Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Roast Ground Coffee, 400g
Give it a minute in the cup before the first mouthful. A dark roast drunk scalding reads as nothing but bitterness; let it come down a few degrees and the dry cocoa and toasted sugar underneath get their chance, and the cup turns from punishing to comfortable. That is the biggest single improvement available here and it costs nothing. Otherwise expect very little acidity, a heavy coating body and a long finish. It comes ready ground, which suits the occasion it is usually bought for: the pot made for other people rather than the cup made for yourself.
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, a deep roast with dry cocoa weight and firm, deliberate bitterness, picked into the Teas.co.uk selection as the ground coffee that holds its shape under a full mug of milk rather than needing to be drunk black.
Pre-ground for cafetiere and filter. Brew it at 92 to 96 degrees rather than straight off the boil, and keep the bag rolled tight once opened.
Taylors is a Harrogate family firm, better known to most British kitchens for Yorkshire Tea, and its coffee side has been quietly doing the same job for decades: blending for consistency rather than chasing a fashionable single origin.
The 400g pack is the reason to look at this listing rather than the 200g. The one caveat with any large bag of ground coffee is that the clock starts when you open it, which is covered below.
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. Storage notes, dose guidance and water temperature are covered in the detailed Q and A tab below.
Curator’s notes
Read the full write-up
The Story Behind Taylors of Harrogate
Taylors has been trading out of Harrogate as a family business for generations, and it sells tea and coffee in roughly the same spirit: blend for a cup that behaves the same way every time, then leave it alone. The coffee range is arranged by roast depth rather than by origin, which is a genuinely useful way to shop. Flying Start and Lazy Sunday sit at the light and easy end, Rich Italian at the dark end, and Hot Lava Java in between with more intensity than either.
The bean origins, the roast number on the front and the grind specification are printed on the pack you receive, and blends of this kind are adjusted over time, so read the bag in your hand rather than a figure quoted elsewhere.
Packaging: Follow the current UK pack and local-authority guidance; the bag, the valve and any inner liner can require different disposal routes.
The Honest Problem With A 400g Bag
Ground coffee has a great deal of surface area, and surface area is what oxygen attacks. Whole beans hold their character for weeks after opening; ground coffee is noticeably duller after two or three, whatever the best-before date says. A 400g bag at seven grams a cup is around eight weeks of drinking for one person, which is comfortably past that point.
The fix is simple and worth doing. Keep the bag rolled tight and clipped, in a cupboard rather than on a sunny worktop, and do not refrigerate it, because the temperature swings pull moisture into the grounds every time the bag comes out. If the household gets through less than a mug or two a day, decant half into a small airtight jar and leave the rest sealed. For a household of two or three drinking it daily, the 400g bag is straightforwardly the better buy.
Getting The Most Out Of Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Roast Ground Coffee, 400g
- Water temperature: 92 to 96°C. Boiling water scorches a dark roast.
- Grind: pre-ground for cafetiere and filter brewing. The grind specification is stated on the pack.
- Storage: rolled tight, clipped, in a cupboard. Not the fridge, and not a sunny worktop.
- Best with: a bacon sandwich, dark chocolate, a rich fruit cake, or a large mug of milk on a cold morning.
Source: Teas.co.uk, the UK independent tea specialist in Tunbridge Wells, Kent. If you reference Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Roast Ground Coffee, 400g, 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; bag, valve and liner can require different disposal routes.
Our commitment to the planet
The taste profile
How does it compare
The single most common mistake with dark roast ground coffee is water straight off a rolling boil. A dark roast is already more soluble than a light one, so boiling water pulls the bitter compounds out faster than you want and the cup turns harsh. Let the kettle stand for a minute. It is the cheapest improvement available and it costs nothing but patience.
The Cafetiere
Filter, Stovetop And Milk
Made with this tea
The Four Minute Cafetiere
The everyday build, and the one that shows whether your water temperature is right.
- 7g Rich Italian, a heaped tablespoon
- 200ml water at 92 to 96 degrees
- A cafetiere
- Boil the kettle and let it stand for a minute.
- Pour over the grounds and put the lid on with the plunger up.
- Stir the crust down at one minute.
- Plunge slowly at four minutes and pour the whole jug out.
What you'll end up with: A dark, cocoa-weighted mug with a long dry finish and none of the harshness boiling water produces.
The Big Milky Mug
The job this roast depth exists for, and the one a lighter coffee cannot do.
- 14g Rich Italian, two heaped tablespoons
- 150ml water at 92 to 96 degrees
- 150ml hot milk
- Brew the double dose in 150ml of water for four minutes in a cafetiere.
- Heat 150ml of milk while it steeps.
- Pour the coffee into the mug first, then the milk.
What you'll end up with: A half and half mug where the coffee is still clearly the thing you are drinking.
Stovetop Pot
The closest this grind gets to an espresso, and far more forgiving than a pump machine.
