Best Coffee Subscriptions for 2023 – CNET [CNET]

The coffee I had when I tried Ground and Hounds was fresh, smooth and mild but perhaps a little less exciting than some of the other clubs. A great subscription to please a wide range of coffee drinkers with nothing that will scare away a person with a less adventurous palate. You also won’t find as many niche roasters with this service but what it does send is high quality and consistently good.

You can join the Grounds and Hounds Coffee Club with a subscription starting at $17 per 12-ounce bag. It’s the ideal way to keep a steady supply of coffee at the ready for those post-walk mornings in front of the fireplace, with your best buddy snoozing at your feet.

Pros:

• Consistently good coffee
• A portion of proceeds go to dog rescue organizations

Cons:

• Not as much variety
• Not as good for adventurous coffee drinkers
• Expensive

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See at Grounds and Hounds

Best simple coffee subscription (and for dog lovers)

Grounds and Hounds

“Every pound saves a hound,” is the slogan of Grounds and Hounds coffee company, which donates 20% of all profits to dog rescue organizations. With blends like Morning Walk, Paper & Slippers and even a decaf roast called Hush Puppy, this is the perfect subscription for dog lovers. 

Starts at $17 per 12-ounce bag

Subscription only No

Good for Dog lovers

“Every pound saves a hound,” is the slogan of Grounds and Hounds coffee company, which donates 20% of all profits to dog rescue organizations. With blends like Morning Walk, Paper & Slippers and even a decaf roast called Hush Puppy, this is the perfect subscription for dog lovers. 

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The coffee I had when I tried Ground and Hounds was fresh, smooth and mild but perhaps a little less exciting than some of the other clubs. A great subscription to please a wide range of coffee drinkers with nothing that will scare away a person with a less adventurous palate. You also won’t find as many niche roasters with this service but what it does send is high quality and consistently good.

You can join the Grounds and Hounds Coffee Club with a subscription starting at $17 per 12-ounce bag. It’s the ideal way to keep a steady supply of coffee at the ready for those post-walk mornings in front of the fireplace, with your best buddy snoozing at your feet.

Pros:

• Consistently good coffee
• A portion of proceeds go to dog rescue organizations

Cons:

• Not as much variety
• Not as good for adventurous coffee drinkers
• Expensive

This is one of the pricier services and breaks down to about $19 a bag (inclusive of shipping). But considering it’s mostly organic and fair-trade coffee that supports female owned businesses and the coffee is all roasted and ground to order, I think it’s worth the extra few bucks a month.

Pros:

• High-quality and interesting beans
• Women-owned service that partners with women-owned roasters
• All fair trade

Cons:

• Expensive
• Not a ton of variety

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For female-powered, organic, fair-trade coffee

Bean & Bean

This NYC-based roaster sends some of the best organic, fair-trade coffee from various regions around the world to you in signature bright purple packaging. Many of the service’s producers are female-owned and you can use a filter to narrow your search to include only those. In a trial run of Bean & Bean, I got some of the most interesting coffees of any club on the list. I tried the organic Peru Las Damas (chocolate lemon and orange notes) and a female-owned Santa Felisha Purple Gesha honey coffee from Guatemala and both were fresh-tasting, complex and flavorful.

Starts at $19 per 12-ounce bag

Subscription only No

Good for Organic, fair-trade coffee

This NYC-based roaster sends some of the best organic, fair-trade coffee from various regions around the world to you in signature bright purple packaging. Many of the service’s producers are female-owned and you can use a filter to narrow your search to include only those. In a trial run of Bean & Bean, I got some of the most interesting coffees of any club on the list. I tried the organic Peru Las Damas (chocolate lemon and orange notes) and a female-owned Santa Felisha Purple Gesha honey coffee from Guatemala and both were fresh-tasting, complex and flavorful.

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This is one of the pricier services and breaks down to about $19 a bag (inclusive of shipping). But considering it’s mostly organic and fair-trade coffee that supports female owned businesses and the coffee is all roasted and ground to order, I think it’s worth the extra few bucks a month.

Pros:

• High-quality and interesting beans
• Women-owned service that partners with women-owned roasters
• All fair trade

Cons:

• Expensive
• Not a ton of variety

If you like more variety of coffee, the Bean Box coffee sampler includes four 1.8-ounce bags of coffee in whole bean or ground format; again, you can pick your roast preference. You’ll get a caramel with this option, which starts at $24 for one month. In any case, shipping is included and you can pause or skip deliveries at any time if need be.

