Taylors of Harrogate After Dark Roast Ground Coffee, 200g
After a meal the palate wants cocoa rather than fruit, and that half hour is what this grind was built for. Deep, very low in acidity, closer to plain chocolate than to anything bright, and easy to drink slowly, which matters more in the evening than it does at breakfast. One thing to be plain about: the name is about the hour and the roast, not about what has been taken out. This is a fully caffeinated coffee. Taylors sell a separate decaffeinated pack, and that is the one to buy if the evening is the problem rather than the preference. Ground for cafetiere and filter, not for an espresso machine, and worth a slightly heavier dose than a morning pot, because an evening cup gets drunk at half the speed.
Taylors of Harrogate After Dark Roast Ground Coffee, in brief.
Taylors of Harrogate After Dark Roast is the evening coffee in the Taylors ground range: a dark roast in a 200g pack, ground for cafetiere and filter, built rich and smooth with the acidity dialled right down so it sits well after a meal. Full body, controlled bitterness, cocoa depth rather than brightness.
Worth being clear about: the name describes the roast and the hour, not the caffeine. This is a caffeinated coffee, and the Taylors ground range has a separate decaffeinated pack if that is what you need. About 25 mugs from the pack at 8g per 200ml.
The name describes the hour and the roast, not the caffeine. This is a normally caffeinated coffee, and we say that plainly at the top of the page because an evening name on a pack is the single most reliable way to confuse a shopper on a shelf. If what you want is coffee without the caffeine, the Taylors ground range has a separate decaffeinated pack and that is the one to buy. What After Dark offers instead is a roast profile that suits the end of a meal: deep, smooth and sweet-edged, with the acidity dialled down so it sits well after food and takes cream or a splash of something stronger without turning thin.
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. Grind, dose and storage notes are covered in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The story behind the pack
Taylors of Harrogate is a Yorkshire family firm best known for its tea, and the coffee side is built on the same logic. Rather than rotating a list of origins that changes every few months, Taylors sells a settled range of named roasts, so a household can work out which name suits it and then buy that same name for years. After Dark is the one positioned at the end of the day, and the range is arranged so that you can move along it by name rather than by guesswork.
Roast level is doing most of the work in a pack like this. A dark roast has been taken well past the point where the sugars caramelise, into the range where cocoa, toast and a faint char develop and most of the bright, fruity acidity burns away. What you lose is origin character; what you gain is a cup that is consistent, smooth and easy to drink late in the evening without the sharpness that keeps a lighter roast feeling like a morning drink.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
How Taylors of Harrogate After Dark Roast Ground Coffee, 200g compares
- Against the lighter roasts in the same range: the pale end of the Taylors shelf keeps more sweetness and more of the origin brightness, which makes those packs better before breakfast and worse after a heavy meal. This one goes the other way.
- Against a decaffeinated pack: not the same thing at all. After Dark is a roast style; a decaffeinated coffee is a processing choice. If the reason you want an evening coffee is that caffeine keeps you awake, the decaffeinated pack in the range is the one you need, not this.
- Against instant coffee after dinner: a cafetiere asks you for four minutes and a rinsed jug at the point in the evening when you least want a job. What you get for it is body, oils and a mid-palate that instant flattens. Worth it when there are guests, arguable on a Tuesday.
Getting the best out of it
A dark roast is more soluble than a pale one, which means it gives up both flavour and bitterness faster. Every instruction below is about stopping at the first and before the second.
The cafetiere
Dose: Around 8g per 200ml of water, a generous heaped tablespoon. Weigh it once on kitchen scales and afterwards you will recognise the spoonful.
Water: Boil, then wait about thirty seconds before pouring, roughly 95 degrees. Water at a full rolling boil scalds a dark roast and brings bitterness forward before the brew has started.
Time: Four minutes, then plunge slowly. Past four minutes you are adding bitterness rather than strength.
Decant: Pour the whole jug out into warmed cups or a flask. Coffee left standing on the grounds keeps extracting, and the second cup pays for it.
After dinner, with milk and with cream
Black after a meal: the low acidity is the reason this works where a bright roast would clash with what you have just eaten. Small cups, no sugar, is the traditional way.
