Coffee Subscription Services that Also Cover Cozy Causes (Part 3)
By Perry Luckett, Coffee Man 1
In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, we’ve talked about coffee subscription services as a cozy way to get your coffee tailored to you and convenient to your drinking schedule. This coffee subscription post wraps up our topic with a nod to those roasters who are offering similar tailoring and convenience and supporting worthy charities with part of their proceeds. So with these ten roasters, you can buy great coffee on a regular schedule while also doing good for those in need.
In alphabetical order, our ten coffee subscription services cover a wide range of places and services that keep your coffee cup cozy:
Alpha Coffee
Bean Box
Boca Java
Equator Coffees
Gento
Grounds and Hounds
Heart2Heart Coffee
Kahawa 1893
My Sip of Coffee
Wagon Coffee Roasters
Alpha Coffee covers military-related causes
Alpha Coffee wraps their service around promoting a warrior lifestyle and giving back to our military and veterans. They were co-founded in 2011 by retired Lieutenant Colonel Carl Churchill, a combat veteran with 21 years of service as an enlisted soldier and officer, and his wife Lori Churchill, a military spouse and coffee lover. They started as Lock-n-Load Java, selling only over the web. [Alpha]
In 2016, they rebranded to Alpha Coffee, selling both online and through other retailers. In 2017, Alpha’s business arc extended to their first coffee shop at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon in Cottonwood Heights, Utah. Carl and Lori “hope you love their coffee as much as they do and share it with people you love.” With picturesque, military-oriented names, Alpha’s coffees will make you feel like you’re back in that cozy tent around Baghdad or Kabul—or even Khe Sanh.
Alpha Coffee supports veterans by donating more than 10% of their profits to military charities focused on education, employment, and therapy. They especially emphasize Grounds for Good (benefitting military veterans) and include the Pat Tillman Foundation and The Nature Conservancy. They select two or three charities each quarter to receive their largesse. Their chosen giving partners work to support veterans, the planet, and community.
How Alpha Coffee’s subscription service covers your needs
Alpha uses a familiar three-step process to get the type of coffee you enjoy into your hands:
1. Select coffee
2. Subscribe and set delivery frequency
3. Choose grind type (or whole beans) and quantity
Their pricing starts at $17.06 for a one-pound bag of your chosen coffee arriving every two weeks. First responders and military with a government ID enjoy a 10% discount.
Each type of coffee carries its own subscription, so you can easily change your coffee selection by clicking on the new coffee you want, setting up your subscription needs, and then canceling your subscription on your previous selection.
Bean Box contributes to reduce hunger
If you want to give more purpose to every cup you drink, consider signing up for Bean Box. The company is donating $5 for every subscription or gift box bought—and $2 for every bag of coffee to Feeding America COVID-19 Response Fund. That’s not a small pledge considering many subscription services aren’t donating. If you’re a coffee lover who drinks a lot of coffee and loves trying new flavors, or you just need a change, the Bean Box coffee subscription might be just the thing for you. [Favy]
A Bean Box coffee subscription covers all your needs
Seattle-based company Bean Box was founded in 2014 by software engineers Ryan Fritzky and Matthew Berk when they decided to use their tech skills and love of coffee to create a unique artisan coffee experience that delivers cozy bags straight to your door.
Bean Box works with some of the top small-batch roasters in the Seattle area and selects the best coffees and roasts to send to you. You can choose from a large selection of single-origin coffees and blends from around the world. Bean Box allows you to determine your roast preference, which you may change at any time, as well as flavor notes such as fruity, chocolatey, or toasty. Or simply click on the coffee of the month.
If you want to try a various exclusive artisan coffee flavors and blends, you may even select a sampler that comes with four curated 1.8-ounce bags of freshly roasted coffee, information on where the coffee was grown, tasting notes, brewing tips, a personalized note (if it’s a gift)), and an artisan treat such as a caramel candy, biscotti, teas, or other types of coffee.
You can choose 1, 3, 6, or 23-month gift subscription plans (long-term subscriptions give you a small discount). The coffee comes to you weekly, every two weeks, or monthly. If you like a particular coffee from the sampler, you can get the number and code from it to order a full bag of that roast.
Bean Box offers several good reasons to subscribe
Easy-to-use subscription: Bean Box makes it easy to order, change your coffee preferences, skip any months you need to, and even cancel subscriptions.
