DRIFTAWAY COFFEE REVIEW 2026: WHY WE LOVE THIS SUBSCRIPTION

This Driftaway Coffee review looks at everything you can expect from a Driftaway Coffee subscription box.

Photo: Julia Bobak

Are you overwhelmed by the number of coffee subscription services available? Does it feel impossible to choose? Well, you could sign up for a bunch of different ones to see which you enjoy most… But who has the budget for that?

I’ll tell you who: Home Brews Coffee. I ordered various coffee subscriptions to bring you first-hand accounts of each experience.

Best of all, Home Brews Coffee readers get a special 50% OFF first box discount: use code HG50. You’re welcome!

The Full Driftaway Coffee Subscription Review

In this section, I’ll break down the details of a Driftaway subscription by category, discuss my experiences with the brand, and compare it with other coffee subscription services. Read the whole thing to get a well-rounded picture, or jump straight to the sections that are most important to you, like coffee quality or sustainability.

How We Rated It

• Coffee Selection
• Coffee Quality
• Sustainability
• Overall Experience
• Price

4.5

• get 50% off [code: HG50]

Coffee Selection – 4/5

Driftaway Coffee offers a relatively small selection of coffees, all roasted in-house. Personally, I appreciate this commitment to quality over quantity. And though the selection is concise, it offers something for everyone. 

They have five single-origin coffees, each defined by a flavor profile: Fruity, Classic, Balanced, Bold, and Extra Bold. There are three cold brew coffee blends with flavor profiles for different taste preferences: Bright, Balanced, and Bold. There is also one espresso blend and a decaf option. The precise nature of each coffee is always changing; Driftaway respects the seasonality of coffee.

Driftaway has added coffee sachets to the line-up this year. They look and act just like tea bags. Steep them in hot water for an easy-to-make brew. While I always prefer to grind whole bean coffee at home, I took the coffee sachets on a recent camping trip and was the envy of all my instant coffee-drinking friends.

What they lack in variety, they make up for in their ability to find the perfect coffee for you. It feels like Driftaway Coffee wants you to learn about coffee flavor profiles and what you enjoy. So while you won’t get to choose between hundreds of different coffees, you’re more likely to find something you love.

Except for decaf, each Driftaway Coffee subscription starts with a coffee tasting kit.

What is the Tasting Kit?

The Tasting Kit includes sample-sized bags of five different coffees, one for each taste profile. The coffee can be pre-ground or whole bean. I opted for whole bean coffee, as I have a great burr grinder at home, and they helpfully included a ground coffee sample so I could match the grind size. 

You’ll also receive five glasses for cupping the coffee, a coffee-tasting flavor wheel, and a chart for making tasting notes. A sealed envelope has information about the coffees you tried, like origin, growing conditions, and flavor notes. The idea is to open it after the tasting, and it’s exciting to finally open it and see how closely your tasting notes match the pros.

Upon delivery of the coffee tasting kit, you’ll be given a link to sign up for a guided taste test with a coffee professional, which can be done solo or on Zoom. Driftaway is the only subscription to offer this service.

Once you’ve finished with the tasting kit and established the coffee flavor profile that suits your taste buds, you’ll be sent similar coffees for the duration of your Driftaway Coffee subscription – or until you decide you feel like a change. 

Decaf coffee lovers won’t get as much out of this subscription. Driftaway offers only one decaf option, and while it is delicious, you miss out on the catered experience available to caffeine fiends.

The Explorer Box

The Explorer Box is similar to the Tasting Kit but without the cupping glasses. It’s designed to take you on a world tour of coffee flavors, offering a variety of flavor profiles and roast levels.

My Explorer Box arrived with 2-ounce bags of five different whole-bean coffees. Like the Tasting Kit, each coffee’s details were sealed in a separate envelope so I could explore blind tasting. It was fascinating to note the pronounced differences between the coffees without preconceived notions around origin, varietal, or roast – beyond what I could see.

You can order the Explorer Box with different coffee sizes (2 oz, 4 oz, 8 oz, 12 oz, and 1 lb), and you can have your coffee pre-ground to suit your preferred brewing method (Fine, Medium, or Coarse).

