Addicted to coffee but hate grinding and brewing it? Then you need a bag of robust, aromatic coffee grounds to brew your next batch of coffee at home!
Discover which roast works best for you with the most flavorful, reputable, and coffee-snob-approved bags of ground coffee to meet your taste buds’ needs.
The best Ground coffees to Enjoy
For those who prefer to purchase their coffee in whole bean form, having a grinder accessible to use at home amplifies the art of brewing coffee at home. However, for those who don’t want to grind their own coffee or maybe don’t have access to a grinder, ground coffee is preferred.
Our list of the best ground coffees is based on brand reputation, the quality of the beans, the flavor of the coffee, and the roast-to-shelf or delivery date.
Lifeboost Coffee Medium Roast
Lifeboost Medium Roast
The mountains of Nicaragua is where only the highest varieties of Arábica beans are grown. Our coffee is grown in the shade high in the mountains without pesticides or chemicals. The certified beans are hand-selected for purity, hand-washed, and sun-dried to remove harmful moisture content.
Hands down–Lifeboost Coffee’s Medium Roast is the healthiest coffee option on our list. Not only is it fair trade certified and USDA organic, but Lifeboost also goes above and beyond when it comes to ensuring that each batch of single-origin Nicaraguan coffee is of the highest quality possible.
For starters, all of Lifeboost’s beans are grown in the shades of the mountains of Nicaragua and are pesticide-free and bird-friendly. Once the beans are collected, they are washed in natural spring water and are sun-dried without the use of harmful chemicals. Lifeboost also makes sure to lab-test their coffee beans for mycotoxins, heavy metals, and hundreds of other toxins before roasting.
This medium roast by Lifeboost is well-balanced with a medium body and extremely low acidity, making it easy on the stomach. With its rich, bold flavors of caramel and earthy/woody undertones, Lifeboost’s Medium Roast is excellent for brewing methods like the pour-over and French press. Simply stated: if you’re looking for an all-around flavorful and well-rounded coffee with the added health benefits that often aren’t available with other ground coffee brands, Lifeboost is the answer you’ve been searching for.
Flavor profile: Earthy and nutty undertones. Medium roast.
Volcanica Ethiopian Yirgacheffe Ground Coffee
Ethiopia: the birthplace of coffee beans. Located just north of the equator, Ethiopia is known to produce some of the most succulent coffee beans that money can buy, and nobody roasts Ethiopian coffee beans better than Volcanica Coffee. The Yirgacheffee region is located in the area of Sidama in southern Ethiopia, a region rich in vegetation, nutrient-rich soil, and high elevations. This climate makes it ideal for coffee beans to grow and thrive.
Volcanica Coffee makes sure to embrace and highlight all of the vibrant flavor profiles within these beans, and many enjoy Volcanica’s Yigracheffe ground coffee roast because it embodies a brighter acidity, is medium-bodied, and has notes of earthiness and highlights of sweet blueberry and blackberry. And as if the delicious flavor isn’t enough, you can drink your coffee and feel good about it too–because this Yigracheffe is also certified organic and fair trade certified!
Flavor profile: Earthiness, blueberry, and blackberry. Dark roast.
Death Wish Coffee Dark Roast
Branding itself as the world’s strongest coffee, Death Wish Coffee’s Dark Roast adequately balances flavors that are soothing and smooth with those that are bold and robust. Where Death Wish supplies rich flavor, it also combines its smooth taste with an electrifying dose of caffeine, resulting in a robust brew that you’re bound to fall in love with.
And how does Death Wish establish an extra amount of caffeine in their roast? By mixing in robusta beans as well as arabica beans before roasting, Death Wish ensures that the succulent flavors in the arabica coffee are preserved while the caffeine in the robusta adds the extra “umph” in the coffee that many coffee lovers enjoy.
Flavor profile: Sweet cherries and savory dark chocolate. Dark Roast. Arabica and robusta beans.
