11 best coffee subscription services for getting your caffeine fix

Specialising in Colombian coffee, Hermanos began with a pop-up in Walthamstow in 2018. Now, it has a 10-strong list of London sites, including King's Cross St. Pancras station, Portobello Road and Barnes, easily recognisable as their shop fronts are brightly coloured and often feature their empty coffee sacks.

Owned by brothers Victor, Santiago and Adnan Gamboa, the name means ‘brother’ in their native language. At its core, the company prioritises championing all things Colombia and works closely with farmers, who are trusted and valued partners – the brothers regularly visit the farms, too.

There are two types of subscription: classic (£13.50) or exotic (£24). Beans can be ground in eight options, ranging from cafetiere to moka pot.

The Siberia coffee was a standout. It's the most incredible-smelling coffee I've ever come across. The aromas were equally magnificent as the taste. It's one for the tropical fruit lovers and is packed with juicy notes of passion fruit, honeydew melon, mango and pineapple, with an acidic, grassy aftertaste. Another favourite was the El Fresno from the classic subscription, which is very chocolatey, with notes of pistachio and peanuts, and hints of orange peel, that is warming and delicious.

At £24 for 250g (£28 when bought outside the subscription), it is one of the more expensive coffees, but is worth every single pound.

The best budget coffee subscription comes from Rave Coffee, the brainchild of Rob Hodge, who was inspired to set up the brand after spending time in Melbourne. He now has his own roaster in Cirencester with a range of coffees, including single-origin, blends, rare coffees and decaf options.

Despite its more affordable price, it doesn’t scrimp, and it’s a really great choice for those who want to learn more about coffee. Each coffee bag comes with a card with tasting notes and producer information. On the back, there’s a section for you to write your own tasting notes, helping you improve your understanding of coffee and know what flavour profiles you prefer. It makes a really great gift for someone who is just getting into coffee.

For the subscription, choose between the traditional or discovery range, or combine them, and you'll never get the same bag twice – great for those who love to try something new. Then pick your brew type and frequency (if you don’t know how much you’ll need, there's a useful calculator to help you decide).

Within my subscription, I liked the no. 315: Nicaragua Matagalpaco coffee, it's a dark roast with notes of roasted nuts, intense dark chocolate that's quite bitter.

Social enterprise Redemption Roasters trains prisoners in the skills they need to become coffee masters, and prison leavers become baristas. It also helps to provide jobs to prison leavers within its partner community, aiming to reduce re-offending.

Choosing a subscription is very simple. Select either whole bean, ground or pods, followed by your brewing method, then regular or decaf, and the flavour types you prefer: caramel and fruity, sweet and chocolatey, or opt to try a variety. You then select the amount of coffee you drink and delivery frequency.

I tried the ‘roasters roulette’, where the brand's head roaster selects a different coffee each month. My favourite was the Shakisso Gigesa, from the Gigesa region of Ethiopia. It had deliciously complex notes of tangerine, berries and a little sweetness from golden syrup with a slight sourness to it.

The brand recently had a makeover of its branding, working with Community Arts Projects (CAP) UK, a charity that runs art workshops in prisons. The single-origin coffee bags feature artwork created by inmates, too, like the extreme hummingbird design on the Shakisso Gigesa, which was painted by an inmate at HMP Rochester.

From a growing Scottish coffee chain that started on the Isle of Skye and most recently opened its third site in Inverness, Birch has now started a subscription service. It's another coffee brand inspired by Melbourne’s coffee scene, with owner Niall Munro spending a lot of his winters in Australia. The results are that all of Birch's coffees are well-sourced, taste excellent and sophisticated, are complex, roasted at Birch's roaster on the Isle of Skye and are well worth their price tag.

The subscription includes a bag of coffee from its seasonal rotation – you don’t get a choice on what you receive, but that adds to the fun. It's super simple – subscribers save £2 compared to buying outside of the subscription – and you choose between five ground types of whole bean and either a 250g or a 1kg bag of coffee, and that's it.

