Flying Start Coffee Bags: How to Brew Them Properly

Taylors Flying Start Coffee Bags: How to Brew a Coffee Bag Properly

A coffee bag is ground coffee sealed behind a filter and brewed like a tea bag; it is not instant in disguise. That puts this carton of Flying Start where a cafetiere never goes: the desk drawer, the caravan, the tent and the hotel room.

Published 26 Sep 2026 Curator-written, not crowdsourced

Taylors Flying Start Coffee Bags: How to Brew a Coffee Bag Properly, in summary: Ten sealed bags of Flying Start, Taylors' medium breakfast roast, each holding 7.5g of real ground coffee. Steep one in an ordinary mug for three minutes, move it about early, squeeze once and lift it out.

Last reviewed by the teas.co.uk team in September 2026.

A coffee bag is ground coffee sealed behind a filter and brewed like a tea bag; it is not instant in disguise. That puts this carton of Flying Start where a cafetiere never goes: the desk drawer, the caravan, the tent and the hotel room.

Real ground coffee, no kit

Each of the ten bags holds 7.5g of ground coffee, 75g across the carton, and each sits in its own envelope. Nothing is freeze-dried, which is why these belong with ground coffee rather than beside the instant jars. The kit is a mug and a kettle: no grinder, no plunger, no paper filter and no wet grounds to tip away afterwards.

Be clear about the trade. A cafetiere gives a fuller cup because something presses the grounds; a bag only steeps, so the body comes out lighter. What the format protects is aroma. With every dose sealed separately, the tenth mug opens as fragrant as the first, which is more than an opened bag of loose grounds can say after a few weeks.

Three minutes, a swirl and a squeeze

Open the envelope above the mug so the aroma lands where you drink it, drop the bag in and pour on roughly 200 to 250ml of hot water, which is an ordinary mug. Leave it three minutes. Two gives a thin cup; much past five, the late, bitter compounds begin to come out, and a medium breakfast roast has no depth to mask them.

A weak cup nearly always comes from a bag left sitting still. There is no plunger or shower head doing the work, so you have to: move it about for the opening twenty seconds, then give it one squeeze against the mug wall before you lift it out. A pint mug needs two bags, because the dose inside a sealed bag cannot be increased and the water is your only lever.

What Flying Start tastes like from a bag

Taylors sort their coffee range by roast style rather than by origin, and Flying Start is the wake-up entry, built to be drunk first thing and probably in a hurry. It is a medium roast, stopped before any smoke: the aroma is cereal and caramel, lifted by a hint of citrus, and it drinks brisk and bright, with little bitterness as long as the bag comes out on time.

Most people know Taylors, the Harrogate family firm, for its tea rather than its coffee, and this carton is a sensible way into the coffee side. It earns its place anywhere without a proper kitchen, not least a newly rented flat before the moving boxes are opened. For the blend details and any roast number, go by what the current carton says. Among the Taylors lines we stock, Hot Lava Java and Decaffé also come as ten-bag cartons.

The packs we stock

Taylors of Harrogate Flying Start Ground, 10 Coffee Bags 75g (barcode 615357123342)

What the label says

The published ingredient list for Taylors of Harrogate Flying Start Ground, 10 Coffee Bags 75g (barcode 615357123342) names none of the 14 major allergens. Check the current UK pack before purchase; formulations and allergen advice can change.

Ingredient and nutrition data for this barcode: Open Food Facts (openfoodfacts.org), ODbL. The pack in your hands is the final word.

What to eat with it

Royal Dansk Danish Butter Cookies, 340g: buttery and plain, these sit comfortably beside the caramel note of a medium roast.
Lu Le Petit Cookie with Chunky Rich Chocolate Chips, 184g: chunky chocolate chips give a bright, lighter mug a little depth on the side.
Border Lemon Drizzle Melts Organic Biscuits, 150g: lemon picks up the citrus edge that runs over the top of this roast.

Elsewhere in the Taylors of Harrogate range

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

FAQ

Are coffee bags the same as instant coffee? No. They hold ground coffee sealed inside a filter, with nothing freeze-dried, and they brew in the mug like tea.

How long do you leave a coffee bag in? Three minutes. Two tends to be thin, and much beyond five the cup starts turning bitter.

Why is my coffee bag weak? Usually because it sat still. Move it about for the first twenty seconds, squeeze it once and keep to an ordinary 200 to 250ml mug.

How much coffee is in each Flying Start bag? 7.5g, so the carton of ten holds 75g in all, one bag per mug.

Can I make a pint mug with one bag? Not well. One bag in a pint tastes thin, so use two or settle for a longer, lighter drink.

Curator's note: Keep a carton in the desk drawer and another in the camping box. Move the bag about early and you will miss the cafetiere less than you expect. Lee, teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.

In short: Taylors Flying Start Coffee Bags: How to Brew a Coffee Bag Properly

Field	Detail
Brand	Taylors of Harrogate
Packs we stock	10 Coffee Bags 75g
Category	Ground Coffee
Allergens (as published)	The published ingredient list for this barcode names none of the 14 major allergens.
Caffeine	caffeinated
Kit needed	A mug and a kettle
Steep	Three minutes, moved about early
Best for	Office, travel and camping