Best Coffee Subscriptions

Best Overall: Bean Box

Key Specs
Price: $20–$24 per delivery
Subscription Options: 3
Bean Origin: South and Central America, Africa

Why You Should Try It: Bean Box ticked multiple boxes on our list of criteria for a coffee subscription service. The tipping point was the company’s transparency on fair trade vs. direct trade policies and the ability to read ratings and reviews of the coffees it sells.

Pros
Rewards program
Free shipping
Allows you to customize subscription by roast type or receive curator's selection

Cons
Cheaper options exist

Overview
The Seattle-based Bean Box allows customers to customize their coffee subscriptions based on roast types and flavor profiles. Each Bean Box is chosen by the company's in-house curator and coffee expert, Maryna Gray.

Single-origin and decaf versions are available, and you buy them as whole beans or ground coffee for your subscription. Either way, Bean Box guarantees peak freshness and flavor in every bag.

Customers choose the delivery frequency—weekly ($20 per shipment), bi-monthly ($22 per shipment), or monthly ($24 per shipment)—and receive a 12-ounce bag with each delivery that brews 24 to 36 cups. You can also select two bags per shipment at a higher cost. Subscriptions can be paused, skipped, or canceled any time before 5 p.m. PST on the Thursday before any of the subsequent week's scheduled shipments.

The only customizing options available pertain to roast preference (light to dark), but any blends you fall in love with can be purchased in larger bags via Bean Box's online shop. We also appreciate the transparency of the website, as both positive and negative reviews appear equally.

Best for Gifting: Driftaway Coffee

Key Specs
Price: Starts at $16 per shipment
Subscription Options: 21
Bean Origin: Africa, South and Central America, Oceania

Why You Should Try It: Driftaway offers the most options for gift-giving. From personalization to coffee gear, this is a one-stop shop for bringing a smile to any coffee lover's face.

Pros
Gift recipients receive an explorer kit
Uses 100 percent compostable packaging
Website is ADA-compliant

Cons
Coffees aren't roasted to order

Overview
Driftaway Coffee is as personalized as it gets, initially sending your gift recipient a Coffee Explorer Kit so they can try out the nuances of five different coffees based on their origin and how they were roasted. Customers can personalize their gifts with the recipient’s name.

Gift subscriptions are the site’s bestsellers. You can either ship the first delivery to yourself, so you can present it to your recipient yourself, or ship it directly to them. Gift cards and gift sets are also available. Pricing varies depending on the size of the bag and your delivery frequency.

In addition to gift subscriptions, Driftaway offers virtual tasting parties to allow you to sip and learn with your family and friends. The host purchases a date and time for their session, and then Driftaway ships out kits of five unlabeled coffee brews to everyone in your party. Then you hop online to taste everything while guided by the shop's in-house brewmaster.

The "farmer feedback" option on the site is also a nice way to let customers share their opinions on a particular coffee bean with the grower.

Best for Craft Coffee: Trade Coffee

Key Specs
Price: Starts at $15.75
Subscription Options: 13
Bean Origin: Central, South, and North America, Africa, Asia

Why You Should Try It: Trade Coffee matches subscribers to roasters who will roast their perfect cup of joe for the ultimate craft coffee.

Pros
You can reorder a favorite 
Several options for shipping frequency  
Exposure to new roasters with every delivery

Cons                                                                                                                                                                        
Overwhelming number of choices

Overview                                                                                                                                    
The company's mission is to help its customers discover and prepare better coffee at home. The first step in your Trade Coffee journey is to get matched with a roaster; they're all listed on the site along with the blends they produce. A First Match Guarantee means that if you don’t love your first coffee, the second one will be free. Each bag tells the backstory of each roaster, so in addition to tasting every product, you can learn about the people who roasted it.

For first time customers, there are discounts for prepaying future shipments rather than just paying month to month. There's a wide variety available (for some it might be overwhelming), including single-origin, espresso, decaf, and cold brew coffees.

Best for Organic Coffee: Conscious Coffee

Key Specs
Price: Starts at $14.50
Subscription Options: 3
Bean Origin: Southeast Asia, South and Central America, Africa

Why You Should Try It: Conscious Coffee sells nothing but organic, above-fair-trade coffees. It is fully committed to providing pure, clean coffees to its customers and to helping its farm partners to grow.

Pros
Only sells organic coffee
Coffee is roasted to order
Works with independent farmers and cooperatives

Cons
No FAQ section on website
Only one decaf selection

Overview
This family-owned Certified B Corp craft roasting company focuses heavily on its social and environmental impact. The beans are 100% organic with no harsh chemicals, all sourced from cooperatives. Conscious Coffee imports directly from farmers, which allows them to maintain consistent levels of quality and ensures that farmers can continue to sell their harvests at a fair price.

Biweekly and monthly subscriptions are available, and prices start at $14.50 per delivery.

We appreciate the simplicity of the beans available, but the smaller selection may result in repeats, which might become an issue—especially for biweekly subscribers. The site itself is also lean on information about the specific blends included in past subscriptions, though the response time to email queries from the company was quick.

Best for Fair/Direct Trade Coffee: Grounds for Change

Key Specs
Price: Starts at $124.95 for three months
Subscription Options: 3
Bean Origin: South and Central America, Southeast Asia, Africa

Why We Chose It: In addition to being a Fair Trade for Life and organic certified, family-owned and operated business, Grounds for Change's commitment to ethics, the environment, and equity really sets it apart.

Pros
Roasts 100% fair-trade organic coffee
Subscriptions include single-origins and blends
Plants trees to offset the carbon footprint

Cons
No FAQ section on the website
Only customization is grind type

Overview
Grounds for Change focuses heavily on fair trade because it recognizes that this type of coffee promotes and sustains a better life for coffee farmers by allowing them to invest back into their farms and families. The company supports fair-trade organic co-ops, uses 100% renewable energy, and composts all of its organic waste.

Since its formation in 2003, the company has promoted fair-trade practices and the exclusive sale of organic coffees. Its producers are required to obtain a Fairtrade Labeling Organization Certificate, in addition to mandatory standards of quality that are assessed with every lot of beans it purchases.

Customers rave about the fast shipping times, bean quality, and the company's commitment to supporting partner growers. Decaf coffee drinkers will find a good selection of roasts to choose from, which is not always the case.

Best for Single-Origin Beans: Modest Coffee Roasters

Key Specs
Price: $13
Subscription Options: 6
Bean Origin: South and Central America; other regions are also being added

Why We Chose It: Modest Coffee Roasters focuses on single-origin beans and doesn't add any supplemental flavors to them.

Pros
Ethically sourced beans
All bags ship for $3, orders over $35 ship free
Varying price points

Cons
Cold brew options not available in subscriptions
Limited selection

Overview
Modest Coffee Roasters specializes in single-origin beans. Because it recognizes that your morning coffee is a global effort, the company is committed to finding ways to support the environment, community, and farmers. Employees constantly sample new coffees to find the best ones to include in subscriptions.

Subscriptions are available in varying roasts and varieties. The Sampler gives you a choice of three basic levels of coffee every month. On the opposite end, The Collector includes the highest quality, award-winning coffees from around the world.

Dark roasts and decaf subscriptions are available as well. The only downside is that cold brews are not part of subscriptions because, according to the company's owner, they are not pasteurized.