Delicious, strong Brazilian coffee '3 corações' made in our Italian moka pot

I've always loved fresh, strong coffee. Sometimes with milk, sometimes without, almost always with sugar and sometimes with cream. But I am quite picky when it comes to the taste, I have to admit.
 
My favourite European brand has always been Lavazza, but it was quite difficult to find Lavazza coffee and espresso here in Brazil, and the places that sell them, know how to charge a fortune so I had to go and search for a new favourite Brazilian brand. I tried quite a few sorts until one day I was sitting in a restaurant and had one of those cafezinhos de cortesia (meaning there is always a full coffee can on the counter and you are more than welcome to have a (free espresso size) coffee on the house.

My 2 favourite coffee brands:
European 'Lavazza' vs. Brazilian '3 corações'

One day while having one of those cafezinhos, I suddenly had kind of a deja vu experience that only a real coffee lover will truly understand. I HAD to know the brand of this coffee. The lady behind the desk smiled and said that it was '3 corações', the favourite coffee brand of the restaurant's owner. He would never accept any other brand, she told us, once they bought the wrong brand and he already knew it wasn t 'the right coffee' before he even tried it.

'3 corações' means '3 hearts' and this espresso style Lavazza-ish gourmet coffee literally hit my heart ;).... And off I went to find what my heart was longing for ... ;)

Original on-stove
Italian coffee maker

I was lucky to find one single supermarket that actually sold this amazing coffee cheaper than all brands we had tasted before (all other supermarkets either didn t have it or sold it for a much higher price).

You can imagine my joy.... so once a month we go to that one supermarket and stock up on my favourite 3 hearts... I like the classic one called 'tradicional', but adore the extraforte version as I get the most perfect flavour with just about 2,5 tea spoons, made in our Italian stove-top coffee maker (also called moka pot), that we tenderly call 'a italiana' =)).