Pros

• Good for trying lots of coffees in each delivery
• Good for gifting

Cons:

• Samplers have a fair amount of extra packaging
• Not much customization allowed

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Best for West Coast coffee diehards

Bean Box

Bean Box highlights renowned Seattle roasters and has two subscription options. The Coffee of the Month Club brings you 12 ounces of freshly roasted, hand-picked whole-bean coffee (you choose the roast, or leave it open to all possibilities: light roast, medium, dark, espresso or decaf) with tasting notes and tips for freshly brewing roasted coffee to perfection, plus a sample of artisanal chocolate to enjoy with your joe. Plans start at a very affordable $69 for three months. 

Starts at $19 per 12-ounce bag

Subscription only No

Good for Curated coffee sends

Bean Box highlights renowned Seattle roasters and has two subscription options. The Coffee of the Month Club brings you 12 ounces of freshly roasted, hand-picked whole-bean coffee (you choose the roast, or leave it open to all possibilities: light roast, medium, dark, espresso or decaf) with tasting notes and tips for freshly brewing roasted coffee to perfection, plus a sample of artisanal chocolate to enjoy with your joe. Plans start at a very affordable $69 for three months. 

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If you like more variety of coffee, the Bean Box coffee sampler includes four 1.8-ounce bags of coffee in whole bean or ground format; again, you can pick your roast preference. You’ll get a caramel with this option, which starts at $24 for one month. In any case, shipping is included and you can pause or skip deliveries at any time if need be.

Pros

• Good for trying lots of coffees in each delivery
• Good for gifting

Cons:

• Samplers have a fair amount of extra packaging
• Not much customization allowed

To test these coffee clubs, we start from the beginning just as any coffee-drinking customer would including filling out questionnaires and quizzes that are standard on most coffee subscriptions nowadays. From there, we’ll select at least three deliveries of whole beans. Once we’re signed up, we track how accurate and consistent the monthly or weekly shipments are. Most importantly, we grade each service on how fresh good the coffee tastes and smells and whether it delivers on the initial promise of finding new and interesting coffee we love based on that initial information gathering and our real-time feedback. 

Type of coffee subscription

Some coffee subscriptions do a lot of work in helping you find the perfect beans with questionnaires and rating systems while others simply send what you already know you love. If you’re open to new coffee types and beans from small roasters, there are services such as Trade and Fellow that specialize in sending a variety of beans. If it’s coffee consistency you seek, a service such as Grounds and Hounds or even a recurring subscription from FreshDirect would likely be a better fit.

Whole bean or ground

Most coffee subscriptions encourage you to order whole beans and grind them yourself since that will maximize freshness. But if you prefer to skip that step, several services on this list will gladly put it through the coffee grinder before mailing it to you.

Cost and pricing

Coffee bean subscriptions typically cost more than your bag of Folgers or Starbucks Pike Place Roast from the local grocery store but that’s because they focus on quality, harder-to-find beans and roasting fresh before sending to you. That said, some subscriptions can be had for as cheap as $13 a bag, while other premium coffee clubs can cost over $20 per bag. Decide what your budget is for coffee per month and activate a membership that fits in it.

Frequency of bean delivery

Most coffee subscription services will let you choose a delivery frequency of your choosing and some help you figure out exactly how much you’ll need and when. 

Unbeatable selection of coffee, often from small, indie producers

Local roasters and good markets are one way to try a few new coffees here and there. To open up an entire globe of coffee options, a good coffee subscription or coffee club will give you the most variety for ordering and tasting beans. For curious coffee drinkers who aren’t set in their ways, a coffee subscription is an excellent way to try new styles and roasts from small producers of this mandatory morning beverage. 

Plus, most coffee clubs on this list source from small, independent and fair-trade roasters. Many of these purveyors wouldn’t have much reach without online customers, so consider your subscription a boon to small businesses. (You can save that bag of Starbucks or Folgers for when the in-laws visit).

Coffee clubs send fresh coffee, roasted just before shipping

While variety is a huge reason to love coffee clubs, freshness is arguably just as important and the best coffee clubs will roast your beans just before sending them, with no time wasted on a shelf store where it loses punch and flavor. Trust me, you’ll notice the difference between fresh and stale store bought as soon as you open the bag. 

Read more: Best Tea Subscriptions

A coffee subscription means you’ll always have beans around 

Perhaps the most obvious benefit of a coffee subscription or coffee-of-the-month club is convenience. Coffee is one of those groceries you forget to chuck in the cart, and it’s never fun when you realize it the next morning. A coffee subscription ensures good beans are always on hand. And if a subscription feels like too much, most coffee clubs and online coffee retailers offer a one-time send of beans — ground or whole — to try out the goods without commitment.