Best Coffee Club Subscriptions of 2024 - CNET

Oct 17, 2024

Article updated on October 15, 2024 at 6:25 AM PDT

Try different varieties of freshly roasted coffee every morning with our picks of the best coffee subscription service options on the market.

CNET’s expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise.

What to consider

Type of coffee subscription

Decide if you want a curated variety of coffees sent each month or a sure and steady delivery of a single roast you love.

Whole bean or ground

Most subscription services send whole beans but there are options for freshly ground coffee as well.

Cost and pricing

Decide on a bean budget and find a coffee club that fits.

Frequency of bean delivery

Most 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.

CNET’s expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise.

What to consider

Type of coffee subscription

Decide if you want a curated variety of coffees sent each month or a sure and steady delivery of a single roast you love.

Whole bean or ground

Most subscription services send whole beans but there are options for freshly ground coffee as well.

Cost and pricing

Decide on a bean budget and find a coffee club that fits.

Frequency of bean delivery

Most 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.

Coffee lovers know how great it feels to kick off your day with a great cup of coffee. You get the energy boost you need to get your day started, and the perfect flavor profile will put you in a good mood, too.

Read more: 22 Great Gifts for $50 or Less

If you don't want to have the same old coffee every day, there's a way you can shake up your coffee routine -- a coffee subscription. You can discover organic coffee from around the globe on a regular basis, and get fresh beans delivered to your door. The best coffee subscriptions will align with your tastes while introducing you to a range of new flavors that may change the way you enjoy your coffee. There's also the added benefit of supporting small, innovative coffee companies that craft these brews.

Whether you want to add a zing to your morning coffee habit or want to shop for a holiday gift for that special coffee lover in your life, these subscriptions are worthy of your consideration. Our experts have evaluated the top online coffee providers to help you find the best subscriptions for 2024.

Read more: Best Coffee Makers

Atlas Coffee Club has excellent coffee beans, freshly roasted and approachable prices. It's also simple to buy a membership for someone else, which is why Atlas tops our list as the best coffee club to gift someone (or yourself) this year.

If you're looking for the cheapest coffee club, Atlas is the most budget-friendly of the many we've tried. It might also be the most giftable of the coffee subscriptions since each delivery feels like something a friend would send while traveling the world.

Atlas Coffee Club delivers single-origin craft coffee from more than 50 countries and draws from independent coffee roasters where amazing coffee is produced. Not only is the coffee high quality -- I got incredible roasts from Peru, Tanzania and Costa Rica -- but every coffee subscription box delivery comes with a postcard featuring its country of origin, as well as a message with tasting notes and brewing tips.

Atlas makes gifting easy with free shipping to the US and three choices for subscription lengths to bestow on someone -- three, six or 12 months -- starting at $60.

"Every pound saves a hound," is the slogan of Grounds and Hounds coffee company, which donates 20% of all profits to dog rescue organizations. With blends like Morning Walk, Paper & Slippers and even a decaf roast called Hush Puppy, this is the perfect subscription for dog lovers.

The coffee I had when I tried Ground and Hounds was fresh, smooth and mild but perhaps a little less exciting than some of the other clubs. A great subscription to please a wide range of coffee drinkers with nothing that will scare away a person with a less adventurous palate. You also won't find as many niche roasters with this service but what it does send is high quality and consistently good.

You can join the Grounds and Hounds Coffee Club with a subscription starting at $17 per 12-ounce bag. It's the ideal way to keep a steady supply of coffee at the ready for those post-walk mornings in front of the fireplace, with your best buddy snoozing at your feet.

Bean Box highlights renowned Seattle roasters. You choose either ground or whole bean coffee, then your taste preferences are followed by a choice of one bag or two per shipment, which will come every two or four weeks. Plans start at a very affordable $22 for pay-per-delivery or $624 for an annual plan.

If you're looking for gift ideas, there are three subscription options. The Curator's Coffee of the Month Club, Coffee Around the World Subscription and US Coffee Road Trip subscription. The Curator's Coffee of the Month Club has options for three months, six months or annual starting at $72, World Coffee Tour and US Coffee Road Trip both have four, eight and 12-month subscriptions. The first starts at $120 and the latter at $98.

