The Milano Intenso is a coffee capsule for the Nespresso Original Line. It is released at the start of 2023 as part of the collaboration between Nespresso and Chiara Ferragni (wiki), an Italian (fashion) blogger, model and fashion designer (her brand site). This collab entails new designs on coffee machines, gold coloured accessories and this coffee, which is intended as espresso or ristretto. We first discuss origin and design, but if you like you can jump straight to the taste review.
Origin and Design
While there is a lot to say on the design and collab, there is little known about – minor detail – the beans. The coffee is a blend from beans “mostly” from Latin America, but the exact origins and species are not divulged. I feel it is a flaw that neither the type of beans (Arabica/Robusta/…) nor the origins of all beans (or does it also include ground?) are shared.
update: I found on the Danish Nespresso site that the beans are mostly Arabica – why is it so hard to find this basic information?
update 2: The hungarian? Nespresso site mentions the use of Robusta’s for a minor part and further specifies Colombia and Honduras as origin.
Chiara Ferragni and Nespresso
This is not the first collaboration between the two parties.
Chiara Ferragni’s appeal to Nespresso is clear. Not only does she have a large audience as influencer (over 28.5 million followers – with probably a large part of this audience being millennials – on Instagram), it is hard not to be impressed with her achievements being only mid 30s. What started out as a blog in 2009, she grow to a million-dollar business. She is recognized for her entrepreneurial spirit and business insight launching her own product lines and levering collaborations. In 2017, she reached the #1 spot in the Forbes’ Top Influencers list in the Fashion category, read her Forbes profile here. A fun trivia fact: Mattel created barbie Chiara based on her. In the dynamic industry of influencers, Ferragni has managed to grow her brand and remain relevant for well over a decade.
In 2021, Ferragni designed machines and mugs for Nespresso, at the time there even was a pop-up store for 2 months in Milan. The main theme at that time was cotton-candy pink and her emoji-like eye logo was prominently shown, read more – and see examples – on this on the vogue site. Where those earlier designs seem more playful and girly, it is safe to say this years designs will appeal to a broader audience.
The 2023 Milano Intenso
The design of the sleeves breathe a more luxurious vibe with a diamond-shaped pattern of black, green and gold.
This pattern and these colours bring up association with a luxurious lifestyle, such as designer bags. Aside from being aesthetic, there are more ways to look at this pattern. The gold inner squares could be embossed from a black background, or – with a lot of imagination – we could be looking from the night sky at green pyramids with a golden top. Or we could highlight the dark lines: these could be seen as crosses (X-s), hinting at this flavour being eXclusive, or alternatively cut the Xs in half to get “M”s for Milan(o), the Italian city of Milan after which this coffee was named and hometown of Ferragni.
Whatever way we look at the design, it looks fashionable. With Milan being regularly quoted as fashion capital of the world – together with other well-known cities such as Paris – a fashionable design and colour scheme is fitting. The top has a bright light green which reminds of an earlier LE: Torta di Nocciole.
There is 1 downside to this colour-scheme: especially against the dark background, it reminds a bit of the flag of Jamaica (wiki), which is a bit confusing. Another flaw is the missing variety name and recommended serving size, which makes the capsules hard to identify after a while. The Nespresso logo’s are – of course – gold to easily spot the LE sleeve on the shelf.
Taste and Smell
We refer to below information from Nespresso when we taste the coffee.
dark cocoa and toasted cereal notes
Nespressso site and packaging
jammy fruity note
shimmer of spice
The coffee is a medium-dark roast and has an intensity of 8. This intensity rating would put it on par with regular editions Venezia & Roma from the same Ispirazione Italiana series and the Istanbul espresso from the World Explorations Collection from the Nespresso Original Line assortiment.
The aroma is pleasant and smells of cacao, toast and has a hint of spices, even some wood notes can be found.
As espresso, the coffee has clear notes of cacao and toast. The cacao notes leave a taste of dark chocolate that lingers in your mouth for long. Latter sips reveal some – minor – fruity notes. A dash of milk brings these fruity notes more to the foreground. It is a more jammy-type of fruit, low on acidity. Some mild spicy notes provide minor citrus notes. For an intensity rating of 8, I find it reasonably mild and a bit bitter.
As ristretto, the coffee offers a thicker mouthfeel, without having an overly thick body. There are some mild spicy notes and hints of chocolate. Overall, it is pleasant and elegant, mild but not unremarkable. Some fruity notes can be found in the crema.
With frothed milk, it is a gentle coffee with notes of cacao. It seems like almost some biscuity notes come to surface. The fruity notes, that were already hard to find, move further to the background to be virtually non-existent. The taste remind me a bit of butter waffle cookies.
Recipes
The Nespresso site suggest two recipes, both I haven’t tried yet. First there is the Lemon Basil Italiana, which is an iced coffee featuring lemon, basil, brown sugar and cane syrup. Which reads like a mocktail perfect to recharge on a warmer day that is sweet and fresh at the same time.
Second, the Rosemary Pine Honey Espresso Macchiato is basically a latte macchiato with on top some pine nuts, rosemary and honey “as garnish”. Surely these ingredients add richness to the aroma. However, from a taste perspective, only the honey will mix with the liquid. The other elements are meant to stay on top, and in a home setting they might sink through the foam to the bottom, making it hard to sip the coffee without swallowing a pine nut.
If you like to try this at home, you might consider using a tea egg. This will allow the flavours to mix, but keep the solids (rosemary and pine nuts) out of your drink. Alternatively, you could add the ingredients to your warm milk first. Let it sit for a minute of 2, to allow the milk the take up the flavours. Then pour the milk into a glass while using a barrier to stop the rosemary and nuts. For this, you could use a spoon – to narrow the outflow or even just scoop the milk from the top – or you can use a filter such as a strainer.
On the Nespresso canada site, it is suggested to combine this capsule with frothed milk and square of dark chocolate.
Conclusion
Overall, it is a noteworthy variety. I am not sure if this is only because of the packaging or (also) the taste.
What stands out is the beauty and elegance of the design on the sleeves, which works a bit less on the capsules itself. For some, this eye-catching packaging and being a limited edition already warrants the premium price. For the collectors, it surely is a nice addition with an unique design.
Flavour-wise this is a solid espresso/ristretto. We have seen some limited editions for which opinions widely vary, I can’t see how that would be the case here, as the taste is not extreme in any way to create these love/hate reactions. It seems like a variety that most regular espresso drinkers will enjoy.
To summarize: if you only buy LEs with special flavours (like raspberry or cloudberry) you are likely to be unimpressed by this espresso. However, if you enjoy a decent espresso and don’t mind spending a little extra for a limited edition, it seems like you can’t go wrong: the Ispirazione Italiana Milano Intenso is an espresso few wouldn’t enjoy – one might even say the taste has some elegance to it.
Read more on the manufacturers site.
Read more reviews for the Original Line and limited editions.