coffee society journal — clubs & comparisons
The best coffee subscription is the one that gets coffee to you within a week or so of roasting, matched to how you brew, at a pace you'll actually keep up with. Six things decide that: roast date, the match to your brewer, cadence, price per cup, how easy it is to pause, and who picks the coffee. Price per cup is the number to check, and a 16 oz bag brewed as pour over works out to about a dollar a cup from most small roasters.
01does it arrive fresh, and does it fit your brewer
The first thing to look for is a roast date on the bag (the day it was roasted, not a best by date months out). Coffee tastes its best in the first three or four weeks after roasting, so a sub that roasts ahead and warehouses bags can hand you coffee that's already past its peak. We roast to order in Berkeley, CA and ship within 24 hours, so most bags are two to five days old when they land.
The second thing is whether the coffee is chosen for the way you brew. Espresso concentrates everything, so bright, fruity lots that are lovely on a filter can pull sour and thin under pressure. That's why we run separate subs for americanos, lattes, and pour over, plus a rotating sub for people who want a bit of everything. If a service sends the same bag to everyone, ask who that bag was chosen for.
02how often it comes, and what it costs per cup
Cadence is where most people go wrong, and the fix is simple arithmetic. A pour over uses about 15 grams of coffee, so a 16 oz bag (454 grams) is about 30 cups and an 8 oz bag is about 15. Count the cups your household drinks in a week, then pick the size and cadence that gets you through a bag in two to four weeks. It's better to start slower and speed up than to watch bags pile up.
For price, divide the bag price by cups, not by month. Our 16 oz sub bag is $28.50, so it's about 95 cents a cup as a pour over, or about $1.15 a shot at 18 grams of espresso. The 8 oz bag is $18.50, and since shipping is free over $70, a bigger order less often can cost less than a small one every 2 weeks.
03can you pause it, and who's choosing the coffee
- flexibility. Life happens, so you want to pause, skip, or change cadence from your own account without emailing anyone. Ours works that way, and the good national services do too.
- who picks. A single roaster sub (one company roasts everything) gives you one palate and one quality bar, while a marketplace sub (one company, many roasters) gives you variety and a different bag every time. Neither is wrong, but know which one you're buying.
- the quality bar. Ask what the floor is. Every lot we buy cups 85 or higher (a cupping score is the 100 point grade coffee buyers use), and we'd rather run three coffees than pad the menu.
If a service can answer all six questions plainly, it's probably a good one, and if the answers get vague around roast date or who picks, keep looking.
04common questions
The one that ships within a few days of roasting and matches the coffee to how you brew. Check for a roast date, a price around $1 to $1.25 a cup, and pausing from your account.
About $1 to $1.25 a cup from a small roaster, based on 15 grams per pour over. A 16 oz bag at $28.50 makes about 30 cups, and an 8 oz bag at $18.50 makes about 15.
Often enough that you finish each bag within about four weeks of roasting. One cup a day suits 8 oz every 2 weeks or 16 oz every 4, and two cups a day suits 16 oz every 2 weeks.
six answers, one sub
Four subs matched to how you brew, every lot 85+, roasted to order in Berkeley and shipped within 24 hours.
see the four subs is a coffee subscription worth it single roaster vs marketplace subscoffee society · specialty micro roaster · berkeley, ca · est. 2023