I have been making the occasional coworker a cup of aeropressed coffee with good reviews thus far. Being that it is shift work, most of my coworkers are used to drinking the reduced syrup of a pot that’s been left on the burner too long (one coworker thanked me for leaving it for her!). Many don’t even know coffee doesn’t have to be bitter, although some are hardcore enough caffeine addicts that they know what good coffee is, they just get what they can day-to-day.

For Christmas I’m going to make one good cup of coffee for each employee working each shift. I’ll normally take whatever light roast grounds I can get day-to-day (see above), but I wanna jazz this up a little extra.

My wishlist is:

  • Decent
  • Cheap enough to distribute among around 20-30 people
  • No super niche flavors that would be off-putting to a “layperson.”

Any ideas?

  • BertramDitore@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    7 months ago

    I’ll echo that finding a local roaster is always a good bet, but they can be pretty expensive in my experience. I’ve been really happy with Driftaway Coffee. They ship anywhere in the US (I think they’re based in New York). They’re all about being transparent about the bean growers and roasters, going as far as to give a breakdown of how much they pay growers for each variety compared to other companies. They include a handy little index card with each variety that gives you useful info on the producers (tons of women-owned collectives, for example), their locale, tasting notes, and brewing recommendations. My collection of these little cards is slowly growing and gives me a cool history of all the different beans I’ve tried.

    I’m a big fan of single origin beans, and you can find a huge variety there, but they’ve also got a lot of blends. If you start a subscription, they first send you an “Explorer’s Box” which is a blind taste-test of five different bean types that you rate. They then calibrate your subscription based on what you liked. Such a cool concept.

    As for price, you can get most beans for around $24 for a one pound bag or $38 for a two pound bag, roasted on or right before the day they ship. Their subscriptions are a little cheaper (I get three pounds a month for $48).

    That all probably sounded like an ad, but I’m just a really happy customer.