Lavazza Decaf Intenso Coffee Beans, 500g
Decaffeination takes the delicate end of a coffee first, which is why a dark roast is the easiest sort to make convincing: roast character is largely what survives the process, and Intenso is built almost entirely out of roast character. Expect dark cocoa and toasted bread, weight rather than sparkle. Two things to hold on to. Decaffeinated is not caffeine free, so anyone who has to avoid it altogether needs a different drink. And this is sold as beans, so there is grinding to do, and decaf breaks down finer than you expect: go a notch coarser than the caffeinated bag.
Lavazza Decaf Intenso Coffee Beans, in brief.
Lavazza Decaf Intenso is the decaffeinated whole bean from the Turin coffee house, sold here in a 500g bag and roasted to the darker, heavier end of the Lavazza range so it still makes a proper espresso. Almost all supermarket decaf is ground or instant; this is the bag for a household that owns a grinder and wants to keep using it after six, picked into the Teas.co.uk curator selection as the evening coffee that does not taste like a compromise.
Lavazza Decaf Intenso is a decaffeinated whole bean from the Turin coffee house, sold in a 500g bag and roasted to the darker, heavier end of the Lavazza range. The name is the brief: this is not a gentle after-dinner decaf that apologises for itself, it is a bean built to make a proper espresso, and it is aimed at the household that owns a machine and wants to use it after six in the evening.
Most people buy decaf for a reason rather than a preference. Somebody in the house is sensitive to caffeine, or is pregnant, or simply wants a second coffee at nine without lying awake at one. The problem with the supermarket decaf shelf is that almost all of it is ground or instant, so if you own a grinder you are pushed back to pre-ground coffee for half your drinking. A 500g bag of decaf beans solves that.
Curator notes: the tasting profile is our own editorial assessment against the current pack format and the brand's published description, and the brewing figures are our recommended starting points rather than pack instructions. Decaffeinated is not caffeine free. We run same-day UK dispatch on every order placed before 2pm Monday to Friday. Grind settings, storage windows and extraction ranges are set out in full in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind Lavazza
Lavazza is a Turin coffee house and one of the names that taught Britain what Italian coffee is supposed to taste like. The house style runs through everything it makes: blended rather than single origin, roasted for consistency, built to be drunk short and often. That is heritage rather than a claim about where this particular bag was filled.
Decaf sits awkwardly inside that tradition, because Italy drinks a great deal of it and never treats it as a lesser product. Intenso is the range’s answer to a real complaint: that decaf usually tastes thin. Roast level, bean composition, the decaffeination method used and any certification marks are printed on the current bag and can change between production runs, so read the bag in front of you rather than a figure quoted online, ours included.
What Decaffeination Actually Does
Caffeine is removed from green coffee, before roasting, while the beans are swollen with water. Several processes are in commercial use and they differ in what carries the caffeine away, but all of them face the same difficulty: caffeine is not the only thing that leaves. Some of the compounds that become flavour during roasting go with it, and the bean itself is left softer and more fragile.
That is why decaf is roasted differently. A softened bean browns faster and burns sooner, so the roaster has a narrower window to work in, and why a lazy decaf tastes flat while a carefully built one does not. A dark roast is the traditional way to put body back, which is the route taken here. It also explains the one thing worth knowing at the machine: decaf beans grind finer than caffeinated ones at the same setting, so your usual grind will almost certainly choke the shot.
Packaging: bean bags of this type are sealed foil with a one-way degassing valve, letting carbon dioxide out of freshly roasted beans without letting oxygen in. Follow the current UK pack and your local authority guidance for disposal; foil, valve and label can require different routes.
Ideal Extraction Conditions
Decaf beans are the one case where copying your normal settings reliably fails. They are softer, they grind finer, and they extract faster. Expect to make one adjustment and then leave it alone.
The Espresso Serve
- Dose: 18g into a standard double basket, distributed evenly and tamped flat.
