Calling all my adventurous, travel-obsessed readers! Are you a coffee drinker or a single-origin coffee enthusiast? If so, then we’re happy to introduce you to Atlas Coffee Club today. Being a part of Atlas Coffee Club means that you’re part of the communal journey to discover the world’s best coffee. Instead of settling for that grocery store coffee, you’ll be able to embark on a quest to far-off countries like Ethiopia, Malawi, and Papua New Guinea–without ever leaving your home.
I get it, it sucks that we aren’t able to travel like we used to. But anyway to simulate that feeling of exploring the unknown helps a little bit, right? So why not mix that feeling of adventure and travel into your morning routine? I have always loved coffee, and these days especially, my morning cup of coffee has become a constant source of comfort.
But I’ll admit, drinking the same style of coffee each day can get pretty mundane. Especially when my day consists of only walking over to my desk 20 feet away and doing nothing more than staying put for the next 8-10 hours working. (Zzzzz. When’s my next vacation?)
I’ve recently discovered Atlas Coffee Club to help me out during these strange and unprecedented times. Atlas Coffee Club is a subscription service that ethically sources coffee from a new country each and every month and delivers a bag of freshly roasted beans right to your front door. In this Atlas Coffee Club review, you’ll get to peer into what an Atlas Coffee Club subscription looks like and read about my personal experience with this coffee subscription!
This post may contain affiliate links. You won’t be paying a cent more, but in the event of a sale, the small affiliate commission I receive will help keep this blog running/pumping out useful and free content. Thanks a lot!
Table of Contents
What is Atlas Coffee Club?
Atlas Coffee Club is a travel-themed subscription service that delivers high-quality, single origin coffee from various countries around the globe. Because their mission is to share the world of coffee, each month features a different region or country, such as Tanzania, Kenya, Colombia, Brazil, Ethiopia, Congo, Rwanda, and beyond. Each month’s box includes your bag of freshly roasted coffee, a postcard from the featured country each month, as well as tasting notes & brewing tips for each batch.
Frequency: Every 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, or 10 weeks
Amount per shipment: Your choice of 1 6 oz bag or 1-2 12 oz bags of whole bean or ground coffee
Single Origin: Yes, exclusively.
Cost: Subscriptions starting at $14 per month for the 12 oz subscription.
Ships To: US and Canada, additional shipping cost.
Click here to subscribe to Atlas Coffee Club.
DEAL ALERT: Take 50% off your first bag with promo code ‘COFFEE50‘
The Pros
- You get a curated “World Tour” coffee experience from around the world
- Very fresh coffee, roasted-to-order
- All coffees are single-origin
- Fun rewards program
- Excellent customer service
The Cons
- Limited choices (Light to Medium roast or Medium to Dark Roast)
- No control over specific coffee selection month-to-month
Atlas Coffee Club Subscription Service: Detailed Overview
Subscription Cost
Atlas Coffee is only available via their subscription. They offer a few bag sizes that vary in cost:
- Half Bag (6 oz): $9 + $5 shipping = $14.00 or $2.33 per ounce
- Full Bag (12 oz): $14 + $5 shipping = $19.00 or $1.58 per ounce
- Double Bag (24 oz): $28 + $5 shipping = $33.00 or $1.375 per ounce
The Half Bag option is a bit overpriced when comparing cost per ounce with other coffee subscriptions. However, looking at the price per ounce, the Full Bag and Double Bag options are actually in line and even cheaper than other coffee subscription services I’ve tried. You can order up to 6 bags per month, with each additional bag yielding you a lower price per ounce.
Click here to try Atlas Coffee Club.
Customer Service
Atlas Coffee Club offers a robust FAQ page on their site, as well as email support and phone support where you can reach someone during business hours from Monday – Friday. They have great customer service, so if you receive something that just doesn’t do it for you, their customer service will do what they can to make it right.
User Experience and Coffee Customizations
- Skip a shipment: You can choose to skip a shipment at any time and can choose the exact date you’d want the next shipment.
