Costa Coffee Intense Amazonian Blend Ground Coffee, 200g
Buy this for a cafetiere or a filter jug, and buy it because you want a coffee that is still unmistakably coffee after milk, sugar and a bad night. It is the darkest thing Costa puts into a home kitchen: dark cocoa, a faint smokiness, a heavy coating body, almost no acidity left standing. Roasting that far breaks the bean down, which means the coffee dissolves faster than a lighter one, so every correction runs the same way - water off the boil, a shorter steep, and the confidence to stop before you think you should. Push it too far and it goes ashy; get it right and the finish is long and bittersweet and stays with you. Anyone hoping for fruit, florals or clarity in the cup is looking at the wrong bag, and Costa is not pretending otherwise.
Costa Coffee Intense Amazonian Blend Ground Coffee, in brief.
Costa Intense Amazonian Blend is the dark end of Costa's supermarket range, ready ground for cafetiere, filter and moka pot, roasted far enough to trade brightness for cocoa, body and a long bittersweet finish, picked into the Teas.co.uk selection as the strong breakfast coffee for a kitchen with no grinder in it.
A 200g bag on a general-purpose grind, which suits a cafetiere, a filter machine and a moka pot but not an espresso machine. At 12g per 200ml that is about 16 mugs, by our own calculation rather than a pack claim. Being a dark roast it extracts fast, so keep the water off the boil and decant the jug the moment you plunge.
Costa Intense Amazonian Blend is the darkest thing Costa sells for the home kitchen, and it is not pretending to be anything else. The name tells you where it sits before you open the bag: this is the intense end of the range, roasted well past the point where origin character survives, built for people who want a coffee that reads as coffee through milk, through sugar, and at eight in the morning when nothing subtle is going to land anyway.
It comes ready ground, which is the decision that makes or breaks the bag. A pre-ground coffee gives up aroma from the moment the seal opens, and no amount of careful brewing gets it back. What it gives you in exchange is that you can make a proper cafetiere at seven in the morning without owning a grinder or waking the house with one. For a dark roast that trade is more forgiving than it would be on a delicate single origin, because the flavours a dark roast is built on are the robust ones that survive a week in an opened bag.
Curator notes: the tasting profile is our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description. We run same-day UK dispatch on every order placed before 2pm Monday to Friday. Common questions are answered in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind The Bag
Costa began as a London roastery run by two brothers supplying coffee to caterers, and the high-street chain came later. That order matters, because it means the retail bags are not a licensing exercise bolted onto a coffee-shop brand: roasting is the original business. The supermarket range is simpler than the shop blends, but it comes from a company that was in the bean trade before the seating trade.
Intense Amazonian Blend sits at the dark end of that range. Where a signature house blend is built to be drinkable by everyone, this one is built to be unmistakable, and it does not apologise for the char. Same coffee, different retail label; we say so rather than quietly picking one.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
Our Commitment To The Planet
- The bag that arrives is the current UK retail pack rather than a grey import on a different roast specification.
- Ground coffee leaves a spent puck of grounds and a bag, and that is all. No capsule, no plastic pod, no aluminium. The grounds themselves go on the compost or round the base of a hydrangea.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Costa Coffee Intense Amazonian Blend Ground Coffee, 200g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Costa
Costa is the British coffee chain that grew from a Lambeth coffee bar to the UK's biggest cafe brand. Their retail range includes ground coffee, instant, and pods designed to deliver the cafe drink experience at home.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
The taste profile
How does it compare
A dark roast is more soluble than a light one, because roasting breaks down the cell structure and lets water get at the solubles faster. That single fact drives everything below. This coffee over-extracts more readily than a lighter roast, so the corrections all run in the same direction: slightly cooler water, slightly shorter contact, and a willingness to stop early.
The Cafetiere
The Moka Pot
Made with this tea
The Four Minute Cafetiere
How to make The Four Minute Cafetiere with Costa Intense Amazonian Blend.
- 24g (about 4 rounded tablespoons) Costa Intense Amazonian
- 400ml water at about 93 degrees
- A timer
- A spoon for the crust
- Warm the jug with a splash of hot water and tip it out, then add the coffee.
- Pour the water, which should have stood thirty to forty seconds off the boil, and put the lid on with the plunger up.
- Break the crust at four minutes and skim the foam off the top.
- Plunge slowly, then pour the whole jug out at once, including what you are not drinking yet.
What you'll end up with: Two mugs that taste the same as each other. Decanting is the step most people skip and it is the one that stops the second mug turning bitter.
Moka Pot Stovetop Shot
How to make Moka Pot Stovetop Shot with Costa Intense Amazonian Blend.
- Enough Costa Intense Amazonian to fill the basket level
- Hot water to the valve in the base chamber
- A stovetop moka pot
- Fill the base with hot water up to the valve, never above it.
- Level the basket with coffee and do not tamp it. A moka pot wants a loose bed.
- Heat on medium with the lid open so you can watch the stream.
- Lift it off the heat the moment the stream turns pale and starts to splutter, and run the base under a cold tap.
