I’m a fan of coffee subscriptions & gourmet coffee subscription box services, I think they really work – both for the roaster and for the customer.
All the box and bag coffee subscriptions I’m currently a customer of, are roasters themselves. There’s another coffee subscription model, though, which is the multi-roaster coffee box or bag subscription.
This is where a third party delivers coffee to their customers from various coffee roasters.
This kind of subscription is less about just ensuring you don’t run out of your favourite coffee, and is more about exploration and discovery.
A business like this can bring you coffee from lots of different roasters, from different origins, and can really help to broaden your horizons by allowing you to taste a wider variety of coffees.
One such coffee subscription service is Blue Coffee Box.
These guys work with some of the country’s very best roasters, including (at the time of writing) Horsham, North Star, Artisan Roast, Heart & Graft, Pharmacie, Cast Iron, Clifton, Round Hill & Crackhouse.
Each month Blue Coffee Box send out a very nicely packed box of two different bags of coffee, with very informative info cards so you know everything about the coffee you’re tasting.
This isn’t a case of getting whatever you’re sent – with BCB you have a choice, including whether you want beans or pre-ground for a specific brewer, and even what kind of roast you prefer – and you don’t have to wait until a specific date in the month to get your first box either, it’s sent to you shortly after signing up.
I decided to sign up to Blue Coffee Box because I liked the range of roasters they were working with, their website was so easy to use, and the choices were so good, that before I knew it I was on the sign up page ;-).
Unfortunately, I didn’t have a discount voucher to use, so I signed up at the full cost – but they have very kindly offered a voucher for coffeeblog readers, for £8 off your first box, not bad eh?
Click Here & Enter the Code CB999 at checkout
Update Jan 2023. Just to confirm, the discount code is still live. I usually don’t bother with discount codes when I can see they were published in the past, as they’re often no longer valid. This £8 off voucher is still valid – if this changes at any time, I’ll update this post accordingly.
The Website & Signup Process
I found the website very nice to look at, and more importantly, very simple to use. With one click of the “Get Started” button, I was into the signup process.
The first option is to choose the subscription, bag or box.
I have to say I’m not sure I see the need for this choice, as I think the main value Blue Coffee Box are offering is the variety that their box subscription provides, but anyway, I selected the box option – and something that really pleased me, is the page then scrolled by itself to the next option, haha, love that – small things amuse small minds, they say, whoever they are…
The next option is to select whether this is for me or as a coffee subscription gift – I like that option, and if you hover your mouse over this option (as I did just to see what happens), a note pops up to mention that they’ll add a gift card if required if you put the details in the “gift message” field at checkout.
Next, the page scrolls again to as you how you want your coffee, beans or ground for Cafetiere, drip or Espresso.
Obviously, I would always recommend that you grind your own, as the best coffee is brewed using freshly ground freshly roasted coffee.
Next, you get to choose what kind of roast you prefer or to tell them to surprise you. I chose the option to surprise me, as I like to try a wide range of coffee including a wide range of roasts.
I tend to prefer medium roasts but remember this subscription is about discovery, so I don’t think sticking in your usual comfort zone makes sense really.
Then, if you really want to – you can select Decaf ;-). Joking apart, I do realise that there are people who need to drink Decaf, and it wouldn’t actually harm me to have a Decaf subscription to be honest, for when I feel like a coffee later in the day.
I usually stop drinking coffee in the late afternoon, I have the urge to drink it later in the day but I know if I do I’ll usually struggle sleeping – which isn’t me at all, usually I’m snoozing the second my head hits the pillow.
Next, it’s the payment plan options. If you pay monthly, it’s £16.99 per month (£7.99 for you for month 1 if you use the code I’ll give you in a minute), £15.99 per month if you pay three months in advance (with the coupon you’ll pay £38.97 so it works out at £12.99 per month), or £14.99 per month if you pay for 6 months in advance (again, with the coupon CB999, you’ll save £8).
I went for the quarterly option, but you can change your plan in the future, so if you just want to sign up for the monthly, and then switch to paying quarterly or biannually in the future once you’ve decided to stick with the subscription, you can.
Pausing, Cancelling & Changing Your Subscription
Something I always look at when I’m thinking about signing up for anything is how easy it is to pause or cancel altogether if I decide to for whatever reason.
I don’t want to have to jump through hoops, or have to phone someone and explain why I’m cancelling – I just want to be able to log on to the website and click a link.
So shortly after signing up, I logged in to my account – and there’s an “Edit” button, under “Your Subscriptions” – I clicked that link, and here – not only can you click “skip next renewal” – there’s a big, very obvious icon which says “Cancel Subscription” – so they don’t make it difficult at all.
Also on this page, as I mentioned above, you can change the subscription term if you want to save a bit of money by paying three months or 6 months in advance, also you can change all of your other choices on this page.
Delivery
I’m not reviewing the courier service here, as the company can’t control the courier – but what I can review is the way they have designed things to make sure that the box gets delivered each time.
Their choice of bag weights, and the way the box is made, are all specifically to ensure that they can send the box out via Royal Mail and that it will go through the letterbox.
