Boston area coffee bean delivery/pickup options

Kamiro

I am not a coffee drinker, but my girlfriend is. I would like to get her a 6 month supply of coffee beans, in increments (so they are as fresh as they can be). But I have no idea how to start looking for this sort of service (if it exists). Ideally it would be a place near Milton, MA, but if there is a place in Boston that is amazing, I can work with that. Are there coffee shops that you can start up an order like this, or should I just get a gift card that she can spend at said coffee shop?

Vater5B

A lot of vendors do subscriptions, but the best coffee subscriptions are the ones that purposefully rotate new product each time. My top picks? Tonx, Craft Coffee, and Misto Box, in that order.

If blends are more your thing, Counter Culture Coffee has an awesome blend subscription program and is one of my all time favorite roasters. They have a single origin one as well, but it you are going to do a single origin subscription you would be better served by one of the earlier three services.

Also, the infamous George Howell Coffee Company is somewhere in MA. They also offer a subscription. I have never tried their product, but by all accounts it is fairly good.

Blake T

The real question is what type of coffee does your girlfriend drink?

schuss

I would do a sampler along with the coffee grinder, then build your sub based on that, as different roasters are often better at different things.

admanb

Sweet Maria's primarily sells unroasted coffee, but they also have a roasted subscription service.

Vater5B

I know that you are looking for an easy gift here, but if she is just now getting a grinder and French press, the best thing might be a little more complicated. I would get her gift cards to multiple roasters so she not only gets awesome fresh coffee roasted to order when she needs it, but she can also find new things she might enjoy. The biggest roasters in the specialty market are Stumptown, Intelligentsia, and Counter Culture. All of them have an excellent product, but all of them have a different style. Additionally, each one of these roasters has an excellent website that gives very in depth descriptions of the coffee. Being able to select what fits her style from some of the best in the world, well, you can't ask for much more.

Specialty coffee is a deep rabbit hole, but just like other specialty beverages (wine, beer, tea) there are a lot of things that people like or dislike and the only way to discover it is by experimenting.

PedroAsani

Skip the middleman, and just buy her some Scientific Coffee.

http://www.funraniumlabs.com/the-black-blood-of-the-earth/pimps

You want Talena, Pimpstress of Boston. She will supply you with Black Blood of the Earth, hands down the best coffee ever. 100ml is the recommended maximum, this is strong concentrated stuff. But it is The. Best. Ever.

dispatch.o

I actually liked using the peets.com delivery stuff when I had to order coffee. They have a pretty good selection and I used to stop there once in a while for a cup anyway.

schuss

Here's been my experience on the west coast roasters (getting up to speed on EC stuff):
Stumptown - big flavor, for coffee lovers
Blue Bottle - incredibly smooth
4 barrel - worse version of stumptown.


Looks like: http://www.barringtoncoffee.com/ might be good? or http://www.georgehowellcoffee.com/?

Vater5B

schuss wrote: »

Here's been my experience on the west coast roasters (getting up to speed on EC stuff):
Stumptown - big flavor, for coffee lovers
Blue Bottle - incredibly smooth
4 barrel - worse version of stumptown.


Looks like: http://www.barringtoncoffee.com/ might be good? or http://www.georgehowellcoffee.com/?

Four Barrel has some good offerings, but there are much better choices on the West Coast for sure. From California alone I would order from Ritual, Verve, Handsome, Sightglass and Barefoot before Four Barrel.