Our morning or mid-afternoon coffee is a sacred and vital moment in our hectic day-to-day routine when we can savor a delicious cup of caffeinated fuel from our coffee makers to give us that boost we need to continue with the day’s tasks.
Many of us have one favorite hot coffee blend at the local coffee shop that we stick to without ever branching out for fear that we may not like a new blend. We don’t want to buy a whole bag of something we don’t like because that would be a waste of money and coffee.
Coffee roasters have the perfect solution to help you try different blends: the coffee sampler. Coffee samplers offer a taste of various blends, letting you try each one in small batches without committing to whole bags of beans.
Here, we will go over key criteria for choosing the best sampler, followed by our picks for the best coffee samplers on sale today.
At a Glance: Best Coffee Samplers
What to look for in a Coffee Sampler
Before we list our favorite coffee sampler brands, it’s important to know what to look for in a coffee sampler.
We will explain the most important criteria for choosing the best sampler, so you can make the most informed decision when you’re ready to shop for yourself or to give the perfect gift.
Diversity
The most important thing to look for when buying a sampler is undoubtedly diversity. Diversity, in this case, means that the coffee sampler uses a wide variety of artisan coffee blends from different regions, roasters, and roast types.
After all, you are sampling coffee to expose yourself or the coffee lover in your life to new flavors, artfully-crafted blends, and coffee types.
Therefore, the greater the variety of blends and collaborating coffee roasters a sampler draws from, the better.
Support Local
Samplers from brands that deliberately work with local roasters are always a better choice in terms of sustainability and freshness. The brand itself could be from a local roasting company, which is even better.
Local roasters are usually small, independent businesses that emphasize quality.
By buying locally, you are also reducing the carbon footprint involved in receiving the sampler by cutting out shipping distances and the pollutants that fuel the various modes of transportation to bring the coffee to you.
Local roasters also often use small batch roasting techniques that further each blend’s quality control, guaranteeing the best possible package of freshly-roasted whole bean coffee for your tasting pleasure.
Origin
There are certain regions around the globe known for cultivating the very best coffee beans. You should look for the following origin countries or regions to ensure the highest quality blends:
Central and South America
- Brazil
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Nicaragua
- Guatemala
- Mexico
Africa
- Ethiopia
- Kenya
- Tanzania
- Burundi
Asia
- Indonesia-Sumatra, Java
Additionally, you can pay attention to whether coffee beans are single-origin or multiple-origin blends.
Certifications
Another great indicator of quality and integrity in a coffee sampler is the number of certifications the roasters or beans have. Numerous certifications ensure that coffee beans are organic, non-GMO, sustainably cultivated, or fair trade.
Roast Types
It’s important to look for a variety of roast types in your coffee sampler. Coffee roasters have three main roast levels:
- light roast- high acidity, bright and fruity flavor
- medium roast- balanced and full-bodied, oily
- dark roast- low acidity, strong, bold flavor, charred-looking beans
How to Make the Most of Your Sampler
Once you receive your sampler, here’s how to ensure you get the freshest, most flavorful cups of coffee from each batch.
Grind Your Own Beans
Grinding your own coffee beans will give you the best-tasting ground coffee beans because as you grind the beans, you unleash the flavorful oils and chemical compounds that give coffee its taste.
Doing the grinding right before you brew will thus level up your coffee game and provide the freshest, most abundant flavor profile.
No matter which brewing method you choose, freshly ground beans will amplify the flavors, bringing you the best possible cup of coffee every time.
Roasting Date
You should make sure that the coffee blends are roasted within two weeks of your receipt and brewing so you will get the freshest coffee possible at its peak flavor. The longer you wait to brew from the roasting date, the less flavorful your cup of coffee will be.
Quick Summary: Best Coffee Samplers
 | Our Top Pick Bean Box Gourmet Coffee Sampler |
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 | Whole Coffee Beans - Red Bay Combo 3-Pack |
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![DEATH WISH Coffee - The World’s Strongest Coffee [1 lb] and VALHALLA JAVA Odinforce Blend [12 oz] Whole Bean Coffee in a Bundle/Bulk/Gift Set | USDA Certified Organic | Arabica and Robusta Beans](jpg/51%2bgtd%2bybhs._sl160_.jpg "The 6 Best Coffee Samplers 4") | DEATH WISH Coffee in a Bundle |
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 | Bones Coffee Company World Tour Sample |
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 | Driftaway Coffee Gourmet Sampler |
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 | Bourbon, Whiskey & Rum Barrel Aged Coffee Bean |
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6 Best Coffee Samplers
We have compiled a list of six eclectic and tasty coffee samplers that make great gifts for the coffee lover in your family or personal splurges to broaden your caffeinated horizons and find your new favorite blend.
While all the coffee bean samplers on our list are excellent choices, our top pick is the Bean Box Gourmet Coffee Sampler, which we’ll cover first.
Bean Box Gourmet Coffee Sampler
Bean Box is a Seattle Coffee company specializing in small-batch blend samplers. They even have an expert coffee taster act as a “coffee curator” to choose the very best coffee beans from local award-winning roasters.