New For 2024: The Coffee & Chocolate Pairing Box

As an unabashed chocolate lover, I was so excited to see Driftaway now offers a coffee and chocolate kit. Coffee and chocolate don’t just taste great together, they have many parallels in origins, farming, and processing. This kit is a fun, educational, and delicious way to explore the classic combo. It would make an incredible gift for any coffee and chocolate fan. 

My kit included three coffees designed to pair with three single-origin chocolate bars. The bars are sourced from Brooklyn-based Raaka Chocolate. Made from unroasted chocolate, they’re vegan, gluten-free, and nut-free. Flavors will rotate; mine were Bananas Foster, Pink Sea Salt, and Maple & Nibs – each chosen to complement one of the three coffees. I also received beautifully illustrated postcards detailing the coffees and a coffee-tasting flavor wheel.

The chocolates were all on the dark and bitter side. As a dark chocolate fan, I couldn’t have been happier. But even if you prefer the sweeter stuff, I encourage you to try the tasting. It’s pretty stunning how the coffee and chocolate bring out each other’s natural sweetness. That said, if super-sweet milk or white chocolate is your style, this probably isn’t the one for you.

Coffee Quality – 5/5

The quality of coffee you’ll receive from a Driftaway Coffee subscription box is excellent. This is a real perk of opting for a coffee subscription service with fewer coffees – each one is given proper care and attention right from the farm until it reaches your door.

First of all, great coffee requires great coffee beans; no amount of roaster skill can compensate for bad sourcing. Dirftaway sources single-origin coffees from many of the world’s best growing regions, working directly with coffee farmers and cooperatives in each country. 

Through these close relationships with coffee growers and paying well above average prices, Driftaway can buy the best coffee now and ensure its production in the future. Daniele Giovannucci, president of the Committee on Sustainability Assessment, explains the importance of economic stability for a coffee farmer (1).

As of 2023, Driftaway is prioritizing “conscious and inclusive sourcing,” focusing on women and minority producers. A prime example of this is the stunning espresso blend I received with my subscription box. Combining beans from Guatemala and Burundi, the coffee is produced entirely by women using organic, regenerative farming practices. It’s a rich and compelling brew with a beautiful balance of caramel sweetness and lemon acidity.

Once the farmers deliver the best green coffee beans, it’s in the hands of the roaster. Driftaway Coffee does all their roasting in-house, allowing for unparalleled quality control. Their skilled roasters know exactly what roast level best highlights the inherent character of the green coffee beans, which comes only with years of experience.

Driftaway roasts coffee beans twice a week, so you know you’ll constantly be receiving freshly roasted coffee from Driftaway. The roast date is displayed prominently on the package, so you can predict precisely when your coffee will peak, usually between 3 and 14 days after roasting (2). In my case, the coffee arrived just three days after roasting, which is especially impressive given that I’m based in Canada.

Even the decaf is given the same premium treatment as the rest of the coffee beans. The decaf I received was a delightful single-origin medium roast from Colombia, roasted on the same day as the caffeinated brews. A balanced brew with brown sugar and sweet chocolate notes, it’s a far cry from the stale decaf blends that used to be the norm.

Sustainability – 5/5

The Driftaway Coffee tagline is, “Coffee good for you and the planet,” and it is apt. While there are several excellent coffee subscription boxes for coffee drinkers who love quality fresh coffee, Driftaway is the best for those who also care about sustainability. In this case, sustainability doesn’t just refer to the environment and climate change but also to the coffee farmers and their communities.

The relationship Driftaway Coffee maintains with coffee farmers is the foundation of the entire enterprise. It’s how they guarantee they get the best coffee. They’ve signed a transparency pledge stating that they will reveal exactly what they pay farmers for their coffee, so you can see how it stacks up against Fair Trade standards (3). When I checked on one of my coffees, I discovered that Driftaway paid nearly three times what a Fair Trade Certification would require!

Their commitment to environmental causes is equally impressive. Notably, their coffee packaging is all 100% compostable (4). Compostable coffee bags are not cheap, and Driftaway is eating into their profits by making this choice. Similarly, the postcards included with each coffee are printed on recycled paper. Even the padding around the glasses in my tasting kit was made from shredded scrap paper rather than styrofoam or bubble wrap. 