Informative website: Bean Box’s website is simple to navigate and informative -- it has many resources on coffee blends and roasters, as well as a coffee blog and coffee forum.
Fresh, delicious roasts: Bean Box roasts their beans right before they ship it, so you are guaranteed to receive quality beans and grinds within 48 hours of being roasted.
Choice of roast and type of grind
Free shipping on paid subscriptions
Gift options for family, friends, and coffee lovers
Reasonable (though slightly higher than other services) pricing: coffee tasting subscriptions at $16.50 a month with free shipping, coffee bag subscriptions at $24 per month, $22 biweekly, and $20 weekly.
Boca Java donates some coffee proceeds to USO and Project C.U.R.E
Like Alpha Coffee, Boca Java has found a way to offer you the best-tasting, freshest gourmet coffee available while also supporting their community and two major charities. Globally, with help from their customers, they’ve donated more than 7.6 million cups of specialty coffee to U.S. troops through their Operation 10 Million Cup program. In fact, they’ve become an official partner with the USO.
Nationally, Boca Java partners with various charities to raise funds and awareness through their Coffee For a Cause programs. They cover this generous cause by offering customers fresh-roasted charity coffees, from which they donate part of the proceeds directly back to the charities. They’re especially pleased to offer their Project C.U.R.E. World Blend Coffee, which supports that project’s distribution of donated medical equipment and supplies to 135 countries around the world. [BJG]
Locally, they support several community charities by donating time, education, coffee, meals, and luxury gift baskets for silent auctions and many other fundraising efforts.
Boca Java also focuses on fair coffee farmer practices
Fair farmer practices promote equitable and sustainable trade relationships for farmers while still producing the highest quality green coffees. Boca Java cups and hand selects all their specialty grade coffees.
Over the last decade, Boca Java has visited the coffee growing regions to meet individual regional and estate farmers, and cooperatives, so they can create direct relationships based on fair prices and practices. In turn, these farmers can provide fair wages, healthcare, education, food, clean water and shelter for their families and workers. This type of care also extends to the land and its surroundings, allowing the farmer to plant, grow, harvest, and package, while taking care of their farm and the environment.
As a “Home Delivery Service Member, you'll save more than 25% on standard ground shipping on your scheduled recurring deliveries. You get your just-roasted gourmet coffee delivered to your door at the frequency and amount you want. Cost is $5.95 for UPS Ground or US Postal Service Priority. You can increase the amount of your shipment and get the same affordable ground rate. Because freshness is important to Boca Java, they roast your coffee only after you place an order.
Equator Coffee covers several charities with B’Cause Blend
Equator has a long history in direct-trade coffee but is still going strong. In 1995, the same year Counter Culture was setting up shop in North Carolina and Intelligentsia was getting its start in Chicago, LGBTQ-owned Equator was founded by Helen Russell and Brooke McDonnell across the country in Marin, California. They’ve now expanded to nine locations, from Sausalito to Culver City to The Round House at Golden Gate Bridge. They are Fair Trade Certified and offer several organic coffees as part of their direct-sale or subscription service. Roasting takes place in energy-efficient Loring Smart Roasters to reduce carbon emissions by up to 80%.
Vision of better coffee started in a cozy Marin County garage
As Equator says on their website:
The realization that coffee can be better “inspired our founders to roast and sell coffee themselves from a Marin County garage in 1995. Coffee can be roasted better, brewed better and, most importantly, it can be sourced in a way that makes lives better. That garage became Equator Coffees and marked the beginning of a high-impact coffee company focused on quality, sustainability, and social responsibility. . . .After two decades, nine cafes and thousands of cups served, our impact has grown but our values remain the same.” [HR]
Special blends cover your needs and charitable causes
Equator’s B’Cause Blend is especially relevant for this blog on charitable coffee companies: $1 from each bag’s proceeds goes to a rotating group of organizations. One example is Oakland-based Young Women’s Freedom Center, which supports those affected by imprisonment. Another is a chefs’ organization, including chef and fellow Bay Area resident Dominique Crenn, which creates blends that benefit restaurant relief. Subscriptions start from $14.50/bag and ship free with code COFFEECLUB.