Birch coffee subscription is one for coffee drinkers who love to push boundaries with flavours and aren't stuck on one thing.

Roasted in Cornwall, Yallah specialises in single-origin coffees. It's also one of the frontrunners in the coffee world for championing coffee by sail, where it's shipped via a sailboat, drastically reducing the carbon footprint of the coffee delivered in this way. It also supports 1% for the Planet, giving one per cent of revenue to the charity that helps causes around the world. Plus, it supports the Cornwall Rural Community Charity by training young adults with learning disabilities as baristas.

Subscription-wise, you can choose a rolling subscription, or pre-paid subscriptions of three (£66.60), six (£133.20) or 12 months (£266.40), receiving two bags a month, or a one-year subscription (£132), where you receive one bag a month. These are great for gifts, especially because you can add on merch, including a T-shirt or a cap for a superfan, or Cornish-made chocolate from Chocolarder. You can select between explore (offering a different coffee each month), trust (a range of coffees that have a positive impact), the house coffee (with smooth caramel and decadent chocolate flavours), or decaf (for coffee without the energy boost).

My favourite of the three I had was from the explore range. Each coffee has an extensive notecard attached to it, explaining who, how and where it was produced. This one came from Juan Rodriguez's Guatemalan farm, which had peachy aromas, and it was full of flavours of juicy berries and orange.

Grind is another brand instantly recognisable for its branding – the pale bubblegum pink (otherwise known as millennial pink) that's synonymous with its takeaway cups from its many cafés, as well as its brunch and coffee trucks.

Grind’s subscription options include compostable pods, ground, whole or iced coffee cans, but not its newest addition, the instant coffee (yet!). When creating your subscription, you'll be asked how many cups you drink per day (less than one, one, one to two or two to three) to calculate how much you need. You then choose from house, light, dark blend, decaf or the editions option, which changes seasonally, offering special single-origin coffee.

It's not a coffee subscription that sends a variety of different coffees for you to try, so perhaps not one for the adventurous coffee drinker looking to broaden horizons. You can set up a recurring subscription across its range of coffees, including light, dark, house, decaf, or editions (limited edition coffee), so you never run out of a crowd-pleasing coffee, which is always a welcome offer in my eyes.

I tried Grind's house blend coffee – a classic roast that has hints of raisins, dark chocolate, a little sweetness and a decent acidity. The bag is compostable, but it's not resealable.

Another independent coffee brand from Cornwall, Origin has more than 20 years under its proverbial coffee belt – in that time it has expanded to eight coffee shops in Cornwall, London, Bristol and Edinburgh. Origin has long reigned as a leader in the specialist coffee world (it was recognised twice as Europe’s Best Speciality coffee roaster), has a fair price ethos, prioritises long-term support, and has worked with some producers for more than a decade. It also hosts coffee classes and has coffee shipped by sail from Brazil to Cornwall, which has a much lower carbon footprint.

It has three subscription types: resolute (£11.50), stronghold (£11.50) and its most popular subscription, the feature coffee subscription (£12.95), which sends a new type of coffee every week. You save around £5 by subscribing compared to buying coffee outside of the subscription. There's a useful quiz on its website to help you find what you like best.

I tried the feature subscription, which came with Huro, a coffee named after the village it comes from in Ethiopia, known for its expressive coffee. It’s an exciting coffee with lots of tropical notes, including mango, nectarine and a little tang from rosehip. For subscribing, you'll also get a branded coffee tin and a fun little pin badge.

Specialising in sourcing ethical speciality coffees from around the world, owners Ben and Alice choose the coffee from among the Rise community partners. The duo are experts at their craft and consistently find and support excellent coffees. They also founded the 1% Friendly Coffee Fund, which helps send children to school in western Uganda.

