The Best Subscriptions For Every Type Of Coffee Drinker

Ah, coffee. So much more than a delicious drink to be enjoyed piping hot or chilled over ice, coffee is a way to socialize with others, to wake oneself up in the morning, and even supplement energy throughout the day. It's no wonder then that, according to a Drive Research study, over 2.25 billion cups of the delectable liquid are consumed each day. And with the sheer number of different coffee varieties on the market (light roast, dark roast, espresso roast, single-origin, flavored, etc.) it's clear that pretty much everyone has their own unique preference.

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And that's precisely what gives coffee subscription services an edge over your local grocery store. Coffee subscriptions allow you to choose exactly what you want, how much of it you want, and when — all delivered straight to your front door. Furthermore, subscription coffees are often considerably fresher than the beans you'd otherwise pick up at the store, which may or may not have been sitting on the shelf for weeks. Seeing as the industry was worth a staggering $685.81 million (via Polaris Market Research) in 2022 alone, it's safe to say that these services are on to something. But how can you know which subscription is right for your particular coffee habits? We've consulted just about every type of coffee drinker out there to identify the top subscriptions for each brand of coffee addict.

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Best for daily drinkers: Trade Coffee

If you're the type of person who just doesn't feel complete without a cup of coffee in hand, Trade Coffee is the subscription for you. Whether you know precisely what you want or you're hoping to discover your signature roast somewhere along the way, there's a good chance that you'll find it among Trade's hundreds of unique coffees. The beans are roasted fresh to order, typically within 48 hours of their arrival on your doorstep, and shipped directly from the roaster to ensure you get the freshest brew possible.

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So how does it work? First, you'll choose your preferred roast: light, medium, dark, decaf, espresso, or single-origin. Then you'll choose what brewing method you'd like your beans ground for (if you want them pre-ground at all). You can choose to have them ground for cold brew, AeroPress, moka pot, refillable pods, and much more. Next, you'll tell Trade how much you want and when you want it shipped, and voila! Priced from $15.75 per bag, with around 17 cups per bag, that works out to around $.90 per cup. Fresh coffee that doesn't cost an arm and a leg? Yes, please!

Best for light roast fans: Partners Coffee Roasters

If you're a fan of light roast coffees, chances are you prefer to savor the delicate flavor profiles that often get lost when beans are roasted to a darker hue. Partners Coffee Roasters understands, and consequently, offers an array of light and medium roasts as part of its popular subscription services. Each roast features a different character of flavor, from fruity and bold to sweet and nuanced, and with free shipping on all subscriptions, it's easy to try each one.

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Partners' coffee is always roasted fresh right before shipping, meaning that you'll always get the freshest brew possible. And if you're not entirely certain that you know what you want, the subscription even offers a handy quiz to help identify your preferred flavors and brew methods to match you with the perfect coffee for you. Partners' 12-ounce bags start at $16.50, though it's definitely worth the splurge to get a bag of one of their limited-release coffees, sourced from an ever-changing lineup of top producers around the world.

Best for decaf drinkers: Bean Box

Maybe caffeine just isn't your thing, but coffee still is. Gone are the days of flavorless decaf, and Bean Box is here to prove it. The company's artisan roast decaf coffees are just as delectable as its caffeinated counterparts but won't give you the jitters or keep you up at night. The subscription also comes with quite a few members-only perks to sweeten the deal even further, like free shipping, discounts, 5% cash back on all purchases, special promotions, and surprise gifts.

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The process starts with a quiz to determine your individual tastes and preferences. Bean Box's convenient pay-as-you-go plan starts at $20 a shipment, or you can opt for the annual plan for $18. You'll have the option to ship your 12-ounce bags of coffee weekly, every two weeks, or monthly, and also have the freedom to pause, skip, or cancel at any time. For those coffee drinkers who value quality decaf as well as flexibility, Bean Box is definitely a top choice.

