Taylors Flying Start Coffee Beans: The Breakfast Bean in a Big Bag

Flying Start is named for a job, not a place: the first strong mug of the day, made quickly and drunk beside breakfast. The 700g bag is sized for a house that makes that mug every morning and owns a grinder to get the best from whole beans.

What the number on the bag tells you

The digit after the name is a roast strength figure that Taylors print on the pack themselves. It is a house scale, so it places Flying Start among other Taylors coffees and says nothing about anyone else's; go by the figure on the bag you actually receive. In practice it points to the strong, well-developed end of the range: a full, round body, little sharp acidity and a cup built to carry milk.

Charles Taylor started the business in Harrogate in 1886, and the family still owns it through the Bettys and Taylors Group, the same house that makes Yorkshire Tea. Beside Rich Italian, which leans darker and more towards espresso with a sharper edge from the roast, Flying Start is the rounder of the two and the one to choose if a cafetiere does most of your brewing.

Is 700g too much to keep fresh?

Whole beans keep their aroma sealed inside. Roasting also leaves carbon dioxide in the bean, which seeps out through the bag's one-way valve for days and is the reason fresh grounds swell and foam in a cafetiere. Grinding opens the whole interior to the air at once, so a batch ground at the weekend smells tired by midweek, while the beans themselves hold on far longer.

The numbers help. Brewed in a cafetiere at 60g per litre, the bag gives roughly 46 large mugs, and as espresso, at 18g for each double, about 38 of them. For one steady drinker that is several weeks of breakfasts, so grind only what each pot needs and roll the bag down tight between mornings.

Grinding and brewing a breakfast bean

For a cafetiere, grind coarse, about the texture of rough sea salt. Anything finer passes the mesh and carries on brewing in the jug, and the cup turns muddy and bitter. Boil the kettle, then let it rest thirty to forty seconds so the water sits between 92 and 94 degrees. After four minutes, stir the crust away, lift off the foam, press down gently and pour the whole pot.

It is versatile enough to share between a cafetiere drinker and a machine user under the same roof, but it is happiest in a big mug next to toast and marmalade or a cooked plate. It was never built for slow, analytical sipping; its strength is being made in a hurry and still tasting of coffee through milk.

The packs we stock

• Taylors of Harrogate Flying Start 5 Roast Coffee Beans, 700g (barcode 615357000155)

What the label says

The published ingredient list for Taylors of Harrogate Flying Start 5 Roast Coffee Beans, 700g 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.

What to eat with it

• McVitie's Digestives Milk Chocolate Biscuits, 433g: a big pack of milk chocolate digestives for a big breakfast mug, the chocolate on the biscuit meeting the cocoa side of the coffee.
• McVitie's Digestives Seriously Chocolatey Biscuits, 250g: extra chocolate that holds its own against a strong, full-bodied cup taken black.
• Royal Dansk Danish Butter Cookies, 340g: plain butter cookies that leave room for the nutty, toasted side of the bean.
• Border Dark Chocolate Ginger Organic Biscuits, 150g: dark chocolate and ginger heat for anyone who drinks this strong and without milk.

Elsewhere in the Taylors of Harrogate range

• Taylors of Harrogate After Dark Roast Ground Coffee, 200g
• Taylors of Harrogate Brasilia Ground Coffee, 200g
• Taylors of Harrogate Decaffe Beans Roast Coffee, 200g
• Taylors of Harrogate Decaffe Ground, 10 Coffee Bags
• Taylors of Harrogate Decaffé Roast Ground Coffee, 200g
• Taylors of Harrogate Decaffeinated Yorkshire, 160 Tea Bags 500g

The full range is on the Taylors of Harrogate coffee page.

FAQ

What does the 5 in Flying Start 5 mean? It is Taylors' in-house roast strength figure, printed on the pack. It only ranks Flying Start against other Taylors coffees, so go by the number on your bag.

How many mugs does a 700g bag of beans make? Roughly 46 large cafetiere mugs at 60g per litre, or about 38 double espressos at 18g each. Both are sums from the pack weight.

What grind do I need for a cafetiere? Coarse, like rough sea salt. Finer grounds get through the mesh and keep extracting, which makes the cup bitter and muddy.

Why does my Flying Start taste harsh? Most often the water is too hot. Rest the kettle thirty to forty seconds after boiling so it sits around 92 to 94 degrees.

Does Flying Start work with milk? Yes. It is full-bodied and low in acidity, so milk softens it without washing it out.

Curator's note: Grind it fresh in the morning; the thirty seconds of noise is worth it. Then pour it into a proper mug and get the toast on. Lee, teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.

In short: Taylors Flying Start Coffee Beans: The Breakfast Bean in a Big Bag

More from the tea wiki

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

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