Lavazza Qualita Rossa Coffee Beans, 250g
Two hundred and fifty grams is a deliberate size. It comes to about thirty-five cups, which a two-cup household clears inside a fortnight, and a fortnight is roughly how long a roasted bean stays at its best once the bag is open. If a bigger bag would sit about for a month before you reached the bottom, take this one. The blend is the same red-pack coffee, whole instead of ground: cocoa through the middle, low acidity, proper crema. Aroma is the entire difference between the two forms, and it only turns up if the grinder runs on the morning you drink it.
Lavazza Qualita Rossa Coffee Beans, in brief.
Lavazza Qualita Rossa Coffee Beans is the whole bean version of Italy's most widely drunk house blend, Arabica for aroma and sweetness with Robusta for body and crema, picked into the Teas.co.uk curator selection as the bag to keep next to the grinder for everyday espresso and moka.
A 250g vacuum pack giving roughly 35 cups at a 7g dose, or about 14 double espressos at 18g. Medium roasted, low in acidity, cocoa heavy and happy under milk. Worth buying over the pre-ground pack only if you will actually grind fresh each time, which is the honest version of the advice.
That single difference matters more than most people expect. Ground coffee starts losing its aromatic top layer the moment the vacuum seal breaks, and by two weeks in it has gone quiet. A whole bean keeps that layer locked inside until you break it open. If you own a grinder, this 250g pack gives you a demonstrably better cup than the pre-ground equivalent. If you do not own a grinder, buy the pre-ground pack instead and spend the money on something else.
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 Lavazza
Lavazza started in Turin in 1895, when Luigi Lavazza took over a small grocer's shop and began mixing coffees from different origins behind the counter. At the time Italian coffee was largely sold by origin. Lavazza's argument was that a considered blend of several origins gives a more complete and far more consistent cup than any one of them can manage alone, and the company has been built on that argument ever since. Qualita Rossa is the most direct surviving expression of it.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
What You Are Actually Buying
- Weight: 250g of whole roasted beans, vacuum packed.
- Cups per pack: at a standard 7g dose, 250g gives roughly 35 cups. At a heavier 9g espresso dose, nearer 28 shots. A double basket at 18g gets you about 14 doubles.
- Roast: medium. Toasted and nutty with cocoa depth, well short of the charred edge of a dark Italian roast.
- Blend: Arabica and Robusta. Lavazza do not print a fixed percentage split on every pack, so we are not going to quote one. Check the current UK pack if the exact ratio matters to you.
Getting It Right in the Cup
- Water temperature: 92 to 94 degrees Celsius for filter and cafetiere; a boiled kettle rested for thirty seconds.
- Measure: 7g per standard cup, 18g for a double espresso, 15g per 250ml in a cafetiere.
- Rest the beans: very freshly roasted beans release carbon dioxide and can make espresso extraction erratic. A supermarket pack has usually settled past that stage by the time you open it.
- Storage: airtight, cool, dark cupboard. Not the fridge, not the freezer once opened, and not a clear jar on a sunny windowsill.
- Milk: this blend is built for it. Low acidity and a heavy cocoa bottom end mean milk rounds the cup rather than flattening it.
- Best with: breakfast, an after lunch espresso, chocolate, biscotti, toasted nuts.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Lavazza Qualita Rossa Coffee Beans, 250g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Lavazza
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components 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
Whole beans give you one extra control that ground coffee does not: grind size. It is the most powerful dial on the machine and the one most home drinkers never touch. Get it right and this blend covers everything from an espresso to a cafetiere out of one bag.
Grinding
The Espresso
Made with this tea
The Dialled In Double Espresso
How to make The Dialled In Double Espresso with Lavazza Qualita Rossa beans.
- 18g Lavazza Qualita Rossa beans
- A burr grinder set fine
- Scales that read to 0.1g
- A timer
- Grind 18g of Lavazza Qualita Rossa Coffee Beans, 250g fine, into the basket, straight before you brew.
- Level the bed with a finger and tamp flat and firm. Flat matters more than hard.
- Pull for 25 to 30 seconds, aiming for about 36g of liquid in the cup.
- Adjust the grind, not the dose: under 20 seconds and sour, go finer; slow and harsh, go coarser.
What you'll end up with: Real crema and a cocoa heavy finish that holds on. Change one variable at a time and note it down, or you will chase your tail.
Flat White at Home
How to make Flat White at Home with Lavazza Qualita Rossa beans.
- 18g Lavazza Qualita Rossa beans, ground fine
- 130ml whole or barista oat milk
- A 6oz cup
- Pull a double shot of Lavazza Qualita Rossa Coffee Beans, 250g straight into a warmed 6oz cup.
- Steam 130ml of milk to about 60°C, stretching it only briefly so the foam stays tight and glossy rather than airy.
- Swirl the jug until the milk looks like wet paint with no visible bubbles.
- Pour from height to sink the milk, then drop the jug close to the surface to float the foam.
What you'll end up with: This blend was built for milk. The cocoa bottom end reads through a flat white where a bright Arabica would go thin and sour.
Moka Pot, Ground to Order
How to make Moka Pot, Ground to Order with Lavazza Qualita Rossa beans.