What you'll end up with: A short, thick, cocoa-heavy shot. This is the build this roast suits best, and the general-purpose grind in the bag is close to right for it.
Stovetop Mocha
How to make Stovetop Mocha with Costa Intense Amazonian Blend.
- 1 moka pot shot of Costa Intense Amazonian
- 15g dark chocolate, chopped
- 180ml milk
- A pinch of salt
- Melt the chopped chocolate into the bottom of the mug with a tablespoon of the hot coffee.
- Stir until glossy, then add the rest of the shot and the pinch of salt.
- Heat the milk until it steams and pour it in from a height.
- Taste before adding any sugar. The coffee is bittersweet already and usually does not need it.
What you'll end up with: A mocha where the coffee is still audible. Real chocolate rather than powder works because this roast already sits in the same cocoa register.
Double Strength Iced Coffee
How to make Double Strength Iced Coffee with Costa Intense Amazonian Blend.
- 24g Costa Intense Amazonian
- 200ml water at about 93 degrees
- A glass packed to the top with ice
- Cold milk, optional
- Brew the full 24g into only 200ml, so the cafetiere runs at double the usual strength.
- Plunge at four minutes, decant and let it cool for ten.
- Pack the glass with ice, right to the top, and pour the coffee over it.
- Top with cold milk if you want it long, or drink it black over the ice.
What you'll end up with: Iced coffee that still tastes of coffee once the ice has done its work. Brewing at normal strength and icing it gives you cold brown water, which is the usual mistake.
Coffee And Cocoa Steak Rub
How to make Coffee And Cocoa Steak Rub with Costa Intense Amazonian Blend.
- 1 tablespoon Costa Intense Amazonian, dry from the bag
- 1 teaspoon cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika, salt and coarse pepper
- 2 steaks, at room temperature
- Mix the dry grounds with the cocoa, paprika, salt and pepper.
- Press the rub onto both sides of the steaks and leave them twenty minutes at room temperature.
- Sear hard in a very hot pan, no longer than usual. The rub catches quickly.
- Rest the meat for five minutes before cutting.
What you'll end up with: A dark savoury crust. A dark roast works here where a light one does not, because the bitter cocoa notes behave like a spice rather than like a drink.
Tiramisu Soak
How to make Tiramisu Soak with Costa Intense Amazonian Blend.
- 36g Costa Intense Amazonian
- 300ml water at about 93 degrees
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- Sponge fingers and your usual mascarpone layer
- Brew the coffee strong in a cafetiere, four minutes, then plunge and decant.
- Stir the sugar in while it is hot and let the whole lot go completely cold.
- Dip each sponge finger for no more than two seconds a side.
- Layer and chill for at least four hours, overnight if you can.
What you'll end up with: A tiramisu that tastes of coffee through the mascarpone. A dark roast is the right choice here because a light one is simply lost under the cream.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Roast and ground coffee | the whole bag | There is nothing else in it. No flavouring, no chicory, no filler. Everything in the cup comes from the beans and the roast. |
| Roast level | dark | The defining decision. Taken far enough to trade origin brightness for cocoa, toasted grain, heavy body and a long bittersweet finish. |
| Measure per mug | ~12g | About two rounded tablespoons per 200ml, which is roughly 16 mugs from the 200g bag by our own calculation. |
Ingredients and allergens. The published ingredient list for this barcode names none of the 14 major allergens. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.
Ingredient and nutrition data for this barcode: Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org), ODbL. The pack in your hands is the final word.
Pack: Costa Coffee Intense Amazonian Blend Ground Coffee, 200g; roast and ground coffee on a general-purpose grind. Best before the date printed on the pack, and best within a fortnight of opening while the aroma is still there.
The current UK pack carries the full ingredient, nutrition and allergen statement and is the version to trust at the point of purchase.
Sourcing & blend. Costa Coffee Intense Amazonian Blend Ground Coffee, 200g is made by Costa, which began as a London roastery run by two brothers supplying caterers before it became the high-street chain. The retail bags are not a name licensed onto somebody else's coffee: roasting was the original business. This one sits at the dark end of the supermarket range and is a blend rather than a single origin, with the split unpublished on the bag, so we leave it at that. The bag you receive is the current UK retail pack rather than an import on a different roast specification.
What is in Costa Coffee Intense Amazonian Blend Ground Coffee, 200g, and what is not:
- In: roast and ground coffee, and nothing else. No flavouring, no chicory, no added sugar.
- No artificial colours, preservatives or added sugar: any sweetness in the cup is roast sweetness, and at this roast level it reads as bittersweet cocoa rather than as sugar.
Asked about this product
Ask the curator
Send a product question through the contact form; replies usually come within one working day.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Costa Coffee Intense Amazonian Blend Ground Coffee, 200g, please cite teas.co.uk.
What buyers say
No customer reviews of Costa Coffee Intense Amazonian Blend Ground Coffee, 200g yet.
Bought this from us? Log in to your account, then come back to this page to review it. Only verified buyers can review, and every review is checked before it appears; approved reviews earn 50 reward points.
More from Costa
Other Coffee worth comparing
