10 Cheap Coffee Brands That Actually Taste Good

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Cheap coffee doesn't mean bad — not at all. The connotation that a bag of coffee beans is inferior because it costs seven bucks, or that it came from a large roaster doing mass production, is a misreading. Simply put, you can brew a great cup of coffee at home without breaking the bank. Many roasters these days sell single-origin beans, meaning a bag of beans exclusively sourced from one country. Single-origin coffees are nice because they showcase the terroir of a country's coffee growing area, much like how a wine from a single estate demonstrates what French soil can do to a grape. But blends of coffee aren't bad either, and can create new and unexpected flavors, while helping roasters balance affordability against custom taste profiles. Whole beans are your best bet and can even be cheaper than pre-ground, and combined with a grinder, you'll get full-bodied coffee.

With over a decade of experience in the coffee industry, I was asked to put together this list of affordable coffees. My background includes running cafés, consulting on drink recipes, competing in coffee contests, and selling wholesale green and roasted coffee, along with coffee equipment. I've dedicated a large part of my adult life to this beloved brown beverage, you could say! Here, I've assembled a list of great options for home brewers who enjoy buying freshly roasted coffees and making them in their kitchens. Nothing is over $20 and they are all easily sourced online or in many grocery stores nationwide.

Café Bustelo coffee is quite recognizable, often found in many large chain supermarkets, with its bright yellow cans. The design of the labels and the overall vibe of the brand are pretty old-school, perhaps reminding coffee drinkers of what can be found in the cupboards of their grandparents. But don't judge a book by the cover, as they say, and embrace the price point here. At $9.99 for a 10-ounce bag, coffee drinkers on a budget should celebrate the accessible and inclusive economics of these beans, which won't put much of a dent in the wallet, and will indeed get you caffeinated nicely.

Café Bustelo offers a variety of coffee options, including K-Cups, pre-ground, blends, instant, decaf, flavored, espresso capsules, and even canned, ready-to-drink offerings. Here, as with any coffee, the best option is always whole bean, with the caveat being: Do you have access to a grinder? Grinding your coffee immediately before brewing will always yield a better result, as it locks in those volatile compounds that make the smell — and taste — of coffee so intoxicating. (Once coffee is ground and exposed to air, it's a race against the clock before the flavor profile falls off a cliff and becomes flat and stale.) Café Bustelo's whole bean medium roast offering here boasts notes of dark chocolate, with a smooth and balanced profile, able to stand up against milk or cream, pleasing drinkers who take it black or mellowed with dairy.

McDonald's coffee is one of the most easily accessible coffees when you're out in the world, as the restaurants are peppered all over any urban — and, for that matter, rural — area. If you need a quick fix in a rush, beyond Dunkin' or Starbucks, McDonald's coffee is always a great option. Its coffee has developed a bit of a cult following now, and many customers have come to appreciate the McCafé flavor profile found in its coffee beverages. But some fans of McDonald's coffee enjoy it at home, too, being their own barista and brewing up McCafé java in their kitchens.

Whether drip coffee from an automatic machine, espresso in a moka pot, or a pour-over in a Chemex, McDonald's beans are quite tasty, especially considering the price point. I actually wrote about McCafé beans here before, brewing them in a moka pot, where I enjoyed notes of burnt toffee, malt chocolate, and nougat, with a round and pronounced sweetness. In this Premium Medium Roast, we are unsure of the bean's provenance, but it's safe to assume that it's a blended mix from multiple origins for consistency. At $7.48 for a 12-ounce bag, and as an Amazon's Choice pick, it's a great deal. If you enjoy the affordable coffee available in-house at your local Golden Arches, you can expect the same consistency, quality, and value with McCafé beans for your home.

We all know that Trader Joe's has the best snack foods around, and many of us relish a trip to this renowned grocery store to cruise the aisles. If you're not familiar with the popular store and its phenomenal curation, perhaps you can find some inspiration here for your next visit. But the company actually roasts up some great coffee in addition to those epic snack foods and solid produce. The benefit of buying beans from a retailer like Trader Joe's is a focus on consistency that small batch roasters aren't always able to achieve. What's more, Trader Joe's is known for its commitment to quality sourcing, where it aims to find the best product in each category for their private-label approach. Their coffee program is no different.

