Are you considering committing to a coffee subscription? Receiving delicious authentically flavored coffee from around the world right at your front door is always an exciting feeling.
If this is something that may fit your flow of coffee consumption, then you might want to consider a subscription to MistoBox. One of the most popular coffee subscription services on the market right now, MistoBox offers a variety of coffees as well as roasting options to choose from.
Subscribers have been raving about the company’s efficiency, reliability, and dedication to providing its customers with some of the greatest international coffee from the greatest roasters.
Read our review to find out everything you need to know about MistoBox, and if a subscription to MistoBox is the best option for you.
What is MistoBox?
Founded in 2012, MistoBox is one of the most popular coffee subscription services on the market today. The company, created by Connor Riley and Samantha Meis, began as an idea for a project for the pair’s graduate school class.
After much planning and hard work, Riley and Meis actually pitched their idea for the television show Shark Tank. With investment from Mark Cuban, a few tweaks to the company, 50 thousand customers, and almost 5 million dollars in profits later, Mistobox has made an impression on the coffee market–and it’s here to stay. Here’s a quick video from their pitch on Shark Tank:
A MistoBox subscription will allow you access to a large variety of international coffees, as well as access from 50 of the country’s most talented, award-winning roasters. You can choose which coffees you want to try, and Mistobox will send it to you, and even offers flexible shipping as well.
How It Works
MistoBox matches you with coffee from around the world, based on your customized preferences in taste. All coffee is roasted for your order, and the 12 oz coffee bag will appear on your doorstep only a few days after the roasting date. To break it down further, here’s a deeper explanation of the steps involved in ordering coffee from MistoBox.
Coffee is Selected
When you are selecting your coffee, there are over 500+ options to choose from when it comes to brands and roasts of coffee. In order to narrow down what roasts might work best for you, you can communicate with a coffee curator to design your “Brew Queue” and receive professional advice on deciding which selection might be best for you.
Another way to choose your coffees is to consider how you enjoy drinking it (black, with cream and sugar, etc). MistoBox actually has a quick and simple quiz on their website that will help you narrow down what flavors, price, and a delivery schedule you may want.
What is the “Brew Queue”?
Upon searching around MistBox’s website, you’ll quickly discover the Brew Queue. Though it might seem slightly confusing at first, it’s actually a very simple and helpful tool.
Simply put, it’s just a list of the coffees you’re interested in trying, as well as the order in which you want them shipped to you. As your coffee is sent out, it will slowly work its way down the queue. Fortunately, if decide you want to switch up the order of your coffee, you can easily rearrange the coffees within the queue.
But what if you forget to add a bag of coffee to your queue? Don’t worry! MistoBox can actually automatically select a 12 oz bag of coffee based on your selected taste preferences and will send it to you.
Coffee is Roasted
In addition to having a variety of brands to choose from, there’s also a wide variety of roasts to choose from as well. MistoBox currently has over 50 artisan coffee roasters that allow you to select from hundreds of different flavors. Your coffee curator can also suggest which roasts you may enjoy and suggest roasts and roasters for you to experiment with.
Coffee is Shipped
Immediately after roasting, the coffee is packaged to seal in as much freshness as possible and is then shipped to your designated address. Throughout your subscription, the selected coffee will automatically be shipped to you on the delivery schedule that you designed when you placed your order. You can also have coffee delivered over any interval of time, whether it’s every week or every four weeks.
Furthermore, you can edit the frequency of your delivery schedule or temporarily pause your subscription at any time. And in addition, if you have an Alexa by Amazon, you can download your MistoBox information to your Amazon account and update your delivery settings by voice command.
Membership Levels
Depending on how dedicated of a coffee drinker you are, there are three tiers of a subscription to choose from. These levels are called Basic, Deluxe, and Exclusive. The Basic level is the most standard of the levels and the main purpose of the basic level is to provide customers with affordable, good-tasting coffee on a regular basis.
The Deluxe level offers coffee aficionados who want to spice up their coffee game by tasting some of the most freshly roasted, exquisite coffees on the market. Likewise, the Exclusive level is one step up from this. The Exclusive level includes access to very limited roasts from some of the most well-known names in the business.
Popular Mistobox Roasters
When you consider roasting options, it’s important to know that these aren’t just small name roasters that most coffee lovers have never heard of. These roasters are actually some of the biggest, most well-known roasting companies in the coffee community. Here are just a few out of 50 of these roasters and some key characteristics of each.
1000 Faces Coffee
Based out of Athens, Georgia, 1000 Faces Coffee has the vision to educate consumers on how to be mindful when deciding between coffee beans and roasting techniques. Traveling around the world and establishing relationships with many different small and large scale farmers, they are dedicated to coaxing out the hidden flavors within the coffee beans themselves.
AKA Coffee
Making sure to only roast the healthiest, freshest beans, AKA Coffee Roasters works their roasting magic out of their location in Oakland, California. They currently ship their roasts to restaurants, cafes, businesses, and offices all around the country. Taking care to maintain the flavors in the coffee beans, AKA Coffee strives to preserve the flavors that make the different beans unique and robust in flavor.
Verve Coffee Roasters
One of the most well-known coffee roasters on the market today, Verve Coffee Roasters has multiple locations like San Fransisco, Los Angeles, Santa Cruz, Palo Alto, and even Japan. Taking exquisite, rare coffees and roasting them with a classic approach, Verve ensures that their roasts are of the highest quality possible. Using many state-of-the-art technologies and monitoring software, Verve is not only able to roast some of the best coffee on the market, but consistently as well.