With cream: a dark roast takes cream well because there is enough roast character left to read through it. Pour it over the back of a spoon if you want it to sit on top.
Filter machine: the same dose works. A paper filter takes out the oils and gives a lighter, cleaner cup; a metal mesh keeps them and reads closer to the cafetiere.
Cold brew: excellent here. 60g in a litre of cold water for twelve to sixteen hours in the fridge, then strain. Cold water leaves most of the bitter compounds behind and keeps the cocoa.
Practical notes on the pack
- Yield: 200g at 8g per 200ml gives about 25 mugs. That is our arithmetic and not a pack claim; brew it stronger and you will get fewer.
- Grind: ground for cafetiere and filter. It is too coarse for an espresso machine, where it would run through fast and read sour and thin.
- Storage: airtight, cool and dark, and not in the fridge, where ground coffee picks up smells and condensation. Roll the bag down and clip it.
- Freshness: ground coffee stales faster than whole beans because grinding multiplies the surface area. Aim to finish a 200g pack within a month of opening.
- Water: in a hard water area a filter jug is worth the worktop space; a dark roast shows a chalky finish sooner than a mild one.
Ingredients, allergens and storage
What is in it: roast and ground coffee. Nothing else is added.
Ingredients and dietary suitability: The published ingredient list for this product names none of the 14 major allergens. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.
Caffeine and sensitivity: Coffee is a stimulant, and this one is caffeinated whatever the name on the front suggests. If caffeine late in the day affects your sleep, or you are pregnant or following medical advice on intake, choose the decaffeinated pack in the range instead.
Hot liquid: a cafetiere plunged too fast can spit. Press slowly and keep the spout turned away from you.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Taylors of Harrogate After Dark Roast Ground Coffee, 200g, please cite teas.co.uk.
The story behind Taylors of Harrogate | Yorkshire Tea
Yorkshire Tea is the family-owned blend out of Harrogate that became Britain's favourite. The Original is the everyday workhorse; Gold steps it up with stronger Assam character; Hard Water powers through limescale areas. Taylors has been in the same family since 1886, sources ethically through the Rainforest Alliance, and famously refuses gimmicks.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
Our commitment to the planet
The taste profile
Taylors of Harrogate After Dark Roast Ground Coffee, 200g is built for the end of the day, which points it at a particular set of uses: small black cups after a meal, coffee with cream, and puddings that want cocoa depth rather than brightness. Five builds below, from the after-dinner cafetiere to a tiramisu soak and an affogato.
Made with this tea
The After Dinner Cafetiere
Small cups, four minutes, and no sugar. The cup this pack was built for.
- 16g After Dark ground coffee
- 400ml water, just off the boil
- A 3 cup cafetiere and four small cups
- Warm the jug and the cups with hot water and tip it out.
- Add the coffee, boil the kettle, then wait about thirty seconds before pouring.
- Steep for four minutes with the lid on, stirring the crust once at the start.
- Plunge slowly and pour the whole jug out into the warmed cups.
What you'll end up with: Four small, smooth, low-acid cups to finish a meal on. Leave the sugar out; the roast is doing that work already.
Coffee With Cream, Floated
The one dark-roast serve that actually rewards a bit of ceremony.
- 12g After Dark ground coffee
- 200ml water, just off the boil
- 2 tablespoons double cream, lightly stirred
- 1 teaspoon demerara sugar, optional
- Brew the coffee in a cafetiere for four minutes and plunge.
- Pour into a warmed heatproof glass and stir the sugar in until it dissolves, if using.
- Float the cream over the back of a teaspoon held just above the surface.
- Drink it through the cream rather than stirring it in.
What you'll end up with: A dark layer and a pale one. The roast stays audible under the cream, which is what a lighter pack fails to do here.
Cold Brew For The Fridge
Twelve hours of doing nothing turns a dark roast remarkably smooth.
- 60g After Dark ground coffee
- 1 litre cold water
- Ice, to serve
- Stir the coffee into the cold water in a large sealed jar.
- Refrigerate for twelve to sixteen hours; longer than sixteen and it turns woody.