If you’re an espresso drinker, you might like Equator’s eleven dark-roast blends, available in a $17/bag subscription. For all other brewing methods, select from a single origin or a blend curation, and let the team introduce you to new bags each week or month, depending on your preferred delivery frequency. [LJ]
Grounds and Hounds coffee covers animal lovers
Grounds and Hounds offers small-batch roasted blends and single-origin coffee with a cozy 20 percent of profits going to benefit animal shelters. They offer excellent coffees, especially covering the dark roasts. (Try the Snow Day Winter Roast when it's available.) Their naming of coffee types also shows some imagination and commitment to their furry friends. Examples are Morning Walk, Paper and Slippers, Soul Pup, Belly Rub, and Rescue Roast. They also have men’s and women’s apparel for sale, as well as various coffee-making equipment and gift bundles. [GAH]
Coffee subscriptions cover you and your friends
Grounds and Hounds has two kinds of subscriptions: a traditional one for which you pick what you'd like to try and a gift subscription if you're buying for someone else. Scott Gilbertson tested the former, opting for whole bean (ground and single serve pods are also options), and its "Roaster's Select" beans, which let him sample a few different varieties. As soon as Scott found what he liked, he switched his subscription to that bean. [SG] Grounds and Hounds coffee subscriptions start at $15 for a 12-ounce bag. You can get deliveries every 1, 2, 4, or 8 weeks. The best approach is probably to select a smaller amount of coffee delivered more often to ensure you have fresh coffee on hand.
Ground and Hounds’ approach to coffee subscriptions is similar to others we’ve discussed here:
Select your coffee style (whole bean, ground, or single-serve pod) at a discounted price
Choose your brew either by selecting your favorite Grounds & Hounds coffee, or by trusting their coffee curators to send you a new favorite each month!
Set your quantity and frequency by choosing how many bags you need and how often
Receive your shipment, enjoy your favorite brew, and update your subscription at any time.
When you sign up, Grounds and Hounds will let you know how your money is helping animal shelters. For example, by subscribing to receive a single bag of coffee weekly, you’ll provide 800 meals per year to shelters.
Heart2Heart Coffee donates all of their net profit to charity
The veteran owner of Heart2Heart believes in valuing farmers, workers, customers, and people in need who benefit from their charitable giving. That’s why they do things differently than most. They’re a small-batch coffee roasting company who believes “The Essence of Humanity is in Helping Others.” What sets them apart from other services that donate to charities is their level of contribution. They contribute 100% of their profit to veteran organizations, education for military families, and awareness concerning congenital heart defects.
The owner’s daughter Sydney inspired the creation of Heart2Heart Coffee. She was born with a congenital heart defect (CHD) in June 2015. She had heart surgery a few days after being born. That experience drives the company’s passion for wanting to help others going through hard times, just as other CHD families and the military community supported Sydney’s family during her surgery and recovery. [H2H]
Coffee subscription covers all varieties at the same monthly price
Once you’ve completed a typical quiz (described briefly below), Heart2Heart suggests coffees for you with matching characteristics. You can subscribe for 2, 3, or 4 items monthly with free shipping. You also get price breaks of 7% and 10%, respectively, if you choose three or four. All 12-ounce bags of coffee are $13.99, so your minimum subscription price would be $27.98 for two bags per month.
Heart2Heart’s coffee quiz is similar to those I’ve described in these blog posts for other subscription services. Questions include:
How do you brew your coffee (auto drip, French press, pour over, pods, etc.)?
How do you take your coffee (black, creamy, sweet, creamy and sweet)?
What flavor profile do you like (smoky, rich and earthy, chocolate, nutty, etc.)?
How dark do you like your coffee (light to medium dark to dark)?
Based on your answers, they offer you coffees from Central America and Burundi and from light to dark roast, with flavor notes corresponding to your choices.
Kahawa 1893 brings African coffee to your table
Margaret Kemunto Nyamumbo grew up watching Western coffee companies pay dismal prices for the coffee from her grandfather’s farms in Kenya. Nyamumbo, a former Wall Street Investment Banker and Harvard graduate, created Kahawa 1893 in 2017 as a way to offer premium, traceable Kenyan coffee to consumers while helping to empower female African coffee farmers with sustainable wages. [GN] She sources high-quality beans directly from female Kenyan farmers, all of whom are paid above industry standards. (Margaret explains that women make up 90% of the coffee-farming labor force in Africa but have only a 1% ownership stake.) Farmers send the beans to Kahawa 1893 in San Francisco, where the company roasts them twice a week and ships them immediately to subscribers.
