Atlas Coffee review — our favorite coffee subscription service

Insider Picks writes about products and services to help you navigate when shopping online. Insider Inc. receives a commission from our affiliate partners when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.Coffee lovers often pay premium prices for fancy beans that they don't realize have been sitting on shelves for months.Atlas Coffee Club curates a global selection of single-origin coffee that gets freshly roasted and shipped to your house from $9 per bag.You can schedule your frequency every two or four weeks depending on your coffee habit. I love coffee. I'm willing to take a chance and assume that since you clicked into this post, you probably do too. I'm not above the crappy coffee served by my local donut shop, but when it comes to the kind I brew at home, I prefer a more sophisticated cup.I usually spend about $15 on a 12-ounce bag of coffee beans in my local grocery store, opting mostly for the locally roasted kinds or global specialty brands. So when I heard about Atlas Coffee Club, an affordable “Coffee of the Month” subscription service that sends globally curated, single-origin coffee to your door, I knew I had to try it out.At $14 for a 12-ounce bag and $9 for a six-ounce option, the prices are even better than what I was buying at the grocery store — and as it turns out, so is the coffee. Here's how it works:Each month, Atlas highlights single-origin, sustainably farmed coffee beans from a specific country. The company puts a lot of effort into creating a sort of immersive experience with each box, which is intended to connect you to different coffee cultures around the world. The packaging for each country is influenced by its local landscapes and textiles, inspiring a sense of wanderlust and a really special touch. Plus, each shipment comes with brewing information, a postcard from the country of origin, and tasting notes about both the coffee and the region it came from so you can learn a bit about what went into growing it.You'll also automatically be enrolled in a rewards program — a coffee passport of sorts — that gives you points for how far your coffee has travelled, each country you've “visited” (aka received coffee from), gifts you've purchased, and friends you've referred. Pricing and delivery options:Atlas offers three different “Coffee of the Month” subscription models, so you can choose one to suit your needs:A half bag for $9 (six ounces, about 15 cups) A single bag for $14 (12 ounces, about 30 cups)A double bag for $28 (24 ounces, about 60 cups)They roast the beans when they're ordered so you always get the freshest batch possible, and you can select your roast preferences to include light-to-medium, medium-to-dark, or all roast types. You can even give the subscription as a gift. You can also choose from whole bean or ground bags. And you can choose to have your bags sent at a rate of every two or four weeks, with a flat shipping fee of $3.95. About the coffee:First thing's first: It's delicious. I've never had coffee I didn't enjoy from Atlas, and so far, I've tried quite a few bags. Almost equally as important is the fact that the coffee is produced and purchased ethically. The company's dedication to sustainability includes paying local coffee farmers premium prices in order to help them sustain their coffee development over time, and working with local coffee farmers in that country to provide resources for sustainable production.Atlas quotes on their site that about 50-60% of their coffee is Fair Trade certified, direct trade, or goes through a coffee cooperative — but all of the coffee they source uses sustainable practices, and they are committed to paying a consistently fair price for the beans. For reference, they source from countries like Kenya, Guatemala, Indonesia, Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica, Mexico, Rwanda, Congo, and Burundi.Subscribe to Atlas Coffee Club's Coffee of the Month box, starting at $9 >>