- A basket of Lavazza Qualita Rossa beans, ground just coarser than espresso
- Hot water to below the valve
- A 3 cup moka pot
- Grind Lavazza Qualita Rossa Coffee Beans, 250g a shade coarser than espresso. Too fine and the pot chokes and splutters.
- Fill the base with hot water to just below the safety valve, then seat the basket and level it flat without tamping.
- Heat on medium with the lid up, watching for a steady gurgle rather than a rush.
- Pull it off the hob as the flow turns pale and run the base under a cold tap.
What you'll end up with: The Italian kitchen cup, and freshly ground it is a different drink from the pre-ground version of the same blend.
Coarse Ground Cafetiere
How to make Coarse Ground Cafetiere with Lavazza Qualita Rossa beans.
- 30g Lavazza Qualita Rossa beans, ground coarse
- 500ml water at 92 to 94°C
- A spoon for the crust
- Grind 30g of Lavazza Qualita Rossa Coffee Beans, 250g coarse, like coarse sea salt.
- Pour on 500ml of water off the boil by about thirty seconds and fit the lid.
- Steep 4 minutes, then break the crust with a spoon and skim the foam off.
- Plunge slowly and decant both mugs straight away.
What you'll end up with: A clean full bodied mug. Grinding coarse is what keeps sediment out; fine grounds slip straight past the mesh.
Overnight Cold Brew Concentrate
How to make Overnight Cold Brew Concentrate with Lavazza Qualita Rossa beans.
- 60g Lavazza Qualita Rossa beans, ground coarse
- 700ml cold water
- A large jar
- Ice to serve
- Grind 60g of Lavazza Qualita Rossa Coffee Beans, 250g coarse and stir into 700ml of cold water until every ground is wet.
- Leave in the fridge for 14 to 18 hours.
- Strain through a sieve lined with a paper filter and do not squeeze the bed.
- Serve over ice, neat or cut with water or milk. Keeps about a week in the fridge.
What you'll end up with: Sweeter and far less bitter than the hot cup, because the bitter compounds need heat to leave the grounds and never get any.
Affogato with Toasted Hazelnuts
How to make Affogato with Toasted Hazelnuts with Lavazza Qualita Rossa beans.
- 18g Lavazza Qualita Rossa beans, ground fine
- 2 scoops vanilla ice cream
- Toasted hazelnuts, chopped
- Chill a bowl or short glass and put two scoops of vanilla ice cream in it.
- Pull a double shot of Lavazza Qualita Rossa Coffee Beans, 250g.
- Pour it straight over the ice cream while still hot.
- Scatter chopped toasted hazelnuts on top and eat it before it collapses.
What you'll end up with: The cocoa and nut side of this blend is exactly what an affogato wants; a bright fruity coffee would fight the vanilla instead.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Component | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Arabica coffee | not declared as a percentage | The aromatic half of the blend. Carries the sweetness, the cocoa note and the cleaner top end of the cup. |
| Robusta coffee | not declared as a percentage | The structural half. Supplies body, crema, the bitter backbone that holds up under milk, and the larger share of the caffeine. |
| Roast level | medium | Toasted and nutty rather than charred. Deep enough for cocoa, short of the burnt edge of a dark Italian roast, and not oily enough to clog a grinder. |
| Format | whole bean | Keeps the volatile aromatics locked in the bean until you grind, which is the entire argument for buying beans over ground. |
Pack: Lavazza Qualita Rossa Coffee Beans, 250g; vacuum packed whole roasted beans, caffeinated. Roughly 35 cups at a 7g dose, or about 14 double espressos at 18g. Best within a month of opening for full aroma; see the pack for the unopened best before date.
Lavazza publish Qualita Rossa as an Arabica and Robusta blend but do not print a fixed percentage split on every pack, so no ratio is quoted here. Check the current UK pack if the exact composition matters to you.
Sourcing & blend. Lavazza Qualita Rossa Coffee Beans, 250g is put together by Lavazza, the Turin coffee house trading since 1895, when Luigi Lavazza began blending coffees from different origins behind the counter of his grocer's shop. Blending to a fixed recipe rather than selling by single origin is the company's founding idea, and Rossa is its most direct surviving expression: greens bought against a set specification, roasted to a fixed profile, cup tested batch by batch so the bag you open in September tastes like the one you opened in March. Consistency, not origin drama, is what you are paying for here.
What's in Lavazza Qualita Rossa Coffee Beans, 250g, and what isn't:
- In: whole roasted coffee beans, Arabica and Robusta, and nothing else. No flavouring, no glaze, no oil coating, no filler.
- No artificial colours, preservatives or added sugar: any sweetness in the cup is roast sugar developed inside the bean itself.
- Energy: brewed black with nothing added, coffee contributes negligible energy. Everything that turns a cup into a calorie count goes in afterwards.
- Packaging: a vacuum sealed pack. Disposal routes differ by component and by council, so follow the current UK pack and your local authority guidance.
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 Lavazza Qualita Rossa Coffee Beans, 250g, please cite teas.co.uk.
What buyers say
No customer reviews of Lavazza Qualita Rossa Coffee Beans, 250g 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 Lavazza
Other Coffee worth comparing
