Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Beans Roast Coffee, 700g
Three or four jobs is what you expect from a bag of beans. This one does one. Taken as dark as Taylors take it, the sugars are already at the edge of char, and pressure is the only thing that turns that into something good: an espresso basket or a moka pot, where the contact is short and the water never sits on the grounds. Put the same beans through a filter or a plunger and you get ash and a flat, dusty finish. Brewed the way it wants to be, it is bittersweet cocoa and molasses, heavy and coating, dark toast at the end, effectively no acidity left at all. Sugar and milk both survive it, which not many bags this dark manage. Seven hundred grams of a bean that only does one thing is a real commitment, so be reasonably sure that one thing is how you make coffee.
Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Beans Roast Coffee, in brief.
Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian is the darkest bean in the Yorkshire house's range, sold as whole beans in a 700g bag: a continental-style roast with bittersweet cocoa depth, heavy body and almost no acidity. Picked into the Teas.co.uk curator selection as the value dark roast for espresso and moka.
Seven hundred grams at one of the lower costs per cup on the shelf, from a family firm trading in Harrogate since 1886, and the obvious choice if lighter beans have been leaving your milk drinks tasting thin.
Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian is the dark one. Where Flying Start is the comfortable breakfast bean, Rich Italian is Taylors doing a continental roast: pushed further, lower in acidity, and aimed at a small strong cup rather than a large gentle mug.
The name is a style, not an origin. Italian roast describes how far the beans have been taken rather than where they grew, and it is a useful shorthand: expect bittersweet cocoa, a long finish, and very little of the bright fruit acidity a lighter roast would give you. If you have tried a Scandinavian-style light roast and found it thin and sour, this is the other end of the scale and is likely to suit you better.
Curator notes: the tasting profile reflects our own editorial review of the current pack format and the brand's published description for this blend. We run same-day UK dispatch on every order placed before 2pm Monday to Friday. Storage notes, grind guidance and brewing temperature ranges are also published in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind Taylors of Harrogate
Taylors has traded in Harrogate since 1886, when Charles Taylor set up in the town, and it is still family owned as part of the Bettys and Taylors Group. The same firm behind Yorkshire Tea approaches coffee the same way: blend for a cup that repeats, roast to a defined profile, and put the strength on the front of the pack so nobody has to guess. Rich Italian is that logic applied to the darkest end of the scale.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
Storage, Allergens And Small Print
Storage: Sealed, cool, dark, room temperature, in a cupboard rather than on the worktop by the kettle. Dark roasts carry more surface oil than lighter ones, which means they go rancid sooner if they are left open to the air, so shutting the bag properly is not a formality. Not the fridge.
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.
Certification: Taylors publish their sourcing commitments on pack; check the current pack for the certification marks that apply to the bag in front of you.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Beans Roast Coffee, 700g, 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
How does it compare
A dark roast is more soluble than a light one, which means it gives up its solids quickly and will over-extract before you expect it to. Every instruction below is aimed at getting the bittersweet depth out of Rich Italianwithout dragging the ash along with it. The two levers that matter most are grind and water temperature, in that order.
The Espresso Serve
The Moka Pot Serve
Made with this tea
The Short Black
How to pull a bittersweet ristretto-leaning shot from a dark roast.
- 18g Taylors Rich Italian, ground fine
- Water at 90 to 92°C
- Scales
- A warmed demitasse
- Grind 18g of Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Beans Roast Coffee, 700g fine, one step coarser than your medium-roast setting.
- Pull to about 27g out in 22 to 26 seconds rather than a full 36g.
- The shorter ratio keeps the sweetness and leaves the ash behind.
- Drink it inside a minute; a dark roast shot goes flat quickly.
What you will end up with: A thick, dark, bittersweet cup with a long finish. Shorter is the whole answer with this roast.
Moka Pot, Done Properly
How to work a stovetop pot without the burnt, metallic edge.
- 17g Taylors Rich Italian, ground medium-fine
- Hot water to just below the valve
- A three cup moka pot
- A cloth for the handle
- Fill the base with hot water to just under the valve so the coffee never sits stewing over a cold chamber.
- Level 17g of medium-fine ground Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Beans Roast Coffee, 700g into the basket. Do not tamp it.
- Heat on medium with the lid open.
- Remove from the hob the second the stream pales and gurgles, then cool the base under the tap.
What you will end up with: Two small, concentrated cups. The gurgle is steam, and everything that comes through after it is the bitterness people blame on the pot.
Cappuccino For A Sunday Morning
How to build a cappuccino with a proper foam cap rather than bubbles.
- 18g Taylors Rich Italian
- 150ml whole milk
- A warmed 6 to 7oz cup
- Cocoa to dust, optional
- Pull a 36g double of Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Beans Roast Coffee, 700g into a warmed cup.
- Steam 150ml of milk with a longer stretch than you would for a flat white, five or six seconds, then swirl hard to break any large bubbles.
