A few pointers to help you find a reputable online coffee store...

While there may be no such thing as the “best online coffee store”, there is no doubt that some are better than others.

But one thing is for sure...regardless of which you decide is the best, online coffee stores offer an amazing service to us all. Just a few years ago there wasn’t even one online coffee store, and we were lucky if we had a decent source of gourmet coffee beans within a reasonable drive from home.

How do you find coffee stores online? That’s easy. Just go to Google or some other search engine and type in “gourmet coffee”. You’ll get a ton of results.

But before you do that, here are a few of our own tips and pointers.

Buy from a reputable source, at least to begin with

As your expertise grows, you can try buying from smaller, specialty sites. But to start with, we’d recommend you stick with some of the better established online stores.

Here are a few we can comfortably recommend.

Green Mountain Coffee offers a good selection of coffees, including a strong organic and fair trade selection. They also offer what is probably the largest selection of coffees in the K-cup format.

Starbucks needs no introduction. If you love Starbucks coffee, you can buy their coffees online and brew them at home.

Peet's Coffee has been online since 1995, and their first store and coffee shop opened long before that, in 1966. Peet's played a huge role in popularizing gourmet coffee in North America...long before Starbucks even opened its first store.

Flavorbean Coffee offers wide range of beans, but is best known for its flavored coffees. How come? Because they flavor their coffees naturally, without the use of scary chemicals like propylene glycol. (Believe it or not, that's the chemical most coffee companies use to get the flavor into their beans.)

Boca Java has a great selection of beans, and roasts each batch only when new orders come in. This means your coffee is as fresh as possible.

CoffeeForLess.com offers a wide selection of coffees at a good price and ships both within the US and to Canada.

If you are going to buy online regularly, think of joining a coffee club

A number of online coffee stores offer discounts and other benefits if you place a regular monthly order.

Green Mountain Coffee offers a free coffee grinder, 48 free K-Cups or some other gift when you sign up for their Café Express coffee club.

Another well established club is the Gevalia Kaffe Coffee Club from Gevalia.

Watch for deals on shipping costs

A downside of buying from online coffee stores is that you can end up finding a good price on a pound of coffee, only to find that you are going to pay the same again in shipping costs.

However, some stores will offer reduced or even free shipping if you order a certain quantity. So keep an eye out for those offers. You may find it worth your while buying more than one pound at a time.

For instance, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters offers free shipping when you order 4 or more boxes of K-Cups.

More web sites for gourmet coffee lovers...

For daily deals and best buys on coffee beans, K-Cups and coffee makers, visit CoffeeBestBuys.com

For one cup coffee maker and single serve coffee reviews, visit OneCupCoffeeReviews.com.


Learn more about Starbucks coffee online...

Reasons to buy your K-cup coffee from Green Mountain Coffee...