Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Roast Ground Coffee, 200g
Italian on this pack is a roast description, not a country of origin. Nothing in the bag came from Italy; what is being copied is the habit of taking a roast further than a British breakfast coffee goes, until origin character steps back and dark chocolate, toast and a structural bitterness come forward. Taylors judge that line better than most, and a few seconds too long is all it takes for a dark roast to turn ashy. There is none of the acrid edge cheaper dark roasts use to pass themselves off as strong. This is the pack for a big milky mug, because the weight here will not vanish under half a pint of milk, and it is the one to buy when the last coffee you tried tasted like hot water. Drunk black it is heavy going, and there is almost no brightness left in it, which is precisely what a dark-roast drinker is after and precisely what a filter drinker will miss. The grind is general purpose, so cafetiere, filter and moka pot all work without adjustment.
Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Roast Ground Coffee, in brief.
Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Roast Ground Coffee is the dark end of the Taylors range, 200g ready ground for a cafetiere, filter or moka pot, picked into the Teas.co.uk curator selection as the pack to reach for when a medium roast keeps tasting like it is not really there.
A 200g pack giving roughly 28 cups at a 7g measure, dark chocolate heavy, full bodied and very low in acidity, which is exactly why it takes milk so willingly. Taylors are a Harrogate family firm better known for Yorkshire Tea, and they have roasted coffee alongside it for a very long time.
Taylors are a Harrogate family firm, best known nationally for Yorkshire Tea, and they have been roasting coffee alongside the tea for a very long time. That matters here because a dark roast is the easiest roast to get wrong. Taken a few seconds too far it stops being rich and starts being ashy, and the whole cup collapses into burnt bitterness. Rich Italian sits on the right side of that line: dark, heavy and unmistakably strong, without the acrid edge that cheap dark roasts use to fake it.
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 Taylors of Harrogate
Taylors of Harrogate is a family business from Harrogate in North Yorkshire, and it is one of the few British firms that takes coffee and tea equally seriously. Most people meet the company through Yorkshire Tea, which sits in about as many British kitchens as any product can, but the coffee side has its own following and its own buying and roasting operation. A named roast profile like Rich Italian is the coffee equivalent of a blend recipe: the buyers pick greens that will take a long roast without turning thin, and the roastery holds the profile so that the pack you open this autumn tastes like the one you opened last spring. Taylors do not publish a green origin list or a roast-date window to us, so we are not going to quote one.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; components can require different disposal routes.
What You Are Actually Buying
- Weight: 200g of ground roasted coffee.
- Cups per pack: at a standard 7g measure, 200g works out at roughly 28 cups. In a cafetiere at 15g per 250ml you are looking at about 13 mugs. That arithmetic is ours, from the pack weight, not a figure printed on the pack.
- Grind: a general-purpose grind, so it works in a cafetiere, a filter machine and a moka pot without you adjusting anything.
- Roast: dark, in the Italian style. That is a roast description, not a country of origin: the greens are bought wherever they are bought, and Italy is the tradition being copied.
- What it is not: not a decaf, not a flavoured coffee, and not a light or breakfast roast. If you want brightness and fruit, this is the wrong pack.
Getting It Right in the Cup
- Water temperature: 92 to 94 degrees Celsius. This matters more for a dark roast than for any other style.
- Measure: 7g per standard cup, 15g per 250ml in a cafetiere, a level flat basket in a moka pot.
- Milk: this is a pack built for it. The low acidity and the heavy cocoa bottom end mean milk rounds the cup rather than flattening it, which is not true of every coffee.
- Sugar: if you take it, add it while the coffee is hot so it dissolves properly rather than sitting as grit at the bottom.
- Storage: once the pack is open the clock starts. Fold it down tight, clip it, and keep it in a cupboard rather than the fridge. Condensation is the enemy of ground coffee.
- Best with: breakfast, after dinner, dark chocolate, biscotti, or anything you would otherwise serve with an espresso.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian 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
How does it compare
A dark roast is more soluble than a light one, because the roast has already broken down much of the structure of the bean. That makes it forgiving in one direction and unforgiving in the other: it is very hard to under-extract, and very easy to over-extract into harshness. The two habits that matter most are using water slightly off the boil and not letting the coffee sit on the grounds.
The Cafetiere
The Moka Pot
Made with this tea
The Strong Cafetiere Mug
How to make The Strong Cafetiere Mug with Taylors Rich Italian.
- 30g Taylors Rich Italian
- 500ml water at 94 degrees Celsius
- A 3 cup cafetiere
- A spoon for the crust
- Boil the kettle and let it stand for thirty seconds. This is the step that decides whether the cup is rich or burnt.
- Pour 500ml over 30g of Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Roast Ground Coffee, 200g in a warmed jug, wetting every ground in one go.
- Steep four minutes with the lid on, break the crust with a spoon and skim the foam off.
- Plunge slowly and decant every drop into mugs immediately.
What you'll end up with: A heavy, cocoa-led mug with a long finish. Letting the kettle stand and decanting straight away are the two habits that carry it.
The Moka Pot House Cup
How to make The Moka Pot House Cup with Taylors Rich Italian.
