Taylors Lazy Sunday Coffee Beans: Brewing a Gentle Roast Well

The name tells the truth: this is coffee for a slow morning and a cafetiere, not a shot pulled standing up before work. Because it comes as whole beans a grinder is not optional, and the reward is a sweet, bready aroma that pre-ground coffee has already lost.

The gentle rung on the Taylors ladder

Taylors sell their coffees as a graded set, and each pack carries a roast number so you can move along the scale knowingly rather than by trial and error. Lazy Sunday sits low on that ladder, while Hot Lava Java and Rich Italian are higher up. Expect marked smoothness, a medium body, a natural sweetness that reads rounder than a dark roast, and very little bitterness.

Taylors is the Yorkshire family firm behind Yorkshire Tea. We would keep this blend for cafetiere mornings, for anyone put off by the harshness of dark roasts, and for coffee alongside food rather than as a jolt awake. Black, it goes down easily, and it has the body to take milk without disappearing.

Grind it fresh or buy it ground

The word Beans on the front matters more than anything else on the bag. Whole beans keep their aromatics locked in until they are broken; grinding frees them in one go, and that is why a gentle roast ground on the spot smells sweet and bready rather than smoky. Pre-ground coffee has already spent that layer. With no grinder in the house, buy a ground Taylors coffee instead; a knife is not a grinder.

The 200g bag is sized for whole beans: at around 8g a cup it makes about 25 cups, a fortnight for one regular drinker or a long weekend for a household. A heavier 10g dose gives nearer twenty, a lighter 7g nearer twenty-eight. Buying beans in amounts you will finish while they are fresh is the whole point of the format.

Cafetiere yes, espresso no

Gentle roasts need time. A cafetiere or a filter gives the long, steady extraction that draws out the bready sweetness this blend is built on. Use water just off the boil, around 95C, by waiting thirty seconds after the kettle clicks; a rolling boil pushes bitterness into a cup that otherwise has almost none. Give it four minutes, then press gently and empty the pot.

Keep it out of the espresso machine. Gentler roasts lack the density for a thick, bitter shot, and forcing them through tends to produce a sour one, which then gets blamed on the beans. The other trap is leaving coffee on the grounds after plunging: it keeps extracting and goes dull and flat, which is the usual reason a refill from the same pot tastes tired.

The packs we stock

• Taylors of Harrogate Lazy Sunday Beans Roast Coffee, 200g (barcode 615357752528)

What to eat with it

• Royal Dansk Danish Butter Cookies, 340g: plain butter cookies echo the soft, bready sweetness without crowding a gentle cup.
• Border Lemon Drizzle Melts Organic Biscuits, 150g: a bright lemon biscuit beside a smooth, gentle roast, with neither crowding the other.
• Lu Le Petit Cookie with Chunky Rich Chocolate Chips, 184g: chocolate chips add a little depth beside a smooth, medium-bodied coffee.

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

Do I need a grinder for Lazy Sunday beans? Yes. They arrive whole, so without a grinder you are better off buying a ground Taylors coffee than improvising.

Can I use Lazy Sunday beans for espresso? It is not built for it. Gentle roasts lack the density for a thick shot and tend to come out sour.

How many cups does a 200g bag of Lazy Sunday make? About 25 at an 8g dose, nearer twenty at 10g and nearer twenty-eight at 7g.

What water temperature suits a gentle roast? Just off the boil, around 95C, which means waiting about thirty seconds after the kettle clicks.

Is Lazy Sunday good black? Yes. It is smooth and low in bitterness, so it drinks easily without milk, though it takes a splash well.

Curator's note: Grind it while the kettle boils and give it the full four minutes. Black, with a butter biscuit, is how I would have it. Lee, teas.co.uk, Tunbridge Wells.

In short: Taylors Lazy Sunday Coffee Beans: Brewing a Gentle Roast Well

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

Download as PDF