Best Ground Espresso for Purchase in a Grocery Store

[T42]

Just returning to drinking coffee again after many years of drinking tea. I have a stove top espresso maker (Brabantia) and I am looking to purchase ground espresso. The local supermarket has so many choices....does anyone have any recommendations for purchase in Toronto?
Thanks!

[Gary]

Illy is probably the best ground espresso you can get in some grocery stores (Sobey's carries it) but I find it a bit expensive so don't buy it often.

My general fallback is Lavazza Oro which comes in a vacuum sealed golden brick for about $5 to $6. My friend's Italian mother-in-law swears by it, so there ya go:

http://sovranastore.com/lavqualoro1.html

Avoid the cheap $2-3 brand with the guy in the sombrero... I cheaped out once and ended up tossing the whole thing after one cup of stale bitter coffee. The grinds were filled with pale chunks of what looked like the outer casings of the coffee beans or something. Nasty.

[T42]

Thanks for the suggestions and will see which ones that I can find. Weird how I have suddenly got the craving for coffee after not having it for about 5 years!!!

[trombasteve]

I like Lavazza Qualita Rossa quite a bit! It's tasty, and generally fairly cheap. Also, it's reasonably widely available.

[Cat123]

My vote would go to Illy.

[T42]

I see Illy in all of the higher end stores and I think they have a couple of different types?

[Cat123]

I believe they have dark roast, medium roast and decaf. I prefer dark which I think has a black band on it.

[OTFOODIE]

HIghland Farms has a wide variety of coffees that they will custom roast, in addition to the coffees that are roasted in store in advance, and any can be ground to espresso fineness and used with great success. The prices are quite reasonable, $10/lb for regular and $12/lb for organic.

[T42]

Sorry not near a Highland Farms but will watch for it in my travels. I think I passed one the other day on the way to the Hershey centre. Darn if I had only known!