It's the only subscription I tried that features a range of coffee producers and roasters, and helps give coffee fans a really wide range to try. It also includes some freebies, such as a hot chocolate sachet from Blendsmiths and a cold brew coffee liquor from Conker, plus included delivery.

In my box, I had the Bailies Coffee Roasters nota signature blend – a blend of Brazilian, Guatemalan and Ethiopian beans that has wonderfully heady aromas with notes of peanut, chocolate and caramel. My favourite was the Crosby Coffee Roasters, from Uganda (and roasted in Liverpool), which has an amazing, rounded, rich coffee scent as soon as I opened the packet. It's very fruity and tropical and vibrant, with notes of stone fruits like apricot as well as pineapple, and more intense flavours of dates.

Pact launched in 2012 after owner Stephen Rapoport saw how broken the coffee system was. Stephen wants the entire coffee industry to follow a direct trade model, improving the lives of coffee farmers, as many live below the poverty line.

The subscription is easy – choose from beans, ground or pods, regular or decaf, your brew method, your coffee from three different options, and whether you'd like a 250g or 1kg bag. If you're unsure which type of coffee you prefer, Pact has a short quiz to help you decide before committing to a subscription – though it is flexible once you sign up.

I tried Pact's best-selling subscription coffee, the bourbon cream espresso, which is a recurring order of just the one flavour. As it sounds, it's a delicious dark, biscuit and nutty number, and honours the humble bourbon biscuit (as Pact's first London office is where the biscuit was first made). It smells like Italian coffee after opening the bag – a deep roast, with plenty of velvety richness.

Hard Lines has become one of the best-known coffee producers heralding from Wales, and is instantly recognisable for its branding – a huge red smiley coffee cup logo, that's hard to forget.

There are four different types of subscriptions to choose from: house party, brew pack, canton blend and coffee club – I tried the latter. It includes a new coffee every time, which could be from El Salvador or Colombia, so it’s great for people who want to explore new and exclusive varieties. You’ll also receive a detailed tasting note card with each coffee. My favourite was the La Independencia from El Salvador, which has plenty of dark chocolate and nutty flavours, with sharp fruity notes and is sweetened with hints of honeycomb, making it a really balanced brew. Top tip: the two-bag subscription is better value, saving £2.

It's not just about its great coffee because Hard Lines also has a social action side, Ground Level, which sponsors local community projects, including Single Parents Wellbeing, an organisation aimed at supporting single parents, and running groups to create a safe space for women to run in the dark. On the note of running, for those who live nearby, Hard Lines also has a free run club, meeting every Thursday at 6.30pm from its café, bringing together fans of coffee and running. It even hosts events and has its own merch.

The little red hippo logo and rather bizarre name aren't the only things that make this brand memorable – it's the really good coffee, which you might have tried already from one of its many cafés dotted around London. Kiss The Hippo also prides itself on its environmental and ethical efforts, having been carbon negative since 2021. It also pays about twice the Fairtrade coffee price and supports initiatives that protect indigenous land against deforestation.

It has a huge range available on subscription, including pods, blends, single-origin, decaf and low-caffeine, cold brew and tasters in 250g (£14.40) or 1kg (£34.80) packs. Choose between the house blend, classic blend, roaster's choice or fruitopia blend, followed by your brew type and frequency. Subscribers are rewarded with included delivery and up to 20 per cent off too.

If you're new-ish to the brand, I recommend trying the house blend, George Street, which is made up of 60 per cent Colombian and 40 per cent Peruvian beans. It is packed full of berry fruitiness with a hint of butterscotch sweetness too. I also tried the la montaña field blend from Peru, which is deliciously mellow with bright notes of green apple, along with a nuttier flavour. I'm also a fan of its rare ranges, which, while expensive (£35 for 150g), are exceptional and make an excellent gift for the real coffee lover in your life.

Kiss The Hippo also appreciates the importance of good coffee for everyone, including in the workplace, so it has office subscriptions. So if your workplace suffers from the plights of terrible instant coffee, this will perk up everyone's afternoons.