Here, it has a limited-time offering of an Ecuadorian lot — the only coffee from this gorgeous coffee-growing country in our list. Ecuadorian coffees are special, and like its neighbor to the south, Peru, production is often overshadowed by the volume of coffee to the north, coming out of Colombia. When you see coffee from Ecuador — especially at this price point of $11.99 — grab it immediately! They always delight and surprise me, with this medium roast showing notes of molasses, dark chocolate, and warming spices like nutmeg. It's nice that Trader Joe's offers these special, small-lot coffees from unique origins like Ecuador, allowing you to taste the terroir of the region without draining your bank account.

Coffees from Sumatra are a special breed, and perhaps not for everyone. If you like your coffee bold, in your face, with earthy notes and warming spices to round out the profile, Sumatras will likely please you. With our second Trader Joe's offering here, this lot from Sumatra is both Fair Trade and organic certified, coming in at $9.49 for a 13-ounce bag, which is a great value for this style of coffee. Many health-conscious coffee drinkers prioritize organic over non-organic, but I'd like to remind everyone that coffee is like a banana — the pesticides, if used, don't ever come in direct contact with the bean. A coffee bean is actually from a tropical fruit, and the seed — aka the bean — is protected from chemicals by the coffee cherry's exterior skin and flesh. It's only after processing the beans — known as hulling — that the beans become exposed and ready to then be dried, before getting prepped for export.

This medium-dark roast Sumatra boasts flavors of dried fruits and molasses, in addition to those foundational earthy notes I mentioned. Since this roast was pushed to the edge of what's considered dark, I would recommend brewing it with a lower temperature of around 195 degrees Fahrenheit rather than boiling water at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Brewing it this way will ensure less overt bitterness, accentuating the caramelized sugars with a rounder, more dark toffee profile and less astringency. Of course, a splash of milk helps here, too.  

Whole Foods, much like its aforementioned competitor Trader Joe's, is known for offering quality foods of all stripes, with an emphasis on healthy options. It might not come to mind when you think of coffee, but its house brand does indeed roast up some great offerings. And due to the scale of this nationwide chain, you're pretty much guaranteed to have access to Whole Foods coffee in most urban centers (save for a few states), in addition to online options from retailers like Amazon.

Here, we have a light-roasted single-origin offering from Costa Rica, packaged in a 12-ounce bag, coming in at $14.99. Truth be told, coffees from Costa Rica have been some of my all-time favorite beans over the years, renowned for having a modernized industry, with large farms often selling beans for more than neighboring Central American countries. Costa Rican coffees can run on the pricier side, but considering that many specialty roasters sell 8-ounce bags of beans in the $24 vicinity, this option from Whole Foods for $10 less is all the more appealing. 

The taste profiles of Costa Rican coffees run the gamut from nutty to super fruity, and this Whole Foods lot lists flavors of sweet nuts and chocolate. It should also be noted that this coffee scored 86 points — shown on the bag — which means that it is six points higher than the 80 points threshold to be considered specialty coffee by the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA).

For many consumers, Amazon is an online bazaar that seems to literally sell everything under the sun, including fresh produce delivered to your door and, of course, coffee. Most of the coffees in this list can be found on Amazon's online marketplace, but did you know that the company itself has a house brand of coffee? Amazon sells roasted coffee under the Amazon Fresh moniker, as part of its in-house grocery line, with a well-curated menu consisting of many stalwart coffees. It sells blends and single origins from countries like Peru, Indonesia, Nicaragua, and this Colombia Medium Roast at affordable prices. $15.67 for 32-ounces of coffee is staggeringly cheap and a great value, and more than 13,000 customers seem to agree, pushing the overall average rating to a respectable 4.3 out of 5 stars.

This coffee is Rainforest Alliance certified, consisting of a blend of lots from Colombia without the specific growing regions listed. It is roasted to a medium level, which means it won't have any super fruity or acidic notes, showing a more balanced taste profile. Colombian coffees are world-renowned, and many like to claim they are the best in the business, but one thing is for sure — the volcanic soils in the mountainous growing regions impart a rich flavor as coffee trees benefit from the impressive terroir. This coffee from Amazon will please coffee drinkers both in its epic value and smooth, approachable caramel-y notes.

Kicking Horse Coffee is a Canadian brand that might be on your radar as it has grown in popularity in recent years, expanding across the continent. It offers a wide range of coffees from blends to espresso roasts, to decaf, and even cold brew certified roasts. While I'm not quite sure what cold brew certified means, since you can make cold brew from any roast, Kicking Horse Coffee is known for consistency and value as a grocery store brand. It pushes an outdoorsy brand identity, celebrating nature with blend names like Happy Camper, Three Sisters (a trio of peaks in the Canadian Rockies mountain range), and this coffee, Grizzly Claw.