- A level basket of Taylors Rich Italian
- Hot water to just below the valve
- A 3 cup moka pot
- Fill the base with hot water to just below the safety valve, so the grounds spend less time sitting over the heat.
- Level the basket and sweep it flat with a finger. Do not tamp it.
- Heat on medium with the lid up, never on full.
- Pull it off the hob the moment the flow turns pale and noisy, then run the base under a cold tap to stop extraction dead.
What you'll end up with: A thick, concentrated cup with a real bottom end. The cold tap at the end is the step everyone skips.
Big Milky Mug for a Cold Morning
How to make Big Milky Mug for a Cold Morning with Taylors Rich Italian.
- 20g Taylors Rich Italian
- 200ml water at 94 degrees Celsius
- 150ml hot milk
- Sugar to taste
- Brew 20g in 200ml in a cafetiere for four minutes so the coffee is deliberately strong.
- Heat 150ml of milk until steaming but not boiling.
- Combine in a large mug, coffee first, milk poured in from a height so it mixes as it lands.
- Sweeten while it is still hot if you take sugar, so it dissolves properly.
What you'll end up with: The drink this roast exists for. The cocoa depth survives the milk instead of vanishing into it.
Iced Dark Roast Over Ice
How to make Iced Dark Roast Over Ice with Taylors Rich Italian.
- 20g Taylors Rich Italian
- 180ml water at 94 degrees Celsius
- A full glass of ice
- A splash of cold milk
- Brew 20g in 180ml for four minutes, deliberately strong, and take the lid off to let it cool for two minutes.
- Fill a tall glass to the top with ice, not halfway.
- Pour the coffee straight over so the dilution happens where you can see it.
- Finish with a splash of cold milk and drink before the ice goes.
What you'll end up with: A dark iced coffee that still tastes of coffee at the bottom of the glass. A full glass of ice is the trick, not half a glass.
Affogato, the Proper Way
How to make Affogato, the Proper Way with Taylors Rich Italian.
- 20g Taylors Rich Italian
- 120ml water at 94 degrees Celsius
- 2 scoops vanilla ice cream
- Grated dark chocolate
- Brew 20g in only 120ml of water for four minutes, so what you pour is concentrated.
- Scoop the ice cream into two cold glasses.
- Pour the hot coffee over at the table, not in the kitchen, so it is still melting when it arrives.
- Grate dark chocolate over the top and serve immediately.
What you'll end up with: The bitterness is doing the work here. A lighter roast makes a sweeter, weaker affogato; this one cuts the cream properly.
Coffee and Chocolate Pot
How to make Coffee and Chocolate Pot with Taylors Rich Italian.
- 15g Taylors Rich Italian
- 100ml water at 94 degrees Celsius
- 150g dark chocolate
- 200ml double cream
- Brew 15g in 100ml for four minutes and strain it carefully so no grounds carry over.
- Heat the cream until it is just steaming, then pour it over the chopped chocolate and stir until smooth.
- Stir the hot coffee into the chocolate cream and mix until it is glossy.
- Divide into four small pots and chill for at least three hours before serving.
What you'll end up with: A dense set chocolate pot with a clear coffee bitterness running underneath it, which is what stops it being sickly.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Component | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Roasted coffee | 100% of the pack | Plain roasted and ground coffee and nothing else. No flavouring, no chicory, no filler and no additive of any kind. |
| Roast depth | dark, Italian style | The defining decision. Dark chocolate, toast and a structural bitterness in place of the origin brightness a lighter roast keeps. |
| Origin | not declared to us | Taylors publish the roast profile but not a green origin list, so no origin is quoted here. |
| Grind | general purpose | Cut to work across cafetiere, filter and moka pot without adjustment, which is the whole reason to buy pre-ground. |
Pack: Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Roast Ground Coffee, 200g; ground roasted coffee, caffeinated. Roughly 28 cups at a 7g measure. Best within two to four weeks of opening for full aroma; see the pack for the unopened best-before date.
Taylors publish Rich Italian as a roast profile but do not declare the green origins, the bean ratio or a roast-date window to us, so none is quoted here. Certification marks, allergen advice and the exact best-before date must be read off the current UK pack.
Sourcing & blend. Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Roast Ground Coffee, 200g is put together by Taylors of Harrogate, the North Yorkshire family firm most people know through Yorkshire Tea. The coffee side of the business runs its own buying and roasting, and a named roast profile works much like a blend recipe: buy greens that will take a long roast without going thin, then hold the profile so that the pack opened this autumn tastes like the one opened last spring. Dark roasting is the least forgiving thing a roastery does, because a few seconds too long turns rich into ashy, and holding that line batch after batch is the skill being sold here.
What's in Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Roast Ground Coffee, 200g, and what isn't:
- In: roasted and ground coffee, and nothing else. Plain roast coffee takes no additives.
- No artificial colours, preservatives or added sugar: the chocolate note is roast character developed inside the bean, not anything added to it.
- Energy: brewed black with nothing added, coffee contributes negligible energy. Everything that turns a cup of coffee into a calorie count goes in afterwards.
- Packaging: follow the current UK pack and your local-authority guidance; coffee packs vary between paper, foil and mixed laminates and the disposal routes differ.
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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 Roast Ground Coffee, 200g, please cite teas.co.uk.
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