Introduction

This is a review of the Cafe La Llave coffee capsule for the Original Line Nespresso machine. Each capsule contains 5.3 grams of coffee, and the packaging doesn’t mention what type of beans are use. I checked their website(https://www.gavina.com/) and it does say they use only arabicas. This is supposed to be “Latin-style” Cuban coffee, so possibly the beans are from Latin America (just guessing though). The coffee intensity is rated at 11, and says they can be brewed either as ristretto size or espresso size cup.

The Cafe La Llave capsules are nicely packed in a rectangular box, and is much smaller in size than most Nespresso compatible boxes. On the side of the box is a best before date, and mine were dated for August 2022, which is about 10 months from my purchase on Amazon. The capsules are plastic, but they look very well made, and I can see a dome on the foil lids, so possibly there is nitrogen inside (not certain). The Cafe La Llave is also roasted and packaged in the Los Angeles area (Vernon, CA) by F. Gaviña & Sons, Inc., who also make the Don Francisco’s coffee line.

Aroma

The Cafe La Llave has good chocolate and light woody or spicy like notes. The crema is bubbly and light colored.

Taste

All I can say is “wow”! The Cafe La Llave tastes very nice indeed! It is intense with both sweet and bitter notes and is creamy tasting in the mouth. It has a very thick mouthfeel, and kind of reminds me of the Nespresso Kazaar capsule, but different. This has intense spice like tastes to it.

Honest to say, I find these Cafe La Llave to be way better than any of the Peet’s or Illy Nespresso compatible capsules that I’ve tried, and even as good as Nespresso’s coffee and you can buy them at a much lower cost.

Result

The Cafe La Llave is definitely a must get, just to try it out. I consider this is one of the best 3rd party Nespresso capsules that I’ve tried, and it will not disappoint. For 3rd party capsules, my second most favorite one is Colonna, but they generally have only very light coffees. I guess the only additional thing I should mention, is that if you don’t like intense coffees, then you probably won’t like this one.

I consider this coffee to be way better than the Nespresso Cafecito de Cuba coffee, especially if you like intense Cuban style coffee. I find the Cafecito de Cuba has more tobacco notes, which I don’t really like, but this one is a much smoother drinking coffee. Gaviña & Sons also makes the Don Francisco’s capsules for Nespresso, which now that I’ve tried the Cafe La Llave I will try those out at some point. I’m just really impressed. NOTE: You can buy these on Amazon at a much cheaper price ($0.47 USD a capsule).

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