Best for the cold brew crew: Driftaway Coffee and My BevBox

Cold brew fans rejoice! The drink's popularity has increased by a whopping 300% since 2016 (according to a report by the National Coffee Association) and the trend shows no signs of slowing down. As a result, more than a few coffee subscription services are banking on this particular brew's appeal, namely Driftaway Coffee and My BevBox.

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Driftaway's subscription starts at $18 every month and delivers delicious pre-ground coffee in mesh bags ready to be cold-brewed at home. The company offers more than a few different roasts, so to help you decide on your favorite, you can opt for their Cold-brew Explorer Kit which includes a sampling of the brand's top cold brew products. For the educationally-minded, Driftaway also features weekly tastings with their experts via Zoom. If convenience is what really draws you to cold brew, My BevBox might be a little more your speed. Each of the subscription's boxes comes with five different canned cold brews that are perfect for a busy schedule and best accommodate a grab-and-go coffee mentality.

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Best for coffee snobs: Mistobox

As far as we're concerned, there's absolutely nothing wrong with being a so-called coffee snob. After all, we are talking about people who care deeply about the coffee they're drinking, who put quality and taste above all else and who refuse to settle for inferior roasts. And if we're being entirely honest, aren't we all coffee snobs to some degree? Subscription services, many of which pride themselves on the superiority of their products, are a dream come true for anyone who even remotely considers themselves a coffee snob.

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If this describes you to a tee, we recommend you check out Mistobox. With subscriptions starting at just $12.75, the brand features well over 600 different coffees, all specially curated for their lofty quality and exquisite taste. Like other subscriptions, the coffees you'll receive are customizable, and chosen specifically for your tastes. Mistobox even features a Brew Queue, which allows you to see which coffees you're receiving next and adjust accordingly. Each batch of coffee is roasted fresh to order and delivered straight to your door in a matter of days.

Best for espresso aficionados: Equator Coffees

If you like your coffee the way we like our true crime dramas — dark and intense — then Equator Coffees' curated espresso program is the subscription for you. The brand features a huge number of different subscriptions to choose from based on your coffee preferences, but their espresso collection is truly something special.

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Equator offers a range of unique espressos roasted and ground (or not ground, if you prefer) to order. Priced at $17.50 for a 12-ounce bag, the espresso subscription will deliver a different coffee to your door each month, allowing you to try complex and intriguing flavor profiles from all over the world. The service is flexible, able to be changed and canceled at any time, and allows you to choose how often you want your espresso delivered. Shipping isn't free, but at a $5 flat rate, it's hardly a dealbreaker for those who prefer the taste of espresso to black coffee.

Best for the budget-conscious: Craft Coffee

Let's face it: depending on where you source it and how it's prepared, coffee can be an expensive drink. Even for the wallet-savvy coffee drinkers who prefer to brew at home and avoid sky-high café prices, it can be difficult to find a roast that meets both quality and cost expectations. Craft Coffee is a subscription service that aims to bridge that gap.

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Priced at $12.99 per bag, Craft Coffee is all about maintaining quality and freshness at a reasonable price. Each bag of beans is roasted to order and shipped within days. Just like other, pricier subscriptions, you'll have the option to customize orders and determine how often you want them shipped to you. You can even opt to buy four or more bags at a time for a wholesale price starting at $7.99. Craft is proof that fresh, quality coffee doesn't have to be insanely expensive.

Best for flavored coffee fans: Boca Java

If flavored coffee just happens to be your thing, you're going to love Boca Java's huge selection of gourmet flavors. Of course, the subscription features tried-and-true flavors like their Hightide Hazelnut and Vacation Villa Vanilla, but their true strength is in their more unique flavors, like Maple Bacon, Chocolate Cherry Celebration, and Bananas Foster Float.

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The key for Boca Java is to offer flavored coffees with the same freshness and quality that most basic subscription coffees already offer. Of course, the brand also offers a huge variety of unflavored coffees, as well as tea and cocoa. All orders of coffee are roasted to order in their Denver roastery and shipped the next day, ensuring that you're going to get the freshest cup possible. You can opt to join either of their clubs: the Gourmet Coffee Club, where you can customize your order as you like, or the Coffee of the Month Club, where Boca Java's roastmaster handpicks a different coffee to be shipped monthly. Prices start at $15.28 per shipment, each of which contains two 8-ounce bags of coffee.

