Find a local roaster.
The quality is so much better and you support a local business instead of a megacorp.
Yup, and most of the big brands are actually Nestle anyway. Fuck Nestle.
Edit: or Green Mountain which is now Keurig Dr Pepper?, depositor of plastic cups everywhere.
Lavazza?
Looks like it’s independent still. But not really close to the size of the Nestle brands (like Starbucks bagged coffee)
Here’s the brands listed on the Wikipedia page (though Seattles Best is missing, but present on Nestles own site):
Coffee
- Blue Bottle Coffee Company
- Bonka
- Buondi (Portugal)
- Chameleon Cold-Brew
- Christina (Portugal)
- Dolca (Argentina)
- Dolce Gusto
- Ecco (Chile, Peru)
- El Chaná (Uruguay)
- International Roast
- Kirma (Peru)
- Loumidis (Greece)
- Mountain Blend
- Nescafé
- Nespresso
- Partner’s Blend
- Ricoffy
- Ricoré
- Ristretto
- Sical
- Starbucks (Perpetual License)
- Sunrise (India)
- Taster’s Choice
- Tofa
- Zoégas (Sweden)
Wow I had no idea that Starbucks in bags was Nestle.
One tick further down the rabbit hole is the most recent roast date of the local available roasters.
Also tends to cost more from what I’ve seen. Which, if you drink a crap ton of coffee like I do… matters.
“On Sale”
Coffee is kinda expensive…
Yeah… this is what it’s come to
I try to get local, but I caved once and got some Onyx Coffee Lab and let me tell you, that was some of the most underwhelming coffee I’ve had. They must have the good reddit bots because it seemed well recommended there and there wasn’t a single blend of the five I tried that was better than what I can get locally (SE Michigan).
They excel with single origin coffees. Their blends are just okay.
Same here. I’ve tried two so far. The first one was gross. The second was… coffee. Not good, not bad.
I usually order from Trade and most of the time what I get is excellent.
I’ve had coffees from them that tasted like peach black tea and it was mind-blowing they have done some amazing stuff in the past but I’ve only ever gotten their single origins
I used to be local to Onyx. I really enjoyed their coffees. They are pretty pretentious, though.
I’ve been buying from Black White roasters in North Carolina for a while, they always have something interesting
Eight’O’Clock Coffee is my jam. Regular or Colombian roast.
Bridgeport Coffee Co., Chicago 🤓
My local roaster is Quartertone Coffee. I’m wearing their tee-shirt right now.
I also like Dunkin when I make it at home. I find their stores to be inconsistent, though. Sometimes they brew it properly and it’s delicious, and sometimes it’s weak and doesn’t taste very good.
I like the organic coffee that I can source from Galaxy Girl Coffee. If I am in a pinch and can’t wait days for a roast on site; I go for Peets, Caribou Coffee, or if I am feeling particularly odd, Starbucks. I only buy whole bean as I have a coffee grinder and my French Press needs a great coarse grind to work its magic.
Shoutout to Prestogeorge Coffee & Tea in Pittsburgh. Haven’t been able to find coffee I like better than their roasts. I get their Antigua Guatemala Continental (dark roast) and Nicaragua Shade Grown (medium roast) and blend them together when I grind.
They used to have a Nicaragua Honey Processed coffee I’d get, but it seems like they don’t carry that one anymore so I switched to the shade grown.
Brothers Coffee – subscription (rather than a brand) that focuses on “fresh, ethically sourced, and globally responsible coffee”
Brandywine coffee roasters. They’re based in Delaware. I’ve been blown away by the quality of their subscription. Best beans I’ve purchased in the US.
Black & Bold
Juan Valdez
Passenger
There’s two local brands I like, Cirque and Topeca.
As far as big names, I get Gevalia and like it.