- Rich Italian to fill the basket level
- Hot water to the valve in the base
- A stovetop pot
- Fill the basket level and do not tamp it down.
- Use hot water in the base so the coffee is not sitting over a slow heat.
- Take it off the heat the moment it starts to gurgle.
What you'll end up with: A short, dense, dark cup, and the gurgle is the signal to stop rather than a stage to sit through.
Overnight Cold Brew Concentrate
A dark roast made sweet by leaving the heat out of it entirely.
- 70g Rich Italian
- 500ml cold water
- Ice to serve
- A jug and a fine sieve
- Stir the grounds into the cold water in a jug.
- Refrigerate overnight, twelve hours or so.
- Strain through a fine sieve lined with a paper filter.
- Serve over ice, diluted with water or milk to taste.
What you'll end up with: A noticeably sweeter, far less bitter coffee, because the bitter compounds are the least soluble in cold water. Keeps three days in the fridge.
Coffee Rub For Beef Or Lamb
A dark roast is a spice as much as a drink, and this is the best use of the last of a bag.
- 2 tablespoons Rich Italian, unbrewed
- 1 tablespoon soft brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt and black pepper
- Mix everything together in a bowl.
- Press it all over the meat and leave it for an hour.
- Roast or grill as usual; the sugar and coffee build a dark crust.
What you'll end up with: A dark, savoury crust that tastes of cocoa and smoke rather than of coffee. Keeps a fortnight in a jar.
Coffee And Chocolate Loaf
Strong brewed coffee doing what it does best in baking, which is making chocolate taste more like chocolate.
- 150ml strong brewed Rich Italian, cooled
- 50g cocoa powder
- 200g soft brown sugar
- 200g self raising flour
- Brew 150ml at double strength, 14g in 150ml, and let it cool.
- Beat it into the cocoa, sugar, flour, 2 eggs and 100ml of oil.
- Bake in a lined 2lb tin at 170°C for about 55 minutes.
What you'll end up with: A dark, damp loaf that does not taste of coffee so much as of deeper chocolate. Keeps four days in a tin.
Brewing the perfect cup
What’s in it, what to know
Inside the pack
| Ingredient | Proportion | What it brings |
|---|---|---|
| Roasted and ground coffee | 400g, the whole of the pack | Everything you taste. Taken to a dark roast point, which is what builds the cocoa weight and the firm bitterness and what lets the cup survive a full mug of milk. |
| Bean composition and origins | See current pack | Taylors states the blend and the origins on the bag. We have not restated a ratio or an origin we cannot read off the pack in your hand. |
| Grind | Printed on the current pack | Pre-ground for cafetiere and filter brewing, which is where a supermarket ground coffee is aimed. The grind specification is stated on the bag, and it decides which brewers this pack suits. |
| Water (added by you) | The bulk of the finished cup | Seven grams per 200ml mug, or sixty grams per litre in a filter machine. Water at 92 to 96 degrees rather than straight off the boil, because a dark roast scorches easily. |
Ingredients and allergens. The published ingredient list for this barcode names none of the 14 major allergens. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.
Ingredients, as published for this barcode: arabica coffee.
Ingredient and nutrition data for this barcode: Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org), ODbL. The pack in your hands is the final word.
Pack: Caffeinated. Best within the date printed on the pack, and best within two to three weeks of opening.
Percentages are not published for this blend and we have not invented any. Black coffee carries almost no calories; anything added at the cup, milk or sugar, changes that entirely, and the nutrition panel on the pack is the figure to work from.
Sourcing & blend. Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Roast Ground Coffee, 400g comes from a Harrogate family firm that most British kitchens know better for Yorkshire Tea, and the coffee side is run in the same spirit: blend for a cup that behaves the same way every time, then leave it alone. Roasting is a trade and a dark roast makes the trade plainly: push the beans further and the acids that give a coffee its brightness break down while the bitter, cocoa toned compounds build, so what is left is weight rather than lift. That is why this bag reads as a proper strong coffee to anyone moving up from an instant jar, and why it is the one in the range that survives a full mug of milk. For the certifications, the grind specification and the recycling route carried by the bag in your hand, read the current pack.
What is in Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Roast Ground Coffee, 400g, and what is not:
- In: roasted and ground coffee, and nothing else.
- No added flavourings, sugar or sweeteners: the cocoa tone is roast depth, not an added ingredient.
- No dairy in the bag: brewed black it is a plant based drink; milk is something you add.
- Brewer note: cut for cafetiere and filter. Check the grind stated on the pack before using it in a pump espresso machine, where a coarse grind will run fast and thin.
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 Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Roast Ground Coffee, 400g, please cite teas.co.uk.
What buyers say
No customer reviews of Taylors of Harrogate Rich Italian Roast Ground Coffee, 400g 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 Taylors of Harrogate | Yorkshire Tea
Other Coffee worth comparing