Mistobox Gifts & Goodies
Along with their subscription services, there are several gift options for you to choose from. If you’re interested in treating yourself to a coffee subscription, you just as easily treat a friend or a loved one with a MistoBox coffee subscription!
Since it’s relatively the same process, all you’ll need to do is based on tastes they prefer, or they can choose their own through the Brew Queue. After they select their preferences, the coffee will be roasted for them and then delivered to their doorstep. And since you’re the gift giver, you can choose how much coffee they receive, which can be anywhere from 2-24 boxes. Furthermore, you can also choose how often they receive coffee and how long their subscription lasts for.
If coffee isn’t really your thing, MistoBox also offers gifts and merchandise such as t-shirts, sweaters, mugs, coffee thermoses, and more!
Things We Like
There are many things that we enjoy about MistoBox. With such a solid background (especially with the backing from Mark Cuban) the company has been very successful at making sure customers receive some of the highest quality coffee they can get their hands on.
Variety
One of the primary reasons why MistoBox holds such a high place on our list of favorite coffee subscriptions is that the variety of coffees for you to enjoy are endless. We believe that the greatest advantage of having a coffee subscription is the accessibility to coffee that isn’t as easy to acquire.
With 500 different bags of coffee offered from several different coffee companies, as well as over 50 artisanal roasters, you’ll have more than enough coffee to try. Likewise, MistoBox offers the option of choosing coffee in whole bean form or grounds, as well as single origin, blends, and espresso beans.
The Curator
Having a professional who knows the specifics of freshly roasted coffee quality, flavors, and roasting techniques can be very useful in helping coffee lovers experiment with tasting notes and flavors. Whether you’re not sure what kind of coffee you prefer, or if you’re just looking to test out different roasts, MistoBox’s coffee curators can help you find exactly what you’re searching for to complement.
Affordability
One perk of MistoBox is its affordability. Starting at only $11 before shipping fees, MistoBox is pleasantly affordable for the variety of coffee it provides to customers. Since all you need to do is wait for the coffee to arrive at your door, and almost all of the behind-the-scenes work is done by MistoBox, it’s a pretty good deal.
Versatility
Another great perk about a subscription with MistoBox is that even though there are so many options to choose from, there’s still room for flexibility. This is mostly beneficial for the Brew Queue. Having permission to edit the order in which your coffee arrives is a great way to customize not only which roasts and flavors you want, but also the order in which you receive them.
Things To Improve
So far, MistBox has only been impressive to us. However, there’s always room for improvement, even for products that already seem like they can’t get any better. Here are just a few of the things we believe can be improved to continue to make MistoBox as enjoyable as possible.
Shipping Not Included
One slight annoyance that some may find when it comes to MistoBox is that the shipping prices don’t include the shipping costs automatically. For each bag of coffee, even if you decide to purchase 6 or 12 bags at one time, there is still a $5 shipping fee for each bag. Though the coffee itself is still a great price and is affordable for most individuals, the shipping costs are where it may really begin to pinch your wallet.
No Samplers of Coffee
If you like to make sure you 100% want a product before you buy it, then you’ll want to be able to taste the coffee before you buy it. Unfortunately, MistoBox doesn’t offer any samples of coffee before you purchase the full bags of it. The main reason for this is because they are confident that the guidance and customer service provided to you through your communication with your coffee curator can better help decide which coffees you may prefer.
Through using a curator, you can acquire more information about a certain coffee or roaster to help guide you through discovering your taste preferences instead of just blindly testing coffee on your own.
To Consider Before Buying
If you’ve never had a coffee subscription before, there may be some factors you need to keep in mind before buying MistoBox or any coffee subscription in general. Here are just a few important things you should consider when contemplating if a coffee subscription is a good fit for you.
Frequency/Amount
How much coffee do you drink in a month? A week? How about a day? For those who are more leisurely and only drink it every now and then, a coffee subscription may not be the best option. Remember, the main perk of a subscription like MistoBox isn’t just the “click to order” and delivery service. What’s more appealing to many is the access to the multitude of different flavors and roasts.
Costs
Though it may feel like an expense, all of the benefits that you receive with a coffee subscription, or at least for one with MistoBox, will save you hundreds of dollars if you frequent a coffee shop every day. However, if you aren’t a super frequent coffee drinker, it will definitely save you money if you just stick to buying a small bag of beans or grounds from the grocery store every now and then.
Personal Preferences
Perhaps the most important factor to consider, signing up for a coffee subscription like MistoBox will also depend on what your personal coffee preferences are. This not only includes the roast type (light, medium, dark, or decaf), flavor profiles (chocolatey, fruity, nutty, earthy) but other factors like the washing process (washed or unwashed) or even environmental impacts (chemical use, bird-friendly, etc.)
Wrapping Up
Ultimately, a coffee subscription can be a great idea for many individuals. If you aren’t a dedicated coffee drinker, MistoBox might not be the best way to utilize your money. However, if you are a frequent coffee drinker as well as a homebrewer, MistoBox could save you money in the long run, as well as provide you with a variety of flavors and roasts. As far as coffee subscriptions are concerned, MistoBox definitely holds a high spot on our list of favorites.
Happy caffeinating!
Mistobox Coffee Review: Is The Subscription Worth A Shot?
Coffee subscriptions are becoming a large part of everyday life, and companies like Mistobox are making it easier than ever for consumers to have access to a large variety of coffee. But is it worth the investment? Check out our review of Mistobox coffee, right here.
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