One of the most common questions I receive from friends and readers alike is where to get good coffee, particularly when the person is seeking a variety of coffees from a variety of roasters, to keep it interesting and fresh (pun intended). Keeping up with all of the new roasters, what's in season, and what's tasting good requires more time and effort than most have. So, a service like Crema.co that ships freshly roasted coffees, that you pick out, when you want them, and at a reasonable price, is just about the prefect mix of variety, control, and automation.
I just signed up and added my first three coffees to my playlist and it couldn't have been easier. Once you sign up, you can sort through the various offerings by roast level, roaster, or the "top picks", look at the tasting notes and simply add it to your "playlist". I sorted through by roast level and stuck to the light roast offerings, and found it easy to just pick out what tasting notes and origins looked the best to me. If you want more info on any of the coffees you can click on it and get the full description of the coffee and the roaster. I also really enjoyed that I'm going to get the opportunity to try a bunch of new and new to me roasters and coffees.
Once I add coffees to my playlist, I can choose how often I want to receive them: every 5 days, week, 10 days, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, or month, and you can pause your playlist at anytime if you're headed out of town or simply not going through it fast enough. The prices are clearly marked an in line or maybe even a little cheaper than when I buy or order on my own, and shipping is free. For someone that orders and tries a lot of coffee, like me, this is really nice because I can try a variety of new roasters and coffees without having to place a big order from one roaster to qualify for free shipping, and then having to store it. Instead, I can try a number of different roasters one bag at a time, and the coffee is always roasted to order and delivered when I need it, so it's always fresh.
Once you order three bags of coffee, the site also creates a brew log based on the coffees you order and how you rate them to learn your preferences and make recommendations for other coffees you may enjoy. It will also show trends and patterns to help you better learn and understand what characteristics and regions you prefer in coffee, so you start to learn your tastes and what to look for. I haven't yet unlocked this, but I see this as being really helpful for the type of person that wants to start drinking better coffee, but isn't quite sure where to start or what all the different regions, processing methods, varietals, etc., all mean.
Brew guides and tutorials
There are also brew guides and tutorials to learn various brewing methods as well as what the processing methods, roast levels, and flavor profiles all mean, so you can better understand and then better tailor the coffee to your preferences. All in all, I'm really impressed by how easy and clear the whole process is for the beginner and the discerning home barista alike. You can even gift a subscription, which is perfect with Mother's Day coming up.
I'm looking forward to receiving my first coffee, Ethiopia Reko Koba from Theodore's Coffee, and am excited to try some new roasters as well. I will report back on the brew log after my third order and see what kind of results and suggestions it provides. For years, I've always ordered directly from roasters all over the country, and it can be a lot of work trying to figure out who to order from next, what sounds good, and placing a big order in a lot of instances to meet free shipping minimums (not to mention that I have to break the bags down and freeze them when I get the big order). I was kind of skeptical of some of these subscription services because it didn't seem like you had much control over what you received and when. Crema.co takes care of all of that, so I'm very stoked on how easy it was to sign up and get my playlist started.
If you're interested in signing up and giving them a try, click through this link for $10 off your first order!
Crema.co is a supporting partner of meticulist.net. I've always said that due to the namesake and nature of this site, I will only partner with and run content that is consistent with meticulist.net, and that I would buy and endorse myself. I am very happy to partner with Crema.co to get freshly roasted, quality coffee into more homes.