- Grind: start two or three steps coarser than your caffeinated setting. If the shot chokes or drips, that is the reason, not the machine.
- Water: 92 degrees Celsius. A dark decaf reaches its bitterness limit early, so heat is the first thing to bring down if a shot tastes harsh.
- Yield: 36g in the cup, a 1:2 ratio, in 25 to 30 seconds from the pump starting.
- Read the shot: ashy and drying means coarser or cooler. Sharp and thin means finer, but go one step at a time.
The Bean To Cup, Milk And Cold Serve
- Bean to cup: middle grind, medium strength. Many machines have a second hopper or a bypass chute for pre-ground: that chute is the civilised way to make one decaf without emptying the main hopper.
- Flat white: where this bag earns its place. The dark roast survives 130ml of steamed milk, which is more than most decaf manages.
- Americano: pull the shot into the cup first, then add 120ml of hot water on top. Lengthening a decaf is forgiving because there is little acidity to expose.
- Cold brew: coarse grind, 70g per litre, 14 to 18 hours in the fridge. A decaf cold brew is one of the few genuinely refreshing evening drinks that is not sweet.
Grinding, Dosing And Storage
- Grind to order: decaf stales slightly faster than caffeinated coffee, so the argument for buying beans is stronger here, not weaker.
- Keep two settings: write down your caffeinated number and your decaf number. Switching back and forth from memory wastes coffee.
- Storage: sealed, cool, dark, never the fridge. Condensation does more harm than air.
- Open bag window: finish an opened 500g bag inside about a month, and keep the bulk sealed rather than standing in a warm hopper.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Lavazza Decaf Intenso Coffee Beans, 500g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Lavazza
Packaging: follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; foil, valve and label can require different disposal routes.
Our commitment to the planet
Sourcing and packaging details are printed on the current UK pack; the brand page carries the fuller story.
The taste profile
How does it compare
Lavazza Decaf Intenso Coffee Beans, 500g is an evening bean, so the serves below assume you want a coffee at nine o'clock and still want to sleep. Six builds cover the reference shot, two milk drinks, an americano, a cold brew and an after-dinner affogato.
Made with this tea
The Reference Double Shot
How to pull a balanced double of Lavazza Decaf Intenso.
- 18g Lavazza Decaf Intenso beans
- Filtered water at 92°C
- Scales that read to 0.1g
- A warmed cup
- Set the grinder two or three steps coarser than your caffeinated number. Decaf beans are softer and shatter finer.
- Grind 18g fresh into a dry double basket, level and tamp flat.
- Pull to 36g in the cup over 25 to 30 seconds.
- Ashy and drying, go coarser again or drop the water a degree.
What you'll end up with: A round, cocoa-led shot with real weight to it. Judge every other setting on the machine against this one.
The Evening Flat White
How to make a flat white with Lavazza Decaf Intenso.
- 18g Lavazza Decaf Intenso beans
- 130ml whole or oat milk, fridge cold
- A milk thermometer if you have one
- A 160ml cup
- Pull a 36g double straight into the warmed cup.
- Steam the milk to about 60°C, stretching for two seconds only, then folding it into a glossy whirlpool.
- Pour from height to combine, then drop the jug to the rim to finish.
- If the coffee is lost under the milk, raise the dose to 19g rather than grinding finer.
What you'll end up with: The serve this bag exists for. Most decaf disappears under milk; the dark roast here does not.
Americano After Dinner
How to make an americano with Lavazza Decaf Intenso.
- 18g Lavazza Decaf Intenso beans
- 120ml hot water
- A warmed 250ml mug
- Pull the 36g double into the mug first.
- Add 120ml of hot water on top, not the other way round; pouring espresso into water flattens the crema.
- Lengthening a decaf is forgiving, because there is little acidity left to expose.
What you'll end up with: A full mug that still tastes of coffee at the bottom. The sensible last drink of the evening.