Kicking Horse Coffee Three Sisters Roast
Wake up and kick ass with Kicking Horse’s Three Sisters Ground Coffee! Kicking Horse has been in the business of roasting coffee since the mid-’90s, originally operating out of a garage in the middle of the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Fast forward to today, and Kicking Horse has grown to become one of the most beloved Canadian coffee roasters in North America and continues to cure coffee cravings with each bag of coffee sold.
In fact, Kicking Horse was even named the Best Places to Work in Canada in 2018 based on employee feedback and overall happiness. Also holding the title of Canada’s No. 1 fair-trade and organic coffee roaster, it’s hard to miss how the quality of Kicking Horse’s coffee is inspired from and reflected by the hard-working and passionate staff behind the scenes.
A classic of Kicking Horse, the Three Sisters medium roast is inspired by three mountain peaks in the Candian Rockies. This roast is crafted from Central and South American coffee beans and embodies flavor profiles like sweet stone fruit, coconut, and chocolate. With the size of these coffee grounds, we recommend brewing the Three Sisters roast with a drip coffee maker or through the pour-over method to really coax out the inner flavors in the beans.
We also recommend Kicking Horse’s Kick-Ass dark roast for what Kicking Horse describes as a “sweet, smokey, and audacious” roast.
Flavor notes: Coconut, stone fruit, chocolate. Medium roast.
Peet’s Coffee Single-Origin Brazil Roast
A single-origin Brazil roast, Peet’s single-origin Brazil roast embodies all of the characteristics of why Peet’s Coffee is loved by thousands of coffee drinkers across the United States. This medium roast is a delicious, well-balanced single-origin roast that has flavors of sweet fruit and hints of hazelnut.
Ever since they began roasting and selling coffee in 1966, Peet’s has been perfecting the process of crafting quality arabica coffee. Peet’s Coffee has longstanding relationships with local, small-scale farmers in Brazil allows them access to the ripest coffee beans available.
Next, Peet’s Coffee hand-roasts their beans in small batches to make sure the beans are evenly roasted and to remove any impurities. Once the roasting process is complete, each batch is tightly packaged with the roast date clearly labeled to ensure peak freshness.
Flavor profile: Succulent fruit flavors and subtle hazelnut. Medium roast.
Starbucks Veranda Blend
Another titan of the coffee industry, Starbucks has mastered the ground coffee game ever since its doors opened in 1971. The company’s reputation speaks for itself when it comes to sourcing delicious coffee and roasting coffee to perfection. The heart and soul behind the company are reflected in Starbucks’s Veranda blend, especially through the balance between rich flavor and bold caffeine. Made with 100% arabica beans, and you can expect a delicious melody of flavors like toasted malt and dark chocolate.
Since this is a blonde roast, we recommend brewing the Veranda Blend with filtered cold water, preferably with brewing methods like the pour-over or French press. With these brewing methods, you’ll be able to accurately experience the unique, bold flavors present within the beans, as well as the caffeine. Light roasted coffees contain more concentrated amounts of caffeine, which makes the Veranda blend an excellent option to brew in the morning if you have a long day of work ahead of you.
Flavor profile: Toasted malt and dark chocolate. Light roast.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Decaf Breakfast Blend
If you’re looking for comforting coffee flavors but hate the side effects of the caffeine, Green Mountain Coffee Roaster’s Decaf ground coffee can provide you with a succulent cup of coffee that won’t only taste great but is easy to enjoy without getting the caffeine jitters.
Bright and crisp, Green Mountain’s Decaf Breakfast Blend is a light roast that’s packed with balanced sweetness accompanied by an undertone of nuttiness. Made of 100% arabica beans and certified Orthodox Union Kosher, Green Mountian’s Decaf Breakfast Blend is one of the most savory decaf coffees we’ve come across so far. As far as mouthfeel is concerned, you can expect each sip to be silky in texture and soothing to drink both as a black coffee, or with added creams and sweeteners.
