Best personalized coffee subscription
MistoBox
For female-powered, organic, fair-trade coffee
Bean & Bean
What’s the best overall coffee subscription?
If you’re seeking to change up your beans to give your morning routine a revamp, a quality coffee club will deliver it — literally. We’ve tested all the top online bean peddlers to find the best coffee subscriptions for 2023. Equator Coffee’s Curated Blend subscription edged out the others as the best coffee club for most, but there is no shortage of excellent options on this list, including Atlas Coffee Club for global coffee and Fellow Coffee’s excellent bags of beans from small, independent roasters.
Enjoying coffee every morning is an easy habit to fall into, and certainly not a bad one. You might be missing out on some intriguing beans if you limit yourself to a single variety. There are so many interesting coffees to try, all with distinct profiles and often made by small, creative, upstart producers. In fact, your favorite coffee may be one you haven’t even tried yet.
Read more: Best Coffee Makers
Best coffee clubs and subscriptions of 2023
A coffee subscription ensures you never run out of java.
Starts at $14.85 per 12-ounce bagSubscription only NoGood for Consistently solid coffee
While some subscriptions had some misses together with the hits, I tried Equator Coffee for a few months and there wasn’t a bad bean in the bunch. Yes, taste is subjective, but for me, this was the most consistent coffee subscription service, sending fresh, flavorful and interesting whole beans from places like Ethiopia and Colombia.
Starts at $14 per 12-ounce bagSubscription only YesGood for Budget-friendly beans
This might be the most giftable of the coffee subscriptions simply because each send feels very much like a friend sent it from the other side of the world.
tarts at $16 per 12-ounce bagSubscription only NoGood for Trying small, indy roasters
Fellow’s coffee subscription scores points for combining high-quality coffee beans with a simple, no-fuss ordering and delivery system. The whole beans I received in my month-long trial of Fellow were both excellent and interesting and included a dreamy Agaro Ethiopian roast with notes of peach and bergamot.
Starts at $15.75 per 12-ounce bagSubscription only NoGood for Variety
This is one of the smartest coffee subscriptions I tried. Trade has taste algorithms down to a science, and just about every coffee I had delivered was right in my flavor wheelhouse. As far as types of coffee subscription options go, you can get two 12-ounce bags of classic blends for $25 total per delivery ($12.50 a bag), or a single amazing coffee bag from one of 400 roasters for between $15 and $22 per delivery (shipping included for both options).
Starts at $12.71 per 12-ounce bagSubscription only NoGood for Personalized coffee
Some folks can be particular about their coffee beans and Mistobox understands that. Celebrates it, even.
Starts at $17 per 12-ounce bagSubscription only NoGood for Dog lovers
Starts at $19 per 12-ounce bagSubscription only NoGood 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.
Starts at $19 per 12-ounce bagSubscription only NoGood 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.
How we test coffee subscriptions
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.
Factors to consider when choosing a coffee subscription
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.
Why you might want to try a coffee subscription
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.
Coffee clubs and subscriptions FAQs
What are the benefits of a coffee club subscription?
The biggest benefits of joining a coffee club are convenience, variety, quality and freshness. Because you can tailor your coffee delivery to the amount you use, you’ll likely never be without it. As they say, “it’s better to be looking at it than looking for it..
Can you change the subscription frequency?
Yes. Nearly every coffee club we tested allows for flexibility in how much coffee you’ll receive, even after you sign up. You might want to do a little quick math in your head to estimate how much coffee you consume in a given month, but many of the coffee vendors help you do that in the initial quiz or questionnaire to help you find a perfect coffee cadence.
Is a coffee club subscription worth it?
Coffee subscriptions and monthly clubs are great for having coffee always in stock, securing extremely high-quality and freshly roasted beans and also trying new types of coffee, but most aren’t going to save you money over budget, store-bought coffee. If you’re happy drinking Folgers or Cafe Bustelo, a coffee club may be a pricier option and not worth it. If you’re more of a coffee connoisseur type who tends to opt for high-end beans at the market, a coffee club won’t be as big of a splurge.