- Shipment size: You can select between 6oz, 12oz or 24oz (two 12oz bags) for every shipment.
- Shipment frequency: At signup, you can select a frequency of every 2 weeks or 4 weeks. Once you have signed up though, you actually unlock a bunch more shipment frequencies (between 1 to 10 weeks).
- Grind: You can select between whole bean or ground for your subscription. There are no additional customizations for the grind level.
- Roast Level: You have two options– Light to Medium or Medium to Dark.
You cannot customize the following:
- Coffee: You cannot choose the specific coffee you receive each month.
- Origin: You cannot choose the coffee origin for your subscription. Origins change monthly depending on which country Atlas Coffee features.
Coffee Subscription Perks: Atlas Rewards Program
The Atlas Rewards Program allows you to sit back, drink coffee, and earn rewards. With your coffee subscription, each month you’ll be assigned points for: Miles Traveled, Coffees Explored, Money Saved, Coffee Shared, and Coffee Gifted. You can basically earn rewards for coffee purchases and even referring friends and family.
Do note that you’re only able to save your points and use them if you remain an active subscriber. This means you can’t rack up points, ditch the subscription, and then cash out on all your points.
Coffee Freshness
With your coffee subscription, you will be getting some of the freshest beans available. Each batch of coffee is roasted to order! They roast every morning, and each batch of coffee is often roasted within just hours of being shipped out.
Because it’s so fresh off the roaster, they actually recommend waiting about 7 days from roasting before brewing it so the coffee can properly degas. The time it takes for the coffee to reach optimal flavor coincides perfectly with the time it takes for the coffee to ship so once you receive it, you can begin drinking the freshest coffee possible!
My Atlas Coffee Club Subscription: Overall Experience
- Quantity: 2 bags of the same beans
- Grind Type: Ground
- Roast Level: Medium and Dark
When I first heard about Atlas Coffee Club, I had mixed emotions. On the one hand, I was excited about the travel-themed, single-origin aspect of the subscription. On the other hand, I was wary about the lack of coffee choices. I’m a lot more used to coffee subscriptions where I get the option to choose one brand out of various other coffee brands. With Atlas Coffee Club, you’re sort of just getting the one featured single-origin coffee of the month, and what you have a say in is the roast level (light to medium OR medium to dark).
While I was first worried, I must admit, it was quite refreshing to not have to choose between multiple coffees. I have gotten really busy over the months with work, and I certainly did not have enough free time during the day to sit there and research coffee. So actually, the lack of choice actually worked in my favor!
The single-origin coffee featured this month was from Ecuador. After receiving a confirmation email that my coffee was going to be roasted and shipped within 24 hours of roasting, I patiently waited for about 3 days before my coffee arrived. Such a quick turnaround time!
I had actually received two bags of coffee (courtesy of Atlas Coffee Club), one dark roast and one medium roast. My bags of coffee came neatly boxed up in a package containing the patterned bag of coffee, a postcard featuring Ecuador, and a description card that includes details about Ecuador’s coffee history, tasting notes, roast level, and suggested brew methods.
Upon tasting the coffee using the pour-over method, I found that the dark roast was a lot darker than I was used to drinking. Not a bad thing, because it allowed me to try something different that I normally wouldn’t go for. People who enjoy dark roast would have really loved it!
Despite not fitting my typical coffee profile, this coffee was of good quality, came very fresh, and was easy to drink. Easy to drink means that my family members would enjoy it as well. Finishing the bag will not be a problem!
The next few days, I tried the medium roast bag I received. Pretty immediately, I found that the level of roast was perfection for me! Per the tasting notes, the coffee had hints of grapefruit, raisin, and black tea. And yes, I could actually taste the cacao and molasses within my first few sips!
My boyfriend is currently working as a barista, so I had him work his magic with these beans. He played around with the drip method as well as brewing with the Aeropress (as suggested), and both times it turned out way more delicious than when I made it, ha!