Flavor coffee: Sweet and nutty. Lighter decaf roast.
Stone Street Coffee Dark Roast
Cold-brew coffee can be a pain to make at home, especially when it comes to making sure that your coffee is ground to the correct size needed to brew adequately. That’s why Stone Street’s Cold Brew Dark Roast is perfectly roasted and ground so you can enjoy refreshing cold brew coffee for days.
Using gourmet quality coffee beans sourced from Columbia, Stone Street’s beans are classified as ‘supremo,’ labeled so because they are the largest and highest quality beans from Columbia. Darkly roasted to coax out the deep flavors of chocolate and nuttiness, Stone Street’s roast is bold and balanced, and pleasantly low in acidity.
To preserve this freshness, all of Stone Street’s ground coffee is immediately packaged after it is small-batch roasted. And to uphold the freshness of the grounds, Stone Street’s coffee bags are 3-layer natural kraft bags that are foil-lined with a one-way valve for optimal freshness.
Flavor profile: Chocolate and nuttiness. Dark roast. Cold-brew.
Community Coffee Pecan Praline
Looking for some southern comfort? Community Coffee’s Pecan Praline ground coffee is a medium roast coffee with sweet notes of creamy pralines and sweet pecans. Composed of 100% arabica beans, this blend is full-bodied with a brighter yet mild acidity.
Passed down through four generations, Community Coffee is one of the oldest family-owned companies in the United States. Not only are they family-oriented, but they also responsibly source their beans as well as support programs that serve military service members, local schools, and much more.
You can experience this soothing comfort and southern hospitality through the Pecan Praline roast. We believe that this roast can be best enjoyed when brewed with drip coffee machines due to the medium grinds. And if you’d rather use a more manual brewing method, we suggest utilizing pour-over or French press brewing. Enjoy it black or spice it up with some homemade sweetener for a healthier, creamier cup of coffee!
The Nitty Gritty Stuff
Before choosing your ideal ground coffee, let’s break it down a bit–because there’s more to ground coffee than what meets the eye. Here are some things that you need to consider before committing to your next whole bag of coffee grounds.
Grind Size Matters
If you aren’t buying whole bean coffee and grinding it on your own, then the size of the grounds themselves will influence how good (or bad) your final brew turns out to be.
For those who are new to the coffee world, the size of your coffee grounds determines what methods you can brew your coffee by, and how your coffee will taste once brewing is complete.
If you’re interested in reading the full breakdown of the different grind sizes, we’ve got all the answers to your coffee grind questions, here. Here’s a quick breakdown of what grind sizes work best for different brewing methods:
Extra-Coarse: Cold brewing and cowboy coffee.
Coarse to Medium-Coarse: French press and percolators.
Medium: Pour overs Chemex and other pour-over coffee brewing methods like the Hario V60.
Fine: Espresso brewing.
Extra Fine: Turkish coffee.
Ground Coffee vs Instant Coffee
It’s important to not confuse ground coffee with instant coffee. Though many instant coffees are often in ground form, they are NOT the same as ground coffee. Regular coffee grounds have the flavor extracted from them during the brewing process, while instant usually completely dissolves into the hot water used for brewing.
Quality and Freshness
Though grounds are convenient, they don’t keep as long or maintain their freshness as well as whole bean coffee. Because the coffee grounds are broken down, the oils and aromas are released and more easily exposed to the air, making them susceptible to spoiling or losing their rich flavor over a shorter amount of time.
In Conclusion
Out of all of the different ground coffees out there to choose from, only a few can be thoroughly enjoyed without any faults or flaws. Ground coffee makes for efficient brewing and delicious coffee that will satisfy even the pickiest coffee lover’s taste buds. Though ground coffee isn’t the first choice of every coffee aficionado, it will curve the cravings of even the pickiest coffee connoisseurs.
So have fun experimenting with these ground coffee roasts, and as always;
Happy caffeinating!