We love the Bean Box coffee sampler because this coffee gift is customizable.
The Bean Box Gourmet Coffee Sampler is a gift box of four blends that you can choose from over ten local roasters. Additionally, you can select the types of coffee that fit your tastes.
You can also leave it up to Bean Box to choose a different roast from each category if you want a more eclectic sampling. Coffee drinkers can trust Bean Box to curate the perfect coffee box.
They even include roaster profiles and tasting notes to better inform you of your selection.
If you want a more extensive sampler basket, Bean Box has a 16-bag World Tour sampler and other specialty samplers with coffees from a distinct origin or region.
Red Bay 3-Pack Whole Coffee Bean Sampler
This delicious three-pack sampler from Red Bay offers you a veritable world tour of artisanal coffee blends.
You will receive three different specialty coffee blends with completely distinct flavor profiles from different regions of the world.
Along with their promise to uphold fair, direct trade with coffee farmers, Red Bay is also a certified Black-owned coffee company dedicated to inclusivity and accessibility for all colors, creeds, and cultures to enjoy the same treatment and coffee product.
Death Wish Coffee Company: Valhalla Java Bundle
![DEATH WISH Coffee - The World’s Strongest Coffee [1 lb] and VALHALLA JAVA Odinforce Blend [12 oz] Whole Bean Coffee in a Bundle/Bulk/Gift Set | USDA Certified Organic | Arabica and Robusta Beans](jpg/51%2bgtd%2bybhs.jpg "The 6 Best Coffee Samplers 10")
Death Wish Coffee is a popular coffee company that prides itself on delivering the world’s strongest coffee beans for the boldest flavor to wake you up and fuel your day.
This bundle comes with two of their signature medium and dark roast blends of arabica and robusta coffee beans sourced from organic coffee farms around the globe.
Their coffee is both USDA organic and certified fair-trade coffee. If you love darker roasts, this could be your new favorite.
Bones Coffee World Tour Sample Pack
Bones Coffee World Tour Sample pack gives you a veritable world tour coffee tasting experience, with five different single-origin coffee packages from a wide selection of distinct, world-renowned coffee regions, including:
- Sumatra
- Costa Rica
- Colombia
- Kenya
- Guatemala
Bones is a specialty roaster, roasting in small batches and roasting each batch to order, so you get the freshest beans in your sampler.
Each bag is resealable for further freshness, so you can enjoy each sample over multiple brews without worrying about flavor loss.
Driftaway Coffee World Coffee Sampler
Driftaway Coffee company is all about sustainability, both environmental and economical. Their world coffee sampler offers four different blends that they differentiate by the flavor profile and roast type.
Not only does each single-origin package of coffee beans come with a description of the coffee’s characteristics, but they also have an attached notecard introducing you to the specific coffee farmer who cultivated the beans.
They also donate a fraction of every pound of coffee sold to World Coffee Research, an organization that studies, educates, and advocates for sustainable cultivation practices and fair wages for coffee farmers.
Cooper’s Bourbon, Whiskey & Rum Barrel-Aged Coffee
This artisan treat takes the hangover out of the “hair of the dog” spiked coffee cocktail. Cooper’s coffee is small-batch artisanal coffee beans aged inside bourbon, whiskey, and rum barrels for the most unique flavor profile you can imagine.
Don’t worry. This coffee is alcohol-free. The technique of aging the coffee beans inside of alcohol barrels infuses the beans with their respective spirit’s flavors for a distinct finishing flavor note.
They use only the highest quality coffee beans from Sumatra, Rwanda, Colombia, and Ethiopia to age in malt whiskey, rye whiskey, rum, and bourbon barrels.
Each package gives you a thorough breakdown of the tasting notes and food pairing recommendations.
FAQs
What are the best things to look for in a coffee sampler?
The best things to look for in a coffee sampler are a diverse array of coffee beans, roast types, and rich flavor profiles, so you can expand your palette and explore new coffee tastes and brands.
Are single-origin or multiple-origin coffee beans better?
You will either see coffee beans labeled single-origin or multiple origin blends on the sampler packages. Single-origin means they come from a single producer, farm, or region in one country. Blends combine coffee beans from various regions or countries.
We don’t think one is better than the other, but with single-origin, you’ll get a purer, more concentrated flavor characteristic of the region in which it’s cultivated. Blends combine various beans to create a balanced mixture of flavors.
Conclusion
Coffee samplers provide an excellent opportunity to explore new coffee brands, flavors, and roasts to discover new favorites and diversify your coffee rotation. They make great gifts for coffee lovers.
If you just had to pick one, we highly recommend the Bean Box Gourmet Coffee Sampler. It offers an incredible amount of customization and brewing tips, so you can choose any combination of blends to suit your coffee preferences.
The World Tour sampler is also a good choice if you really want to go all out.
We hope this article has given you the knowledge you need to choose the best coffee sampler for you or that special coffee lover in your life.
Happy Caffeinating!