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Best for explorers: Atlas Coffee Club

If you're particularly interested in trying different coffees from all around the world, we recommend you check out Atlas Coffee Club. Atlas' coffee of the month club delivers a different selection of single-origin coffee to your door each month, along with tasting notes, a postcard of the region of origin, as well as information on the place's coffee history.

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The first step is to choose whether you want your beans whole, ground, or in pods. Each bag is ground to order, so you'll also have the opportunity to choose whether you want your beans ground specifically for cold brew, drip machine, French press, and pretty much any other brewing method you might prefer. You can opt for only light or only dark roasts, or a variety of both. You can get a half bag for as low as $9 or two double bags of 24 ounces for $28, and choose how often you want to receive a new shipment, every month or every two weeks. It's easy to pause, skip, or cancel the subscription and also comes with the company's Coffee Match Guarantee: if any coffee is not to your liking, the next bag is free.

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Best for the single-origin obsessed: Verve Coffee Roasters

For those obsessed with single-origin coffee, we completely get it. Not only does single-origin coffee tell a story about the region where it was grown and harvested, but oftentimes it's of a higher quality than your average blends. For those who exclusively want to drink single-origin coffee, we think Verve Coffee Roasters is the way to go.

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Already a well-known name in the coffee industry, Verve does offer quite a few delicious blends and even instant coffees, but its strength is in the quality and quantity of its single-origin offerings. Their beans are sourced from all over the world, from Latin America to Africa and back again, and all come with specific characteristics of taste like peach, brown sugar, raspberry leaf, mandarin orange, and more. Verve offers three different subscriptions: Roaster's Choice delivers curated coffee based on your preferences, the Pick Your Blend subscription allows for more customization, and the brand's gift subscriptions strive to be the perfect present for coffee lovers everywhere.

Best for the eco-conscious: Metric Coffee

It's no secret that, in years past, the coffee industry has struggled with a myriad of ethical and sustainability issues. Fortunately, there is a growing demand for eco-conscious industry practices, and Metric Coffee is doing its part to move the industry in the right direction. Metric is all about "radical transparency" at every step of the process, from farming to roasting delivery.

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The brand offers four different subscriptions to choose from, including a decaf option, starting from $18. For each of the subscriptions, you'll be able to choose what kind of roast you want, how you want it ground, and how frequently you'd like to receive shipments. Unlike some other subscriptions, you can even choose the size bag you want, up to a five-pound bag. Shipping is free, and most of the subscriptions offer customizable ordering, except for the Roasters Choice curated option.

Best for instant-lovers: Cometeer

Instant coffee, for all the convenience, has something of a bad reputation. Cometeer is trying to change that. Their coffee is flash-frozen in a liquid nitrogen shower to preserve flavor and freshness before it's packaged in tiny individual cups and shipped to your door. There are several different ways to prepare Cometeer's innovative take on coffee: you can simply add hot water to the contents of a frozen cup for a convenient cuppa or defrost the capsule and add it to water for an instant iced coffee with all the flavor of a fresh brew.

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Cometeer works with dozens of different roasters and offers a variety of different options to choose from, including decaf and half-caf cups. Like most subscriptions, you'll be able to choose the roasts you prefer, as well as how frequently you'd like to receive them. Once they arrive, packed in dry ice, just transfer the capsules to your freezer for storage. The company's Starter Box subscription is $49.99, for which you'll receive 16 total capsules of four different coffees.

How did we choose the best coffee subscriptions?

With so many subscriptions to choose from, determining the best services for each type of coffee drinker wasn't exactly an effortless endeavor. Online reviews, both personal and professional, factored heavily into the process. But by comparing the pros and cons of dozens of different subscriptions and consulting plenty of everyday coffee lovers on their habits and preferences, we managed to narrow the list down to twelve subscriptions to satisfy every type of coffee drinker out there.

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