Illy is quite the giant in the coffee world and for good reason. That family has taken espresso/coffee seriously for a very long time. I watched a short documentary on them and was rather impressed. They do coffee right by pre-selecting huge lots of only the best coffees, then put those beans through approximately 200 quality control steps along the way. The end result is a coffee as fine as any in the world. HOWEVER, once that coffee takes 1 month or more to make it to the states it's stale. Regardless of nitrogen flushing, etc. coffee has a short shelf life. I'd say fresh off the line Illy coffee would be as good as any out there, but a long journey does it no favors.
Also, Illy is far from cheap. Surely you can find some killer coffees in your city by visiting a few coffeeshops, roasting operations, etc. Lots of online offerings as well, but I like to support local operations when possible.