They strive to keep their carbon footprint small, which is difficult in a business that relies heavily on shipping. You can find the results of their comprehensive energy audit on their website, another example of the brand’s transparency. To reduce energy use, they avoid air freight and rarely travel to visit coffee farms, instead relying on trusted relationships within origin communities. They use an energy-efficient Loring roaster and purchase carbon offsets for any emissions to achieve complete carbon neutrality.

Finally, there’s their partnership with World Coffee Research (5). This non-profit organization conducts agricultural research to ensure the future of coffee. Driftaway donates 5 cents to World Coffee Research for every pound of coffee sold.

Overall Experience – 4.5/5

When I signed up for a Driftaway Coffee subscription box, I really sensed that they wanted me to enjoy an experience. They don’t just send you something to drink; they want you to learn, think, and feel while enjoying a delicious brew. They want to take you on a coffee journey.

An excellent example of this is the gorgeous postcards that accompany the coffees. The front of each has a photo taken at origin, so you can see the land and the people that produced your coffee, plus basic information. The back is jam-packed with details, including the growing region, altitude, processing type, and bean varietals. It also offers notes on the coffee producers, commentary from the roaster, and other interesting facts. There is even a link that allows you to reach out to the coffee producer directly!

Becoming part of the Driftaway community

Another example is the virtual coffee tasting program, which is unique to Driftaway Coffee. As I already mentioned, new coffee subscriptions start with a blind tasting. But you can also order a tasting kit to experience with friends, family, or co-workers anytime. It’s an ideal way to introduce friends to your love of coffee or bond with your colleagues.

These private sessions are conducted over Zoom and led by 2013 World Brewer’s Champion James McCarthy (6). Because the tastings are private, you can cater them to your area of interest. Curious about processing methods and how they affect flavor? Want to know more about roast levels and flavor profiles? Just ask! James is chock full of coffee knowledge.

There are also weekly tastings on Zoom that are free to all subscribers. If you want to hear how a coffee connoisseur experiences your latest coffee delivery, then be sure to pop in to have your questions answered.

If you enjoy the blind tasting kit experience, Angel’s Cup is a coffee subscription service that sends you different unknown coffees to taste each month. But unlike Driftaway Coffee, they don’t offer personalized professional guidance via Zoom. To learn more, read our Angel’s Cup Coffee Subscription review.

Price – 4/5

Driftaway Coffee isn’t the cheapest coffee subscription box on the market, but they aren’t targeting a client base looking simply for low costs. 

While not the cheapest, the Driftaway Coffee prices are very reasonable – comparable to the cost of any high-end specialty coffee. 

When signing up for a subscription, you can choose how much coffee you want to receive. There are four different shipment sizes (8 ounces, 12 ounces, 1 pound, or 2 pounds) and three shipping frequencies (every week, every two weeks, or every four weeks). The price per shipment ranges from $14.40 to $34.20, and it’s effortless to adjust your size and delivery frequency if you are receiving too much or too little coffee. You can also buy 12-ounce bags of each month’s featured coffees for $19.

If you sign up for a 6-month subscription, you’ll get 5% off, and a year-long subscription nets you 10% off. In all cases, shipping is free within the United States. Even if you don’t want to commit to a subscription, the Coffee Tasting, Explorer, and Chocolate & Coffee kits all make wonderful gifts for coffee lovers in your life.

Compare Driftaway With Other Services

In the table below, you’ll find all essential specifications for all major coffee services in the US.

