinary for single serve, the format is not.
Less worth it if you are still deciding. Buy the Variety Collection first, because this is the blend people either settle on or find too much, and 48 is a long time to be wrong.
Who should buy it (and who should not)
Buy it if
- Your espresso usually goes into milk.
- You want the fullest single-shot tab Lavazza makes.
- You already know you like Lavazza's Super Crema profile.
Skip it if
- You drink espresso straight and prefer a lighter, floral cup.
- You have not tried the range yet.
- You want a published origin and roast level.
Frequently Asked Questions
How strong is the Super Crema tab?
Lavazza rates it 10 on its own 13-point intensity scale, the fullest of the single-shot tabs.
Is Super Crema the same as the Lavazza Super Crema beans?
Lavazza uses the name across formats, but it publishes no blend or origin detail for the tab, so the two cannot be assumed to be the same coffee.
What does a Super Crema tab cost?
$1.00 a tab, in a box of 48 for $48.00.
Can the Tablì machine make a cappuccino?
Not by itself. It brews espresso, lungo and a double; Lavazza sells a separate Tablì milk frother.
Is there packaging around a Tablì tab?
No. The tab is pressed coffee brewed without individual packaging.
