Lavazza Tales of Roma Ground Coffee: A Dark Roast Guide

Body is the reason to buy this pack, a weight in the cup that carries through milk where lighter blends fade away. Dark roasts punish careless brewing, though, so the dose and the kettle matter more here than with an everyday bag.

What the Roman name promises

The name nods to Rome, and the cup lives up to it: heavier than a breakfast blend, with a thick middle of dark cocoa and toasted nut and a finish that lingers. Acidity is close to absent. Nothing in it is bright or fruity, which is a chosen style rather than a flaw, and it is why this suits anyone who has found lighter coffees thin.

Among the Lavazza coffees we stock, it sits at the far end from the all-Arabica Espresso Italiano Classico, which leans floral. Qualita Rossa, the Arabica and Robusta blend, is the fuller, chocolatey one among the core blends; Tales of Roma sits among the stronger ground coffees, not the daily ones, and it drinks like one.

Dose, water and method

Start at seven grams, roughly a heaped dessertspoon, for each 200ml cup, which gives about twenty-eight cups from the 200g pack. Resist the urge to use less coffee and steep it longer to make up the difference: a long brew is what turns a dark roast bitter. Water around 92 to 94 degrees, from a kettle left to settle for half a minute, stops the grounds scorching.

The grind is a medium cut, so a cafetiere or a filter machine is its natural home. It is far too coarse for an espresso machine, and tamping harder will not fix that. A moka pot is worth a go: level the grounds in the basket without pressing them down, put hot water in the base, and take it off the hob the moment it begins to gurgle. You get something short and thick.

Milk, biscuits and keeping it fresh

Few ground coffees keep their voice in a home-made flat white; this one does, because its weight carries straight through the milk. Taken black, it suits the end of a meal beside something with dark chocolate or caramel that can match its weight. Delicate, sugary biscuits get lost next to it, so choose ones with some bitterness, spice or chew.

Once the pack is open, roll the top down tightly, clip it and keep it in a cool, dark cupboard. Darker roasts hold their smell a little better than light ones, because the heavier roast aromatics escape more slowly, but ground coffee still fades week by week. The 200g size suits that: small enough to finish while it still smells of the roaster.

The packs we stock

• Lavazza Tales of Roma Ground Coffee, 200g (barcode 8000070073890)

What to eat with it

• McVitie's Digestives Dark Chocolate Biscuits, 433g: Dark chocolate on a plain digestive matches the cocoa depth of the cup without piling on more sweetness than it can take.
• Border Dark Chocolate Ginger Organic Biscuits, 150g: Ginger heat and dark chocolate give the heavy, low-acid body something to push against.
• Maryland Cookies Caramel & Chocolate Chip, 200g: Caramel and chocolate chips in a cookie, for a milky flat white made with this blend.
• McVitie's Digestives Seriously Chocolatey Biscuits, 250g: For black coffee after dinner, when a biscuit built around chocolate can stand up to the long finish.

Elsewhere in the Lavazza range

• Lavazza A Modo Mio Dek, Decaf Eco Caps, 16 Capsules 120g
• Lavazza A Modo Mio Lungo Dolce Coffee, 16 Capsules
• Lavazza A Modo Mio Passionale Coffee, 16 Capsules
• Lavazza A Modo Mio Qualita Rossa Coffee, 16 Capsules 120g
• Lavazza Crema e Gusto Classico Coffee Beans, 1kg
• Lavazza Crema E Gusto Classico Ground Roasted Coffee, 500g

The full range is on the Lavazza brand page.

FAQ

Can I use Tales of Roma in an espresso machine? No. It is a medium grind for a cafetiere or filter machine and too coarse for espresso; for that you need beans and a grinder.

How many cups does a 200g pack make? About twenty-eight at seven grams per 200ml cup, fewer if you brew it stronger, which suits a dark roast.

Is Tales of Roma bitter? Its bitterness sits nearer the surface than a medium roast's, but at the right dose with water just off the boil it tastes of cocoa and toasted nut rather than ash.

Is it good with milk? Yes. The full body carries through milk, which makes it one of the better ground coffees for a flat white at home.

Curator's note: Brew it strong and short rather than weak and long, then add hot milk if that is how you like it. This is coffee for people who want to know they have had one. Lee, teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.

In short: Lavazza Tales of Roma Ground Coffee: A Dark Roast Guide

More from the tea wiki

• Tea vs Coffee: Taste, Caffeine and Switching
• Caffeine in Tea
• Tea vs Coffee
• Tea for Coffee Drinkers: Where to Start
• Chai vs Coffee

Download as PDF