Coffee subscriptions cover a nice variety of types and frequencies
Subscriptions start at $15.24/bag, for which you can choose one of Kahawa 1893’s 13 single origins and blends on repeat or rotate your bean selections with the Roaster’s Choice sampler. Either way, you can choose from whole or ground beans. But if you go for ground, know that it will ship as a medium grind, best suited to automatic drip machines or pour over. If you’re on the go a lot, grab the single serving to-go coffee packs, which steep like tea, for a quick fix in a pinch. And for those who just want the (very) occasional cup, Kahawa 1893’s subscription options start at just one 12 ounce bag every 60 days. [LJ]
Nyamumbo recommends allowing light roast coffee to rest for seven days post-roasting for peak flavor—or, two or so days after it arrives—and a few days longer for naturally processed beans. Naturally processed coffee, sometimes also called dry processed or unwashed, is dried for weeks in the sun before the beans are removed from the pulpy outer layer. That extra time together usually means a fruitier, brighter flavor than that of washed coffee.
Kahawa 1893 coffee company covers California with Trader Joe’s
In 2021 Kahawa 1893 coffee made history as the first Black woman-owned coffee brand to be sold at Trader Joe’s. Kahawa 1893 debuted on shelves in all 200 Trader Joe's stores in California. The brand’s momentous rollout will continue with expansion into other regions across the nation.
“Being the first Black woman-owned coffee brand to be sold in Trader Joe’s is not only an exciting time for me but also signifies a commitment in showcasing the amazing diversity in the marketplace by Black-owned brands,” Margaret Nyamumbo said. "I am thrilled to share the rich and aromatic flavors of Kahawa 1893, a true Kenyan coffee, with consumers while supporting the female African coffee farmers who are an integral part of this incredible journey.” [GN]
My Sip of Coffee company covers charity for orphans
My Sip of Coffee owners Donovan and Genesis started in the coffee trade by drinking coffee as kids. Donovan says it all began when his parents reluctantly, after much begging, gave him a sip of their morning brew. He was seven years old. He continued in the coffee through barista work before going into roasting and ownership. His wife Genesis grew up in Chapala, Mexico, where she also began drinking coffee as a kid. She takes on the challenge of helping coffee drinkers find My Sip of Coffee on the web and learning they “seriously need better coffee!” [MSC]
A four-pronged approach to coffee subscriptions covers your needs
You can think of My Sip of Coffee’s subscription more as “how often do I want to order,” rather than the typical model for receiving coffee monthly. Their cozy model is very simple. Don’t like the coffee you ordered? Cancel and switch it out. Want to buy more or fewer beans per recurring order? You can manage your subscription through your account and adjust exactly how you want it at any time. They
have no commitments and no separate fees, so as they say, you can “order when you want and how you want”
accept returns if you don’t like the beans they send you, and are ready to exchange them or send you a refund
brew with beans at their peak freshness because they roast when you order and ship within 24 hours
support charity by donating $1 from every bag sold to Oak Life
Oak Life is a school and ministry in Chapala, Mexico that’s dedicated to better orphan care. They educate staff through their own curriculum, which caters to working with orphaned children. Some orphanages may unknowingly abuse a child through improper interactions, but Oak Life sets a standard for them so every child is safely handled and taught well.
Rewards program discounts otherwise typical prices for subscriptions
With the company’s discounts, prices are about what you’d pay at other subscription sites. Although some services, such as Trade Coffee, have switched to 310-gram (about 11 ounces) bags, My Sip of Coffee offers 12-ounce bags for $18 and 6-ounce sampler bags for $8 or $9, depending on the roast.
The samplers are a particularly clever way to try a coffee before you invest more money into something you may not like. You also can answer questions on their recently added “bean match quiz,” which uses your responses to focus coffee offerings on your tastes. At the same time, Donovan includes full flavor profiles and farm-origin information for each roast, so you can be fully informed when you select a coffee. If you prefer true dark-roast coffee, however, this isn’t your best source. I saw no dark roasts in My Sip of Coffee’s offerings at the time of this writing.
An extra wrinkle is My Sip of Coffee’s rewards program, which awards points you can apply to future orders. For example, you can receive
1 point for every dollar you spend
25 points for opening account
25 points for sharing them on Facebook
25 points for following them on Instagram
25 points for a product review
Overall, this company offers you an effective way to regularly receive the coffees you like while directing some of your subscription dollars to helping orphans in Mexico have a better life.