	Reviewed Subscription
Coffee Company	Driftaway	Trade	Volcanica	Atlas	MistoBox	Angel's Cup	Crema Coffee	Bean Box	Blue Bottle	Craft Coffee
Subscription style	Roaster	Coffee marketplace	Roaster	Roaster	Coffee marketplace	Coffee marketplace	Coffee marketplace	Coffee marketplace	Roaster	Roaster
Coffee options	Single Origin, Cold Brew Blend, Decaf	Blend, Single Origin, Espresso, Decaf	Blend, Single Origin, Espresso, Decaf	Single Origin	Blend, Single Origin, Espresso, Decaf	Blend, Single Origin	Blend, Single Origin, Espresso, Decaf	Blend, Single Origin, Espresso, Decaf	Blend, Single Origin, Espresso, Instant, Cold Brew, Decaf	Blends, Single Origin
Roast options	Light, Light-Medium, Medium, Medium-Dark, Dark	Light, Light-Medium, Medium, Medium-Dark, Dark	Light, Medium, Dark	Light/Medium, Medium/Dark	Light, Medium, Dark	Light, Medium, Dark	Light, Medium, Dark	Light, Medium, Dark	Light, Medium, Dark	Light, Medium, Dark
Curated	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Coffee quantity options	8, 12, 16 oz, 2 lb, 5 lb	11 oz, 32 oz	16 oz, 3 lb, 5 lb	6, 12, 24 oz	12 oz	12 oz	7 oz - 5 lb, depending on coffee	12 oz, 24 oz	12, 24, 26 oz	one to six 12-oz bags
Delivery frequency options	Every week, 2 weeks, or 4 weeks	Every week, 10 days, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 4 weeks, or 6 weeks	Weekly or monthly	Every 2 weeks or 4 weeks	Every week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, or 4 weeks	Every week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, or 4 weeks	Every 3 days, 5 days, week, 10 days, 2 weeks, month	Every week, 2 weeks, or monthly	Every week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, or 4 weeks	Every week, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, or 12 weeks
Number of coffees	10, rotates monthly	450+	150+	1, rotates monthly	600+	Hundreds	1000+	100+	30ish, rotates twice monthly	11
Special features	Guided tastings, sustainability	Two membership tiers		Information postcards, microlot coffees	Coffee curator, two membership tiers	Blind tasting kits	Workplace subscriptions	5% back in credits, special member gifts	Early access to new releases	Super inexpensive
Pre-ground available?	Yes	Only for espresso	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Pods available?	No	No	No	K-cups and Nespresso capsules	No	No	No	No	No	No
Prices start at	$14.40	$15.75	10% off regular price	$9	$12.71	$16.99	$20	$20	$21	$7.99
US shipping fees	Free to US	$1.95 for one bag. Free if you sign up for 3+ bags.	flat $6.95 or free over $60	Varies by location	flat $5	flat $5 to US, $20 to Canada	Free	Free to US	Free	Free to US
Ships to	Worldwide	US only	Worldwide	US and Canada	US only	US and Canada	US only	US and Canada	US only	US only
	CHECK PRICE	CHECK PRICE	CHECK PRICE	CHECK PRICE	CHECK PRICE	CHECK PRICE	CHECK PRICE	CHECK PRICE	CHECK PRICE	CHECK PRICE

Don’t Choose a Driftaway Coffee Subscription Box if…

• You want to explore different roasters: If you’re looking for a subscription that offers a larger selection and lets you explore different roasters, consider Trade. They source from dozens of small, independent roasters around the U.S.A, and like Driftaway, they will cater your subscription to your taste. Read more in our Trade Coffee Subscription review.
• You prefer blends to single origins: Driftaway Coffee specializes in specialty single-origin coffee. If you’re more of an espresso blend fan regarding your morning coffee, then you’ll want to look elsewhere – for example, Mistobox. Mistobox partners with 60 different roasters to offer upwards of 600 coffees, and you can tailor your subscription to only blends, espresso-focused coffees, or even roast levels.
• You don’t want a catered experience: If you prefer not to have any say in what coffee you receive, check out our Atlas Coffee Club review. Each month, Atlas features a single-origin coffee from a different country. Because it’s not tailored to your established taste, you might discover a great coffee you never expected to like. And don’t worry, no matter what you get, it’s always top-quality coffee.

The Verdict

The Driftaway Coffee subscription is perfect for the coffee drinker for whom coffee is more than just a drink. Yes, you’ll receive incredibly flavorful specialty-grade coffee beans. But this subscription stands out from the crowd of high-end options because Driftaway wants you to learn about coffee – how to brew and taste it, how it’s grown, and the people and communities that make it possible. 

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