Bean Box delivers a monthly box of freshly roasted gourmet coffee from Seattle’s premier coffee roasters.
Subscribers choose whether to receive a full 12 oz. bag of coffee each month or four smaller 1.8 oz. sample-sized bags.
My Subscription Addiction pays for this subscription. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
The Subscription Box: Bean Box
The Cost: $20 per month
The Products: Freshly roasted coffee from a selection of Seattle’s best coffee roasters.
Ships to: US and Canada
Bean Box includes an info card that lists the month’s featured roasters and provides a little information about each of them.
On the reverse, Bean Box provides brewing tips and tricks to help make sure your beans yield the best possible coffee.
There’s also a card with information about how to personalize your subscription.
Coffee can taste differently depending on the brewing method. For all of the coffees sent by Bean Box, I ground them using a blade grinder and brewed them using a 34 oz. Bodum French Press (my preferred brewing method). Each 1.8 oz. packet of beans yielded one full pot of coffee, approximately 4-5 cups.
For reference, I typically drink medium roast coffee, but I like lighter and darker roasts, too. I sometimes drink my coffee black, but I most often enjoy it with a small amount of milk and no sugar.
All of the coffee sent by Bean Box was stamped with a “roasted on” date:
All of the coffee in my box was roasted on April 6th. My box arrived only three days later, and I really appreciate that Bean Box is able to send coffee that’s so fresh.
Herkimer Coffee Drip Blend (1.8 oz.)- value approximately $2
This was a medium roast coffee from Honduras. Bean Box recommended trying this coffee without milk or sugar because “it brings its own.” I thought this was a fantastic coffee, and, while great on its own, I thought it was also delicious with a splash of milk.
Longshoreman's Daughter Coffee Roaster Ethiopian Yirgacheffe (1.8 oz.)- value approximately $2.30
Often, Ethiopian coffee is lightly roasted because it typically has a juicy, citrusy quality that can be lost when the beans are darkly roasted. On the bag, this coffee was described exactly like I would expect: a sweet, lively coffee with hints of berry and orange. Bean Box even described the coffee as tasting like tea, which reinforced my expectation that this would be a light roast; however, as soon as I opened the packet of beans I could tell that they were actually very dark. (I wondered for a minute if maybe they’d bagged the wrong beans!) The resulting coffee wasn’t really for me. I thought it was a little bitter, and I ended up adding quite a lot of milk to try and soften the super dark flavors.
Kuma Coffee Colombia Bruselas (1.8 oz.)- value approximately $2.80
This coffee was excellent. It’s described as a “true crowd pleaser, with great body, structure, sweetness, and intensity.” I thought it was lively, flavorful, and very smooth. Like all of the coffee in this shipment, I brewed it in my French press; however, Kuma claims that it’s also great as an espresso. I’m planning to order a full-sized bag, so I can try using it in my countertop espresso maker. Beans that are great for espresso AND drip coffee? Yes, please!
Lighthouse Roasters Roaster's Choice (1.8 oz.)- value approximately $1.80
This Roaster’s Choice is Lighthouse Roasters’ signature coffee. It’s a full-bodied blend of Ethiopian, Sumatran, and Latin high-grown Arabicas. The beans were very dark, almost like a French roast. In the cup, it was bold and strong. While this is a darker coffee than I usually go for, I enjoyed trying it.
Bean Box also included a coupon for Hello Fresh and a chocolate truffle from Seattle’s Dilletante Chocolates.
Verdict: This is my first Bean Box, and I really enjoyed it! I love trying new coffee, and I think it’s exciting to receive freshly roasted beans from Seattle’s boutique roasters. The value is very low, but I think this box is more about discovering new coffee and roasters than it is about getting a great deal.
Have you tried Bean Box?
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