- Strain through a fine sieve lined with a paper filter and keep in the fridge for up to five days.
- Serve over a full glass of ice, neat or cut half and half with milk.
What you'll end up with: A smooth, cocoa-toned cold coffee with almost none of the bitterness the hot cup carries.
Tiramisu Soak
The pudding that needs a low-acid dark roast and nothing else.
- 300ml strong brewed After Dark, cooled
- 200g sponge fingers
- 500g mascarpone and 300ml double cream
- 75g caster sugar
- Cocoa powder, to finish
- Brew 300ml at double strength and let it cool completely.
- Beat the mascarpone, cream and sugar to soft peaks.
- Dip each sponge finger in the cold coffee for two seconds only, then layer with the cream.
- Chill for at least four hours and dust with cocoa just before serving.
What you'll end up with: Sponge that is soaked rather than collapsed. A bright acidic coffee fights the mascarpone here; a dark one does not.
Cafetiere Affogato
An espresso pudding for a household with no espresso machine.
- 14g After Dark ground coffee
- 120ml water, just off the boil
- 4 scoops vanilla ice cream
- Grated dark chocolate, optional
- Brew the coffee at double strength in a small cafetiere for four minutes.
- Scoop the ice cream into two cold glasses and carry them to the table first.
- Pour the hot coffee over at the table rather than in the kitchen.
- Grate dark chocolate over the top if you like.
What you'll end up with: Hot against cold, bitter against sweet. A cafetiere brewed strong stands in for an espresso here perfectly well.
Brewing the perfect cup
Inside the pack
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Roast and ground coffee | The whole pack | Everything in the cup. Taken to a dark roast, which is where the cocoa, toast and smooth depth come from, and where most of the bright acidity is burned off. |
| Grind | Medium, for cafetiere and filter | Sets the contact time at minutes rather than seconds. That is why the four-minute rule matters more with a dark roast than with a pale one. |
| Blend and origin split | See current pack | Taylors publishes what it chooses to publish on the pack. We do not restate origins or roast numbers that the brand may revise between production runs. |
| Caffeine | Present | The evening name refers to the roast style and the hour it suits, not to decaffeination. The separate decaffeinated pack in the range is the one to buy if caffeine is the issue. |
| Additives | None | No sugar, no flavouring, no chicory or bulking agents. Roasted coffee and nothing else. |
Ingredients and allergens. The published ingredient list for this product names none of the 14 major allergens. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.
Ingredient and nutrition information for this product, as published on the manufacturer's label. The pack in your hands is the final word.
Pack: Taylors of Harrogate After Dark Roast Ground Coffee, 200g; GTIN 0615357752597; roast and ground coffee at a medium grind for cafetiere and filter. Caffeinated. About 25 mugs at 8g per 200ml, which is our arithmetic rather than a pack claim. Best before date printed on the pack.
Characterising components shown; origin split, roast-strength number and certification marks are printed on the current pack and are not restated here. Nutrition figures for black coffee are negligible before anything is added, but the panel on the pack you receive is the reference.
Sourcing & blend. Taylors of Harrogate After Dark Roast Ground Coffee, 200g is roasted and packed by Taylors of Harrogate, the Yorkshire family firm better known for its tea. The coffee side follows the same pattern as the tea side: a settled range of named roasts rather than a rotating list of origins, so a household can learn which name suits it and keep buying it. After Dark is the one positioned at the end of the day, roasted deep enough that the acidity is largely gone and the cup sits comfortably after food. For certification marks and the current origin statement, read the pack you receive.
What is in Taylors of Harrogate After Dark Roast Ground Coffee, 200g, and what is not:
- In: roast and ground coffee, at a medium grind, and nothing else.
- No added sugar, flavouring or chicory: any sweetness in the cup is roast sweetness.
- Not decaffeinated: the name is about the roast and the hour. The decaffeinated pack is a separate product in the same range.
- Not an espresso grind: cut for cafetiere and filter. In a pump machine it runs through fast and reads sour.
- Naturally gluten free and dairy free as an ingredient list: roasted coffee carries neither.
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Taylors of Harrogate After Dark Roast Ground Coffee, 200g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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