About illy
illycaffè was founded in Trieste, Italy in 1933 by Francesco Illy, and the family has run it ever since -- his son Ernesto built out the company's coffee-science credentials, and his grandson Andrea Illy has led it as chairman in more recent years. Trieste has been a coffee-import port since the 1600s, and illy has stayed headquartered there through nine decades of growth into a brand now sold in more than 140 countries. The company's best-known early invention, the 1935 illetta, is widely credited as a forerunner of the modern espresso machine, and illy's pressurized packaging -- still the format its whole-bean cans ship in today -- was one of the innovations that let the beans travel and stay fresh internationally starting in the 1940s.
illy built its identity around a single, unchanging idea rather than a wide product catalog: one signature nine-bean 100% Arabica blend, sourced from the same origin regions and roasted to the same house profile whether it is sold as whole bean, ground, or espresso capsules. The company founded its own University of Coffee in 1999 to train baristas and roasters worldwide, and it also funds the Ernesto Illy International Coffee Award, which recognizes growers across its supply chain each year. illy became the first Italian coffee company to earn B Corp certification in 2021. On our own bench, that single-blend discipline shows up as consistency: both illy cans we tested are 100% Arabica, low-oil, and roasted specifically to be gentle on a machine's grinder -- a level of surface control we don't see from most competing bags.
Brand website: illy.com
What illy makes
illy's range runs wider than the products we review. The lines we know best from our own testing are marked with a star:
Classico
the signature medium-roast nine-bean Arabica blend -- our featured super-automatic-friendly pick — featured on Brew Gazette
Intenso
a darker roast of the same nine-bean Arabica blend, built for milk drinks -- also featured on Brew Gazette — featured on Brew Gazette
Monoarabica
single-origin Arabica bottlings that showcase one growing region instead of the house blend
Decaffeinato
a decaffeinated version of the classic Arabica blend
iperEspresso capsules
illy's proprietary capsule system for its own espresso machines
Why we recognized illy
The Brew Gazette Top Brand recognition isn't paid for and can't be applied for. We award it to the brands whose products consistently stand out in our hands-on category reviews. illy earned it on the strength of the products below, evaluated the same way every product on this site is: bought, brewed with daily, and judged on what lands in the cup.
illy products we rated highly
Illy Classico Whole Bean Coffee
illy's signature nine-bean Arabica blend is slow-roasted to a low-oil surface that is unusually kind to a machine's grinder, which is why we call it out as the safest single bean for a super-automatic bean-to-cup hopper. The cup itself is elegant and unmistakably Italian: caramel, orange blossom, and jasmine, clean and balanced rather than heavy or bitter. It also ships in a pressurized, sealed can rather than a bag, which protects the beans from oxygen and keeps them fresher on the shelf than most packaging we tested.
Read the 10 Best Coffee Beans for Espresso of 2026 guide →
Illy Intenso Whole Bean Coffee
A dark-roast Italian espresso with real depth -- deep cocoa and a roasted-nut backbone with a fuller body than the Classico -- for drinkers who want intensity without harshness. Because it's 100% Arabica, it delivers that dark-roast boldness without the earthy Robusta note some blends carry, and it stays noticeably less oily than a typical dark Italian roast, making it one of the few genuinely dark beans we'd trust in a super-automatic hopper. That heavier body also carries beautifully through steamed milk, which is why we single it out for lattes and cappuccinos among the darker beans in our testing.
Read the 10 Best Coffee Beans for Espresso of 2026 guide →What earned illy the recognition
- Two products among our top picks on Brew Gazette's espresso beans page, spanning both the medium (Classico) and dark (Intenso) ends of illy's signature nine-bean Arabica blend.
- Both beans are roasted to a distinctly low-oil surface in our testing, which we call out as the safest whole-bean choice for super-automatic machines that grind their own beans -- a detail most competing dark roasts get wrong.
- A 4.5-star average on both the Classico and Intenso across a combined 7,000+ reviews on Amazon, a strong and consistent showing for a single-blend brand going up against much larger multi-line competitors.
- Nearly a century of single-blend focus from a family-run roaster headquartered in Trieste since 1933, with the pressurized-can packaging the company pioneered in the 1940s still protecting freshness on shelf today.
- Backed by real institutional investment in coffee quality: illy's own University of Coffee has trained baristas and roasters worldwide since 1999, and the company became the first Italian coffee business to earn B Corp certification in 2021.