I do not drink coffee. I have had one cup of coffee in the last 53 years, and that was at a coffee plantation in Kona where they picked the beans during the night, roasted them immediately, and served it right away. I admit that of all coffee tasted like that, I might drink it more often.
My wife, on the other hand, drinks a couple of cups a day. She used to drink more, but has cut back since she retired and doesn’t have a coffee maker on her desk.
I would like to buy her a subscription to one of the coffee clubs the delivers a pound or two of good coffee every month or so. Does anyone have any recommendations? She likes a relatively light ground and thinks that the dark coffee at Starbucks tastes like it was roasted for too long over the devil’s excrement and then burned. She has recently been advised to reduce caffeine consumption, so a club that specializes in high-end decaffeinated coffee, or that provides an occasional decaffeinated option, would be nice, but I have never seen anything like that.
I’d always say seek out your local independent coffee roasters.
We’ve got 3 in Norwich that I’m aware of (a 4th sadly shut down) and I tend to have one favoured bean (Rocko Mountain - an Ethiopean grower), but will regularly sample the ever-changing offerings and have recently enjoyed an Inza from Colombia.
She’s not wrong on Starbucks, which has shockingly little flavour for over-roasted beans.
Most good roasters will have a decent water process decaf
Coffee from this place tastes pretty good to me. No decaf.
My wife considers it some of the best coffee she’s ever had. And see visits coffee roasters on vacations like Berserkers visit wineries. The coffee equivalent of a single vineyard wine.
Not cheap but I’m told well worth it. We get 3 bags a month.
Tim Wendelboe is generally considered the greatest wine roaster in the world, or, at the very least, responsible for revolutionizing the coffee world. Getting his coffee shipped to the US, if that is where you’re based, can be a nightmare, but, for some, it is worth it.
Berserker Eric Nelson of Coffee Grounds supporte Berserker Day yearly. https://www.thecoffeegrounds.com/
I’ve bought there often, but only caffeinated.
I’ve had a Trade coffee subscription for a little over a year and have been very happy with the coffee I’ve received. It is highly customizable – by taste (e.g., light vs. dark roast) and frequency – and I believe there’s a decaf (or occasional decaf) option.
I will say, much like wine subscriptions, coffee subscriptions that source beans from different roasters are typically overpriced and deliver not-great coffee. Instead, I would highly recommend getting a subscription directly from a roaster you like, and they will send you the various offerings they have throughout that subscription.
We have a subscription to YES PLZ that we like quite a bit. It’s not our only source of coffee (we buy from a few different local roasters), but we find their beans to be consistently good. We’ve been getting it for probably 4 years or so. (They say “weekly” but you don’t have to get it every week. We get it every other week and you can also do once a month. And they have a couple of different sizes of bags you can select depending on how much you through.)
In addition to two local roasters (one of which, Counter Culture, has gone national and been large for some time), I like Coava Coffee Roasters in Portland. The service is outstanding, you can choose between a light-medium and somewhat darker-medium (espresso) roast for all coffees, they select good beans and have a relationship with most of the growers they represent, and for whatever reason I think about Portlandia and chuckle whenever I order from them. Not sure if a single bag subscription gets free-to-reasonable delivery though.
Jay, just read about this roaster in the times and thought it may be of interest. don carvajal cafe
Others that come to mind are intelligencia coffee, stumptown, both have a number of african sourced beans like Kenya and ethopia that have more tea like nuances. Peraps Modcup (nj) coffee or Partners brooklyn) if you are looking for local shops.
Not a club, but you can buy direct from the growers: https://www.kaucoffee.com/
I first tried Lisa and Jimmy’s coffee grown on a small speciality farm located in the Ka’u district (adjacent to the Kona district) when I was living on the Big Island. They had only recently started selling back then. I thought I’d had good Kona-grown coffee, but theirs was the best coffee I’d had on the island! Not inexpensive but worth it. You can order whole or ground beans, hand picked and sorted, and roasted that week.
I’m biased living in Portland. Lots of quality options here. I’d recommend any of the Portland options mentioned. I think one that meets your needs is Groundworks. Great coffee and a flexible subscription model. You tell them your preferences (including decaf) and they send you coffee based on what you want. Actually discover them in CA when on vacation many years ago. Worth considering.