Wagon Coffee Roasters offers a cozy refuge for recovering staff
Wagon Coffee Roasters is all about offering second, and sometimes even third chances. Their mission is to help women recovering from addiction and alcoholism by hiring and training them to help run the company, located in a renovated church near the University of Denver (Colorado). [DKBW]
Tami Canaday started Wagon Coffee Roasters in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. She had discovered some staggering COVID-19 statistics. According to a Journal of American Medical Report (JAMA) report women increased their alcohol consumption by 41% over a 2019 baseline. When Tami decided to help women in recovery, she also found that 90% of recovering addicts and alcoholics drink coffee! So she founded Wagon Coffee to support those afflicted with alcohol and drug addiction. Why Wagon Coffee? It comes from the old saying that when you’re sober, you are “on the wagon.” In this case, Tami says, they are “being the wagon” by guiding women in recovery towards wholeness with second chances through employment, encouragement, and empowerment. [WCR]
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, alcohol affects women differently than men. Even though men often consume more than women, differences in biological body structure mean most women absorb more alcohol, and their bodies take longer to metabolize it. This makes women more susceptible to the long-term negative health effects of alcohol—including cancer. The American Institute for Cancer Research found that as little as a glass of wine a day increases a women’s risk for breast cancer by five to nine percent.
Your coffee subscription helps women in recovery
Wagon Coffee’s subscription service isn’t quite like others described in this article, but they do discount all coffees a flat 10% if you subscribe for a year to receiving one or more bags of coffee each month. This option is available on their “Shop Wagon Coffee” page at www.wagoncoffeeroasters.com. Your discount results in an $18/bag (12 ounces) price for any coffee shown on the page.
You can also feel good about supporting this women-owned and women-operated business because of their choice of eco-friendly processes. Their roaster is manufactured by Bellwether Coffee, the most consistent, controllable and sustainable small batch coffee roaster in the world. Bellwether’s recirculating roasting technology removes particulates and volatile organic compounds in real-time and is 100 percent electric. The air leaving the Bellwether Roaster is cleaner than the air going in, reducing the carbon footprint of each roasting cycle by an average of 90 percent. [WCR]
Resources
“Alpha Subscription: The Craft Coffee You Deserve, Delivered When You Need It,” https://bit.ly/3d6Y2O9 , 2022. (Also information from their Founders and About pages). [Alpha]
“Boca Java Gives Back,” https://bit.ly/3U8A99l, 2022. [BJG]
Coffee Talk NewsBites, October/November 2018, vol. 31, no. 7, p. 26 [CTN]
“Five best coffee subscriptions (2022),” https://bit.ly/3vRCREQ , April 25, 2022. [Favy]
Gento Coffee Roasters, “About Us,” https://bit.ly/3BBExq6, 2022. [HCR]
Scott Gilbertson, The Best Coffee Subscription Boxes We've Tasted, https://bit.ly/3OK2WOY, Nov. 5, 2020. [SG]
Global Newswire, “Kahawa 1893: The First Black Woman-owned Coffee Brand in Trader Joe’s, https://bit.ly/3RJ0IAs, May 27, 2021. [GN]
Grounds and Hounds Coffee Co., “Collections,” https://bit.ly/3BdwrCS, 2022. [GAH]
Heart2Heart Coffee, “About Us,” https://bit.ly/3eJHOL8, 2022. [H2H]
Lauren Joseph, “The Best Coffee Subscriptions to Buy Online Right Now,” https://bit.ly/3vL94hi, Sep 24, 2021. [LJ]
Dana Knowles and Brian Willie, “A growing coffee business supports women in recovery,” https://bit.ly/3UkVSez, February 15, 2022 . [DKBW]
Helen Russell and Brooke McDonnell, “who We Are,” https://bit.ly/3DkhfGv, 2022. [HR]
My Sip of Coffee Website, “Best Coffee Subscription that Gives,” https://mysipofcoffee.com/, 2022. [MSC]
Shana Shipin, “The 13 Best Coffee Subscription Services for a Flawless Home Brew,” https://bit.ly/3U8SCmo, Conde Nast, 2022. [SS]
Wagon Coffee Roasters, “Our Story,” https://bit.ly/3UaoV42, 2022. [WCR]