- Pour the liquid milk in first and spoon the foam on last.
- Dust with cocoa if you want it, but taste it first.
What you will end up with: A cap of dense foam over a coffee that still tastes of coffee. A dark roast is the only kind that reads through a full cappuccino.
Caffe Shakerato (Adult Optional)
How to make the Italian shaken iced coffee that foams without milk.
- 18g Taylors Rich Italian
- 10ml sugar syrup
- A shaker full of ice
- A chilled coupe
- 20ml amaretto, optional
- Pull a 36g double of Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Beans Roast Coffee, 700g and stir the syrup in while hot.
- Shake hard with a shaker full of ice for fifteen seconds.
- Double strain into a chilled coupe so no ice shards travel.
- Add 20ml of amaretto before shaking if it is that kind of afternoon.
What you will end up with: A cold, foamed coffee with no milk in it at all. The foam is crema, which is why the beans have to be reasonably fresh.
Sweet Dark Cold Brew
- 80g Taylors Rich Italian, ground coarse
- 1 litre cold filtered water
- A lidded jar
- Ice to serve
- Stir 80g of coarsely ground Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Beans Roast Coffee, 700g into 1 litre of cold filtered water until every ground is wet.
- Refrigerate covered for 16 hours.
- Strain through a paper-lined sieve and resist squeezing the bed.
- Serve over ice with a splash of milk.
What you will end up with: A litre that keeps about five days covered. Cold water cannot dissolve most of the bitter compounds, which is why this comes out sweeter than the hot cup.
Affogato With Amaretti
How to build a two minute pudding around a dark shot.
- 18g Taylors Rich Italian
- 1 scoop vanilla ice cream
- 2 amaretti biscuits, crushed
- A chilled glass
- Scoop the ice cream into a chilled glass and return it to the freezer while the machine warms.
- Crush the amaretti roughly and scatter half over the ice cream.
- Pull a 36g double of Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Beans Roast Coffee, 700g and pour it over at the table.
- Scatter the rest of the amaretti on top and eat immediately.
What you will end up with: A proper pudding for three minutes of work. The bittersweet roast against sweet vanilla and almond is the entire idea.
Dark Coffee Chocolate Pots
How to use a strong brew to sharpen a chocolate pudding.
- 18g Taylors Rich Italian, for one double shot
- 200g dark chocolate, 70 per cent
- 250ml double cream
- A pinch of flaky salt
- Pull a 36g double of Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Beans Roast Coffee, 700g.
- Heat 250ml of double cream to just below a simmer and pour it over 200g of chopped dark chocolate.
- Stir until smooth, then beat in the espresso and a pinch of flaky salt.
- Divide into four small pots and chill for at least four hours.
What you will end up with: Four rich pots that keep three days covered in the fridge. The coffee is there to cut the sweetness rather than to be tasted on its own.
Brewing the perfect cup
Inside the pack
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Roasted coffee beans | 100% | The only ingredient. Whole bean coffee is a single-ingredient product: no flavouring, no carrier, no bulking agent. |
| Italian-style roast development | Marked on pack by strength number | Taken to the darkest point in the Taylors bean range. This is where the bittersweet cocoa, the heavy body and the near-absent acidity all come from. |
| Surface oils | Visible, not quantified | A long roast pushes the bean's own oils to the surface. Normal for the style, and the reason the bag wants shutting properly and the grinder wants wiping out. |
| Blend components by origin | Not published | Taylors publish sourcing commitments on pack, but not a split we can verify per batch, so we do not restate one. Check the current pack. |
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 Rich Italian Beans Roast Coffee, 700g; whole roasted beans, caffeinated. Around 38 double espressos at an 18g dose, or roughly 46 large cafetiere mugs at 60g per litre.
Proportions shown are the ones we can stand behind. Black coffee carries no meaningful calorie load; anything added in the cup is yours, not ours.
Sourcing & blend. Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Beans Roast Coffee, 700g is blended and roasted by Taylors of Harrogate, trading in the Yorkshire town since 1886 and still family owned within the Bettys and Taylors Group. A dark roast is an unforgiving thing to make consistently, because the window between properly developed and burnt is narrow and it narrows further the longer the roast runs. Buying green coffee to a fixed specification and roasting to a defined profile is what keeps one bag tasting like the last; the certification marks that apply to any given batch are printed on the pack rather than restated here.
What is in Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Beans Roast Coffee, 700g, and what is not:
- In: roasted coffee beans, whole, and nothing else in the bag.
- No artificial flavourings, colours, preservatives or added sugar: the bittersweet edge is caramelisation from the roast, not an ingredient.
- Not decaffeinated: a fully caffeinated coffee. Taylors make a decaffeinated bean in the same range.
- Packaging: follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; the bag, its one-way valve and the label can require different disposal routes.
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Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Beans Roast Coffee, 700g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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