Lavazza Tablì – an espresso machine that brews coffee tablets instead of pods
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Coffee pods are great. They’re fast, they’re tidy, and they leave you with a little mountain of used aluminum and plastic every week. That last part is less great.
The Lavazza Tablì is a single-serve espresso machine that brews tablets made of nothing but pressed coffee. No capsule, no wrapper around each one. You drop a coffee puck in, press a button, and the leftover goes in the compost bin.
It sounds like a joke a barista would tell. It’s a real machine, and it’s on Amazon.
What is the Lavazza Tablì?
Lavazza is the Italian coffee company from Turin, and Tablì is its new single-serve system. It went on sale in the US in summer 2026, first on LavazzaUSA.com and then on Amazon.
The trick is the tab. Lavazza takes ground coffee, doses it, tamps it and compresses it into a solid puck. That puck is brewed directly in the machine. Lavazza says there’s no capsule, no coating and no individual packaging. The tabs come in paper boxes with molded paper trays, a bit like an egg carton, sealed with a thin plastic film to keep them fresh.
How does it work?
You slide open the top, drop in a tab and press one of three buttons: espresso, lungo or double. The spout tilts. Push it down and it splits a shot into two cups at once. Flip it up and you get a double in one cup.
Used tabs fall into a container behind the drip tray. TechRadar’s homes editor, a certified barista, found the spent grounds dry to the touch and easy to tip into a food waste caddy. Lavazza says the tabs can be thrown away or composted like normal coffee grounds.
A few specs, from TechRadar and Lavazza:
- 12.9 x 6.5 x 15.4 inches (H x W x D)
- 1.2-liter water tank on the back
- Black, white or walnut brown
- Water tank, tab container and cup stand go in the dishwasher
The good and the not-so-good
The good: all that’s left after a box of tabs is paper and one thin film. TechRadar’s reviewer liked the taste too: a smooth espresso without the bitter edge she gets from most coffee tabs. And the machine itself costs about 130 bucks, which is pod-machine money.
The not-so-good: it only takes Tablì tabs. No pods, no ground coffee, no beans. If Lavazza stops making them, you own a doorstop. The US range is small at launch, five varieties according to launch coverage (Super Crema, Espresso, Double Espresso, Lungo and Decaf).
Also, there’s no steam wand. Want a cappuccino? You need a separate frother, which is why Amazon sells it bundled with Lavazza’s MilkEasy. And since the tabs have no capsule, the Amazon listing says to keep an opened pack in the fridge (up to 45 days) or use it within 14 days at room temperature.
Who is the Lavazza Tablì for?
It’s for pod people with a guilty conscience. If you like push-button espresso and hate the bag of empty capsules, this is the most direct fix I’ve seen.
It’s also a good gift for someone who drinks espresso but has no interest in grinders and tamping. Skip it if you’re the kind of person who weighs beans. A manual brewer like the AeroPress Premium gives you far more control, and our gifts for coffee lovers has more ideas for the coffee nerd in your life.
Where can I buy the Lavazza Tablì?
Lavazza sells it on LavazzaUSA.com and on Amazon. It was about 130 bucks for the black machine on Amazon at the time of writing (October 2026). The bundles with the frother and a starter pack of tabs are the better deal if you drink milk drinks. Tabs work out to about a dollar each, based on the launch prices reported in the press.
Coffee. Squashed into a coin. Take my money.