Gear Review: Angels' Cup Subscription
Most coffee subscriptions send out a single pack of beans from a specific roaster at a certain frequency (bi-weekly, monthly, etc). Many people subscribe to their favorite roaster and love trying new coffees as they come out. The downside of this is that if you receive something you don't especially like or simply aren't super excited about, you still have a full pack to work your way through. You're essentially investing in a full pack of coffee trusting that the roasting company will consistently come out with something you like. The rate of new coffees coming in your door is slow and steady, which is great if that is what you're looking for.
Some third party coffee subscriptions aim to spice things up a bit by shipping you a new pack of coffee every so often from a curated list of roasters. This allows the subscriber to try a greater variety of coffees/roasters, but you run into the same issue of investing in a full pack of beans. Slow and steady with greater variety.
Angels' Cup aims to fill this void, acting in some ways like the Netflix of third-wave coffee. If you enjoy variety, novelty, and continuous learning, then this is the subscription for you. The best way to develop your palate is by trying new and different things, something that Angels's Cup makes incredibly easy and flexible. Let's take a look!
The Details
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| Blind cupping - the best way to crack open an Angels' Cup shipment! |
Frequency: You choose: weekly, bi-weekly, monthly. The built-in pay-as-you-go structure makes the subscription incredibly flexible. You can set and forget. You can start, pause, cancel service, or change frequency whenever you desire. Huge bonus points for this.
Amount: As mentioned above, the downside to traditional subscriptions is that you are essentially blindly investing in a full pack of beans. Angels' Cup has two sizes: the Cupping Flight and the Black Box. If slow and steady is your thing, they also have a third option called the All Star that follows the more traditional route and mails a 12-oz pack of beans at the selected frequency.
- Cupping Flight - four 32g samples
- Black Box - four 2.75 oz samples
- All Stars - one 12 oz bag
The Cupping Flight is the smaller of the two "samplers" and at $10 a pop, the most affordable. However, even with a weekly shipment, this likely will be more of a supplement to your usual coffee source. The Black Box provides you with the same coffees but in larger quantities so you can brew and enjoy them a few times.
Packaging: The shipment comes in a sleek box (Black Box) or mail pouch (Cupping Flight). The samples are individually packaged and labeled numerically, allowing the subscriber to taste them blindly and figure out for themselves what they are experiencing. Including inside the package are four colorful notecards that correspond numerically to the samples. After blindly tasting each sample (recommended method) you can flip the corresponding card and learn about each coffee -- origin, roaster, process method, tasting notes.
Best Feature: Without a doubt, the big draw here is the blind tasting ability and sheer variety of coffee that subscribers get to try. The hard work of finding interesting and tasty coffees from across the country is done by Angels' Cup. All we have to do is check the mailbox!
Added Bonus: The associated app for the subscription is clean, smooth, and fun. It helps you document the coffees you are trying, your tasting notes, and even compare with other subscribers and the roaster. The app is a great way to improve your tasting abilities in a simple and fun way. There are a variety of settings for how in-depth you want to go, so it should appeal to the beginner and serious home-barista alike. Added added bonus is that you can adjust the subscription frequency through the app and easily edit your account/profile. The user experience is simple and easy.
Value: I find the cupping flight very approachable at $10 per shipment. For $22 the Black Box is an even better value in terms of coffee weight per dollar, but it starts to lean towards "investing" in the coffee you receive. Chances are that you have a preference for certain coffees (or will develop them) and that you are subscribing to Angels' Cup for the variety/blind cupping experience. After you cup the Black Box, you still have a good amount of beans left over so unless you absolutely loved each sample, you might be drinking a few cups of coffee that don't excite you (as much as the others). That being said, all the coffee is going to high quality, so you won't be suffering.
As a personal preference, I would rather receive the Cupping Flight every week than the Black Box twice a month. However, as our friend LeVar Burton says, "you don't have to take my word for it".
Drawback: The only downside is that the coffees arrive 7-10 days off roast. There isn't really any reasonable way around this, since Angels' Cup has to receive the coffees from the roasters, repackage them, then mail them out to the subscribers. If you wait a few days after receiving your shipment before brewing, the coffees could be two weeks old at that point and on their decline. Most subscribers, I imagine, will be like me and excitedly tear open their packages as soon as they get them, thus avoiding the issue for the most part.
Bottom line: Angels' Cup is the best way I've found to develop your coffee tasting palate. If you like trying new coffees, you need to try this subscription.
Full Disclosure: I received a free subscription from Angels' Cup in exchange for an honest review. I do not work for Angels' Cup nor receive compensation of any kind for sales of their products.
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