What I Loved About Atlas Coffee Club
What I really like about the Atlas Coffee subscription is the whole travel experience that comes along with it. I love how they try to create an entire experience to transport you to the coffee’s origin. The postcard that comes along with the box is way more than just a pretty picture. On the other side, it had a very descriptive passage of Ecuador that allowed me to picture the day-to-day happenings of the region! I absolutely needed this, because I’ve been going stir-crazy these days with no international travel plans in sight.
Not only was the medium roast coffee a wonderful wake-up to my tastebuds in the morning, but it was such a fun experience reading through the card, envisioning what Ecuador is like, as well as referring to the tasting notes while sipping on my coffee. Needless to say, Ecuador is now on my Top 10 list of places to travel next…
I also enjoyed the overall quality of the coffee beans. We had experimented with a few different ways of brewing the beans, like using the Aeropress (as suggested by the little card accompanying this month’s coffee) as well the Chemex, and both times the flavors that arose were complex and invigorating.
Some Things To Consider Before Subscribing
Objectively speaking, where I think Atlas Coffee Club does lose a point is their lack of choice in the single-origin country that you’ll be getting coffee from. There is also no way to customize the tasting notes you prefer (and avoid the ones you don’t like). Other subscription services have technology that lets you narrow down the beans to the specific flavor and aroma characteristics you’re looking for. With Atlas Coffee Club, you’re going to get something that falls within your very broad filter set.
One thing to note is that the coffee only changes once a month, so if you typically order every two weeks, you’re going to get two shipments of the same origin. If you ended up loving your first bag, that’s great that you’ll get another bag! If you were looking for more variety every few weeks, you won’t get that until the month ends.
One other factor that you’re going to want to keep in mind is that Atlas Coffee Club shipping is not free. Shipping was $5 within the United States, but even with shipping, the cost per ounce is comparable to other coffee subscriptions out there. If you’re not from the US, international shipping is usually quite a bit more expensive, which will ratchet your overall cost per ounce up.
With that said, they often offer promotions that include shipping, so clicking through periodically to see if free shipping or discounted bags are offered is smart.
My Final Thoughts
Overall, this subscription price-to-value ratio is amazing! You’re going to be getting high-quality single-origin beans, all the research and expertise that comes along with it, as well as the “travel” experience. With all of these extra perks, it’s a bargain for gourmet beans, in my opinion.
After trying out a few roasts over the months, I’ve found my perfect roast level and really enjoyed expanding my horizons with Atlas Coffee Club. I’ve been experimenting more with their suggested brewing methods and also learning a lot more about tasting notes, growing conditions around the world, and more.
After running through my first bag of medium-roasted beans from Ecuador in just under two weeks, I couldn’t wait to see what Atlas had in store for subscribers next month!
The Verdict: Is Atlas Coffee Club Worth It?
Let’s start with who Atlas Coffee Club is NOT for. If you prefer blends over single-origins, want roaster variety, or are really particular about how your coffee is roasted, Atlas Coffee Club is probably not for you. Likewise, if you’re a next-level coffee connoisseur, you might want to look elsewhere for more unique and complex flavors (typical of independent artisan roasters). If that doesn’t sound like you, keep reading!
What differentiates Atlas from other coffee subscriptions is that their coffee is always changing, from country to country and even growing regions within each country. Atlas Coffee Club is best for coffee explorers who want to explore and learn more about the big world of coffee out there. On top of a very solid product, they also deliver an incredible “travel” experience, one that brings excitement, fun, and even some education to your coffee-brewing adventures. Plus, it’s really quite affordable.
If you’re ready to expand your coffee horizons, there’s no better or easier way than with an Atlas Coffee Club subscription. Atlas Coffee Club is the perfect subscription for someone relatively new to the world of specialty coffee and is looking to try coffees from around the world. Not to mention, I think this makes an awesome gift for travelers who are stuck at home and unable to travel these days!
So run, don’t walk, and start traveling the world one cup at a time. Join Atlas Coffee Club today!
DEAL ALERT: Take 50% off your first bag with promo code ‘COFFEE50‘