Cafetiere For The Table
How to make cafetiere coffee with Lavazza Decaf Intenso.
- 36g Lavazza Decaf Intenso beans
- 600ml water just off the boil
- A three-mug cafetiere
- A long spoon
- Grind 36g coarse, like coarse sea salt, and add to the warmed jug.
- Pour 600ml of water just off the boil, stir the crust once at 30 seconds.
- Wait four minutes, skim the foam, then plunge slowly.
- Decant immediately. Coffee left on the grounds keeps extracting and turns bitter.
What you'll end up with: Enough decaf for three people after a meal, without anyone having to stand at the machine.
Decaf Cold Brew
How to make cold brew with Lavazza Decaf Intenso.
- 70g Lavazza Decaf Intenso beans
- 1 litre cold filtered water
- A large sealed jar
- Ice
- Grind 70g coarse and stir into 1 litre of cold water.
- Seal and leave in the fridge for 14 to 18 hours.
- Strain through a paper filter, slowly, without pressing the bed.
- Serve over ice, neat or cut with a splash of milk.
What you'll end up with: One of very few refreshing evening drinks that is not sweet. Keeps in the fridge for about five days.
Affogato Without The Insomnia
How to make an affogato with Lavazza Decaf Intenso.
- 18g Lavazza Decaf Intenso beans
- Two scoops of vanilla ice cream
- A small spoon and a cold glass
- Scoop the ice cream into a chilled glass and take it to the machine.
- Pull a 36g double and pour it over immediately.
- Eat it now, while the shot is still hot and the cream is still cold.
What you'll end up with: The classic Italian pudding, made at the hour people actually eat pudding. The dark roast cuts the cream rather than being buried by it.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Decaffeinated roasted coffee beans | 100% | The whole of the product. Caffeine is removed from the green bean before roasting, then the bean is taken to a dark roast to rebuild the body and sweetness that decaffeination costs it. |
| Bean composition and roast level | Printed on the pack | Lavazza states these on the bag and they can change between production runs. Read the bag rather than a figure quoted online. |
| Decaffeination method | See current pack | Several processes are in commercial use and they differ in what carries the caffeine away. Which one applies to this bag is stated on the current UK pack and is not restated here. |
| Additives, flavourings, sugar | None | Nothing is added to roasted coffee beans. The cocoa and toasted-bread notes are roast development, not flavouring. |
Pack: Lavazza Decaf Intenso Coffee Beans, 500g; whole decaffeinated roasted beans. Best before date printed on the bag; aroma is at its best within about a month of opening.
Roast level, bean composition, decaffeination method and any certification marks are printed on the current pack.
Sourcing & roast. Lavazza Decaf Intenso Coffee Beans, 500g comes from Lavazza, the Turin coffee house and one of the names that taught Britain what Italian coffee is supposed to taste like. The house style runs through everything it makes: blended rather than single origin, roasted for consistency, and built to be drunk short and often. Decaf sits inside that tradition rather than outside it, because Italy drinks a great deal of it and has never treated it as a lesser product. Intenso is the range's answer to the usual complaint about decaf, which is that it tastes thin, and the answer is roast depth. The beans arrive in a sealed foil bag with a one-way valve that lets roasting gas escape without letting oxygen back in.
What's in Lavazza Decaf Intenso Coffee Beans, 500g, and what isn't:
- In: decaffeinated roasted coffee beans, and nothing else in the bag.
- No artificial colours, preservatives, flavourings or added sugar: any sweetness is developed during roasting.
- No dairy, cereals, egg, soya or nuts as ingredients: black coffee brewed without milk or sugar carries effectively no calories.
- Caffeine: decaffeinated, which is not the same as caffeine free. A small residual amount remains after processing and the applicable limit is a pack-level statement, so no figure is published here.
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Lavazza Decaf Intenso Coffee Beans, 500g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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