This is such an important thing if you work during the day, as getting home to a card through your door telling you that you need to go and collect something from a collection point or local sorting office, is such a pain.
Our “local” sorting office isn’t particularly local – and is a pain to get to thanks to local major roadworks that were supposed to have been finished months back – and it doesn’t help that it’s only open until 1pm. You don’t want your coffee sitting going stale for days in a sorting office, so it’s important that you get it when it’s delivered.
The box came a couple of days after signing up (as it happened, I think this was the next working day), it had been delivered while I was out, and it had simply been pushed through the letterbox, which is great.
I get a lot of coffee sent to me, and often it doesn’t fit through the letterbox – sometimes it ends up with neighbours, which is fine but I always feel guilty for having to go round and disturb them by asking for yet another parcel they’ve signed for on my behalf, and more often than not there’s a card through, which is always a pain.
The funniest thing that has happened so far with a delivery, by the way, is that myhermes left a parcel literally just on the doorstep, I can’t remember what it was, but it would have been something coffee related, it nearly always is ;-).
I had to step over the parcel to open the door, and on walking through the door, I found the card that the driver had put through, with a message “on doorstep”, hmm, really? 😉
Price
It’s £15.49 for 2 x 227g bags, and this includes delivery.
£7.45 per bag, including delivery, I don’t actually think is bad at all given the quality of the coffee beans and the kind of roasters they work with.
You have to keep in mind that there is a cost for putting a package like this together for us, there’s a cost for delivery, and of course, the business has to make a margin too, so, all in all, I’m quite happy with this price, given that the point of the subscription is about discovering different coffees.
The Coffee
I’ve never been anything but impressed by the coffee that lands on my doormat every month from Blue Coffee Box, genuinely.
The packaging etc. is all very nice – the bags are very easy to open and to re-seal, and the info cards are really informative, lots of info, all the important stuff, varietal, process, producer, region, altitude and taste notes.
But importantly, I get some amazing coffee through my letterbox from Blue Coffee Box.
In my first box, for example:
Guji Shakiso
Origin: Ethiopia, Shakiso district, Guji zone, Oromia
Varietal: Heirloom
Producer: Shakiso Dry Mill
Altitude: 1900 – 2100 masl
Process: Natural
Roaster: The Coffee Factory in Axminster, Devon
Taste: Guava, mango, peaches and cream.
My comments: I really enjoyed this one. Fruity. I got more strawberries and cream than peaches and cream, which is great as I love strawberries. It has a creamy mouthfeel, and floral notes. I like it…
Kageyo
Origin: Rwanda
Varietal: Red Bourbon
Producer: Rwanda Trading Company (from farms local to the Kageyo washing station).
Altitude: 1700 masl
Process: Fully Washed
Roaster: Artisan Roast in Edinburgh.
Taste: Chocolate, Pineapple, Plum
My comments:
I get milk chocolate from this, definitely, possibly dates too, and cherry. It’s a very enjoyable coffee
Update Jan 2023.
Next month I will have been a customer of Blue Coffee Box for 5 years.
During this time, I’ve had loads of great coffees, from a range of different origins, different varietals, different roast profiles, and different roasters, and I’ve really enjoyed this subscription.
They’ve never failed to deliver, in fact, they once sent me two boxes by mistake ;-), one of which was given to a competition winner.
I’ll definitely be continuing with this subscription, as it’s continually introducing me to various different roasters, different growers, and different tastes – and I really like that.
I’ve literally never been disappointed with a coffee I’ve retrieved from the little blue letterbox sized box, and their service has always been absolutely perfect, I literally cannot fault it.
Jan 2023
My latest two coffees from Blue Coffee box:
Finca Guadalupe Zaju, roasted by Garage Coffee.
This is a washed processed coffee, grown at 900-1400m altitudes, Caturra & Marsellesa varietals. Taste notes of milk chocolate & hazelnuts.
Colombia Esperanza, by Crosby Coffee.
A natural processed coffee, grown at 1900m altitude, Yellow Caturra & Typica varietals. Taste notes of Orange, cider & Kiwi.
I can’t tell you what either of them actually tastes like just yet as I’ve not opened them, but I’m sure they’ll be mega, as they usually are.
Your Discount Code.
As I mentioned earlier, Blue Coffee Box are offering an introductory offer to coffeeblog readers. You’ll save a lovely £8, by simply entering the code CB999 into the voucher code box at bluecoffeebox.com.
Don’t forget, you’re under no obligation whatsoever to continue the subscription. If you decide it’s not for you, you can stop at any time.
Like I’ve said, I’ve kept the subscription now for almost 3 years, and there’s no way I’d want to cancel it, as I love the anticipation of opening the blue box to discover what new coffees I’m going to discover.
Life is like a box of chocolates, so join my Brew Time list, subscribe to my YouTube Channel, become an accredited coffee botherer (Patreon supporter), try my coffee at The Coffeeworks (use discount code coffeebotherers), follow me on Twitter & Instagram, follow the coffeeblog FaceBook page, and that’s all I have to say about that.