Marketing aside, this 10-ounce bag goes for $15.89, and it is certified organic, roasted to a dark level. Lovers of very developed and heavily caramelized dark roasts will find lots to love here, as the coffee boasts a prominent note of rich dark chocolate. I have found in the past that some roasters list the tasting note of high percentage, dark chocolate to get around the fact that the coffee is bitter, to sell it as positive in a way. And as we know, there are varying levels of dark chocolate quality — much like coffee beans — so it's not always the best indicator of a superior product. But if you brew this coffee well, using good, filtered water, and don't over-extract it, you should end up quite content with a low-acid, robust cup of joe.

I'm not sure if I've come across a more on-the-nose roaster name in all my years of working in the coffee industry, but you have to admit, Fresh Roasted does have a nice ring to it. The company has been around since 2009, and its orange and brown bags may be familiar to many readers, seen on shelves across the country. Here, Fresh Roasted offers an organic Mexican medium roast with wonderful notes of brown sugar, cashew, and pear — something to savor without the need for milk and sugar, if you're into that type of profile. For $12.99, you can get a 12-ounce bag of this whole bean coffee, which is a bargain.

As a company, Fresh Roasted is unique in this price-sensitive list of scaled, grocery store brands, in that it roasts on a Loring Smart Roaster. These roasters are distinct in that they use less gas than most industry-standard drum roasters, roasting the beans with hot air (convection) rather than direct conductive heat, resulting in fewer emissions. Furthermore, each bag of coffee is nitrogen flushed for freshness, which means all remaining oxygen is pushed out of the bags, preventing the coffee from getting stale as it sits on shelves. Lastly, the coffee is actually tested for mold content by a third-party agency, giving health-conscious coffee addicts a piece of mind. While mold content is not a significant concern in the specialty market, lower-priced commodity-grade coffee can be susceptible to this issue.

Bulletproof Coffee, founded in 2011 in Seattle, leans into the health and wellness craze of recent years and, much like Fresh Roasted, boasts claims of its coffee being tested for toxins (mold). You may have heard of this viral trend of people making bulletproof coffee about over 10 years ago, which meant adding MCT oil or butter to your coffee as a health hack, falling into favor among the low-carb, keto crowd. If adding melted butter or coconut oil to your coffee sounds unappetizing, you're not alone — my stomach is churning just thinking about it. However, I never want to yuck anyone's yum, and with no judgment, I say, enjoy your greasy butter brews!

But if you just want to brew up some tasty beans and drink them unadulterated, or like many people, with a splash of cream, Bulletproof coffee excels at that here. Its Mentalist blend is roasted to a medium-dark level, tempting coffee fans with notes of cherry, almond, and caramel. While the exact origin of the beans isn't listed, Bulletproof cites Central and South American sources, in addition to being Reinforce Alliance certified. At the time of publishing, the company is selling a 12-ounce bag of beans for $11.89, which is a great deal, especially if you like that chocolate bar type flavor combo that pairs so well with milk, but also shines when taken black.

Many coffee lovers forget that Cuba has a strong coffee connection, going back hundreds of years, in spite of the country exporting very few beans these days. As more of a marketing ploy, Mayorga offers its Café Cubano Roast, which isn't comprised of beans from the island nation, but rather a blend of Peruvian, Nicaraguan, and Honduran coffees. There isn't necessarily a type of roast endemic to Cuba, either, but Cubano Roast does sound nice! This coffee is organic, 100% Arabica, and farmer-direct sourced, meaning there are no middlemen or intervening bodies to diminish producer profits.

This coffee boasts a classic dark roast descriptor of being bold, which simply means the coffee's higher solubility extracts more easily, leading to a stronger cup of coffee when brewed in a standard method. The company's website also lists tasting notes of vanilla, with a sweet and syrupy smokiness and smooth finish. Smokiness in coffee is literally imparted from smoke — this isn't a naturally occurring flavor attribute from the plant genetics or terroir. When coffees are roasted to intense, dark levels, the drum roaster fills up with smoke as the coffee literally burns. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but fans of light or medium roasts might find the flavor profile here too intense, where you taste more of the roast than the terroir itself. All that said, with the ethical sourcing in mind and a deeply caramalized profile, this is one for the true dark roast lovers out there.