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 (currently out of stock) from Guatemala and both were fresh-tasting, complex and flavorful.

This is one of the pricier services and breaks down to about $24 a bag (inclusive of shipping). Considering it's mostly organic and fair-trade coffee that supports female-owned businesses and the coffee is all roasted and ground to order, I think it's worth the extra few bucks a month.

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 select your style of coffee and pay per shipment for $15 or prepay for 3 or 6 bags.

With a slick website and fun marketing copy, this is the cool kid coffee club to be certain. The good news is that Trade has some great beans too. If you love traveling around the US and always check out the local coffee scene when you do, a Trade coffee subscription box is a good one for you. They've got all the best coffee roasters from across the country, like Gimme! from the East Coast, Sightglass from the West Coast, Intelligentsia from the Third Coast and even more artisan coffee roasters.

Some subscriptions had some misses together with the hits, but 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.

Curated blend subscriptions start at $17 and will net you one 12-ounce bag of coffee per month (free shipping). The cheapest bags of subscription coffee start at $17 a month. If you don't want to commit to a subscription, Equator has an entire shop of fabulous coffee available for a one-time send. Shipping is free on orders over $40.

Some folks can be particular about their coffee beans and Mistobox understands that. Celebrates it, even.

This is another coffee club we tried and it really does feel like a club. When you join this slick coffee subscription club, it'll take you through a tasting quiz to hone in on exactly what types of coffee you like. You'll answer questions about the preferred roast level and intensity, blends versus single-origin and more. MistoBox even wants to know how you take your coffee -- black, with cream or espresso-style. From there it'll pull from a roster of over 60 roasters and get the best beans in your hands monthly. The service will then use an algorithm based on what you liked and didn't like to keep the coffee you do like rolling in.

With shipping ($5 per order) a 12-ounce bag of beans will start at $15 a bag but you can save a little by paying upfront for a longer subscription. I tried this subscription and found it had one of the most impressive rosters of producers including cult favorites such as Methodical, Bixby Brothers and Ritual.

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.

This coffee subscription service has a new and unique text-to-order system. First, you'll sign up for Fellow's program and provide your mobile number. Each week the expert panel selects a new coffee and texts you the pick. It's then up to you to decide if you want to order a bag or two. Prices vary from week to week.

A coffee subscription ensures you never run out of java.

To test these coffee subscriptions, we start from the beginning just as any coffee-drinking customer would by 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 good the coffee tastes and smells. We also consider 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.

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.

Most coffee subscriptions encourage you to order whole beans and grind them yourself since that will maximize freshness. 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.

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. 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.

Most coffee subscription services will let you choose a delivery frequency and some help you figure out exactly how much you'll need and when.

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.

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).

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 they lose punch and flavor. Trust me, you'll notice the difference between fresh and stale store-bought as soon as you open the bag.

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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 shipment of beans -- ground or whole -- to try out the goods without commitment.

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."

The best coffee clubs and subscriptions offer high-quality single-origin and blended roasts from small roasters around the world. If you're keen on trying new and interesting coffee, a coffee subscription is one of the easiest ways to do it. With regards to freshness, coffee clubs are often roasted just before they're sent to you and many will provide the roast date ahead of time -- the same can't be said for buying beans in the grocery store.

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.

Most services offer a month-to-month plan (easy to change or cancel) but also three-, six- or 12-month commitments at a discounted monthly price The latter may be more difficult to change, so be sure to read the fine print before signing up for a longer coffee subscription.

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.

Great gifts for coffee drinkers are abundant these days. There are coffee grinders, mugs and the actual coffee maker itself, of course -- although that last one may be best left for someone to choose themselves. What a coffee drinker can never have enough of is beans, which is why giving a coffee subscription that delivers high-quality and unique coffee is about as foolproof as it gets.

Most services allow you to send a one-time delivery of coffee to a loved one, or you can sign them up for a three-, six- or 12-month subscription and keep them caffeinated with good beans all year. Most also offer a gift certificate option so the recipient can pick the beans themselves.