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4 subscription services making it affordable to drink gourmet coffee every month
By Mara Leighton,
Insider Picks
The Insider Picks team writes about stuff we think you'll like. Business Insider has affiliate partnerships, so we get a share of the revenue from your purchase.
Atlas Coffee Club highlights single-origin, sustainably farmed coffee beans from a specific country.
There are few mundane annoyances that exceed realizing you're out of coffee on a weekday morning. It's early, the light is still watery, and one of your eyes hasn't completely woken up. And, now, you're going to have to forgo the caffeine spike or the pleasant morning ritual that sets the tone for the day.
If you're like me, you've figured out long ago that you'd rather sign up for a subscription service than shake your fist at the ceiling and then spend $10 on something inferior from Starbucks. This way, the coffee will always be there — lovingly waiting — and you'll likely be rewarded with discounts on top of the convenience. Just like signing up for Amazon's Subscribe & Save or other services that aim to outsource all your dependable monthly tasks, it takes one more item off your long to-do list.
Since it can take awhile to sift through the options, I've rounded up four of our favorite coffee stores that offer subscription services below.
Coffee, from $13.71/month
Driftaway Coffee Instagram
Brooklyn-based startup Driftaway Coffee wants to help you figure out which coffees you actually enjoy drinking. The company identifies your flavor profile through an initial 'tasting kit,' then uses your ongoing ratings and feedback to match future shipments to your taste.
In other words, they offer a coffee subscription that gets smarter and more spot-on over time, which also provides a unique opportunity for you learn more about your own preferences.
Subscribers start with a tasting kit of four profiles, rate the kits on the app or Driftaway website, and get new and improved coffee selections in their next delivery. You can also keep track of your favorites that way. Read more here.
Start a Driftaway Coffee subscription, from $13.71 /month
Atlas Coffee Club, from $9/month
Each month, Atlas Coffee Club highlights single-origin, sustainably farmed coffee beans from a specific country. From there, the company creates an immersive experience for the selection, intended to connect you with different coffee cultures around the world. For instance, the packaging for each country is influenced by its local landscapes and textiles.
Each shipment also comes with brewing information, a postcard from the country of origin, and tasting notes about both the coffee and the region it came from so you can learn a bit about what went into growing it.
Atlas also automatically enrolls you in a rewards program — or, a coffee passport of sorts — that gives you points for how far your coffee has traveled to reach you, each country you've "visited" (aka received coffee from), gifts you've purchased, and friends you've referred. Read more here.
Start an Atlas Coffee Club subscription, from $9/month
Blue Bottle Coffee, from $8/month
Blue Bottle Coffee takes a purists' approach: find the best beans, honor their flavor profiles, and put quality first — so you don't have to mask the flavor with additives like whipped cream or graham crackers. Wikipedia calls the company a "major player in third-wave coffee" and is arguably one of the most popular artisanal coffee shops in the country.
They have limited locations (L.A., Bay Area, N.Y.C., Miami, D.C., Boston, Tokyo, Kyoto), but their subscription service is a great workaround.
In keeping with a tradition of perfection, Blue Bottle will send out online orders of whole bean products within 24 hours of roasting and within 48 hours for everything else — because that's when the coffee is at its peak flavor. Blue Bottle's coffee is roasted on vintage gear, put in compostable bags, and the beans you're getting are the results of a lasting relationship between Blue Bottle Coffee and a coffee bean farmer.
The subscription box breaks down into three main categories: blends, single origins, and espresso. Simply pick a category type on the site, the size of the bag (a half bag ~$8 and a standard ~$15), and select the frequency at which you'd like them delivered. Read more here.
Start a Blue Bottle Coffee subscription, from $8/month
Dripkit Coffee, from $25/month
DRIPKIT
Dripkit, a portable, single-use pour-over coffee, claims to make great coffee easy. All you have to do is tear open the packet, place the single-use paper brewer over your mug, and pour hot water over the coffee. It'll take about two minutes to make, with no prep or clean up.
Their first coffee, La Bas, comes from a family-owned farm in Huehuetenango, Guatemala and is Fair Trade. The beans are hand washed and fermented for 24 hours before being sun-dried and are later roasted to order in Bushwick, Brooklyn. And because you might feel guilty with anything single-use, it's helpful to note that all Dripkit packaging is biodegradable. By 2025, the company plans for all its packaging to be 100% compostable.
If you're a frequent traveler, adventurer, or hate the coffee your office stocks, Dripkit is a great life hack that turns instant coffee into a luxury craft experience with no legwork from you.
Start a Dripkit coffee subscription, from $25/month
Mara Leighton
Senior Digital Culture Reporter
Mara Leighton is a senior digital culture reporter. If you want to get in touch, please send an email to mleighton@insider.com, or send a DM on twitter to @maraleighton.
You can purchase syndication rights to this story here.
Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the Insider Reviews team. We highlight products and services you might find interesting. If you buy them, we get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners. We frequently receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising sales team. We welcome your feedback. Email us at reviews@businessinsider.com.
Read the original article on Insider Picks. Copyright 2018. Follow Insider Picks on Twitter.
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Insider Picks 2018 Coffee Subscription services