There's an article in the New York Times today that touches on a subject which is very close to my heart: Italian coffee. For those of you that aren't aware of our coffee habit, we are quite particular about coffee, and drink only Lavazza at home. In France we were fans of Segafredo, and managed to get a set of their espresso cups after buying a significant amount of their coffee and collecting proof of purchase labels. According to the NYT article, the only major Italian coffee maker we missed was Illy, which we have discovered since returning to the states (although they seem to have priced themselves right out of our range, here).
The article, titled "Coffeehouses as Fashion Boutiques; Selling Cachet by the Cup", is all about how the Italian coffeemakers are taking the battle to Starbucks by going upmarket. Specifically, Illy is opening a series of upscale coffee places called 'Espressamente'. Apparently there are already some in France, but I never saw them (though I didn't know to look - apparently they're near Opera in Paris, and who goes there?)
The article contained a few surprises, like the fact that Segafredo took over "the American coffee brands of the Sara Lee Corporation, including Chase & Sanborn, Chock Full o’Nuts and Hills Brothers." I don't know that I would ever have thought that Segafredo would do Hills Brothers, but I guess it makes sense.