Frequently Asked Questions
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When will my order ship?
The Cupping Flight and Black Box subscriptions are usually packed up Monday night and picked up by the post office Tuesday. When your shipping label is printed, you automatically receive a shipping confirmation with a tracking number. Once shipped, customers generally receive the coffee the following Monday-Wednesday. All Stars generally ships on Tuesday, but that may vary by a day or two depending on when the roaster roasts. To maximize freshness roasters will ship your coffee on the same day it's roasted.
What kind of coffee can I expect to receive if I choose light, medium, or dark?
For our light roast selections, we aim for maximum complexity and origin character. We ship 100% single origins, and the coffees are generally bright and flavorful with prominent fruit notes. We also sometimes organize light roast tasting flights to emphasize education a bit more, by focusing on a single origin, processing technique, or variety. For medium roast subscribers, we still try to maximize complexity and origin character but with a much lower tolerance for sourness and acidity. The result is a flight that's less fruity, and more characterized by dessert flavors like chocolate and vanilla, but that will still have something to offer in terms of learning about the different origins. Dark roast subscribers can expect a flight of coffee that has very low acidity. Complexity and origin character is sacrificed for flavor profiles that instead accentuate the roast character. Expect these coffees to be best described as bold, rich, and smooth. Most selections will be blends instead of single origins, but single origins will still be offerend when we find a good fit.
If I purchase a gift, can the recipient or I change the address, roast, or grind preference?
Sure can! Just reach out with an email and we can fix that for you no problem.
Is your coffee good for espresso or just drip/pour-over?
If you generally enjoy light to medium roast, single-origin espresso, then you'll probably like the coffee we ship. You can check this list of the coffees we've shipped in the past to see if they're coffees you would have liked to try: Past shipments
How much coffee does each subscription make?
We have three subscription options. The Cupping Flight delivers four 1oz samples, and each makes 16oz of brewed coffee. The Black Box delivers four 2.75oz samples, and sample makes 44oz of coffee. A typical mug is 12 oz. The All Stars subscription ships a 12oz bag, which is the most common size found in grocery stores.
How should I brew it?
If you’re familiar with single-cup brewing, any method such as a Hario V60, Chemex, or Aeropress will work. If you’re not familiar with single-cup brewing, you can brew AMAZING coffee at home, one cup at a time, with only $3 of equipment and 4 minutes. Here's the secret.
I have a few beans left over, don’t want to waste them, what should I do?
Mix them all together and call it your ‘breakfast blend’!
Is there anything added to the coffee? Nuts, artificial flavors or syrups?
Nope! It's all 100% Arabica coffee, no flavors, no syrups. When we say coffee tastes like blueberry or pistachio, it's not because those things are added, it's just the natural flavor and complexity of amazing coffee.
Can I choose which samples I want from a list?
Nope! Part of the magic is that we push people outside their comfort zones. If you know you like African coffees, that's great. Buy em, drink em, enjoy em. Use Angels' Cup to make sure you're not missing out on anything else, and to develop a taste for coffees from other regions.
Is the coffee fair trade?
Fair trade sets a floor on coffee prices in order to ensure farmers earn a living wage. The coffee we ship, across the board, is better than anything that would qualify for the floor pricing set by fair trade. Roasters fly to origin, taste thousands of coffees, and bid on the best lots. Those better lots command high prices. 'Fair trade' is a good program, but it's something you're more likely to see on supermarket brands.
Is the coffee organic and/or bird friendly?
The best coffee (the kind we sell) is frequently organic and grown under natural shade (aka bird friendly), simply because the farmers can't afford fertilizers, pesticides, or to cut down trees. The larger industrial farms are usually selling coffee by the ton rather than as lots to specialty coffee roasters, and those end up in supermarkets. That being said, we don't source or roast the coffee ourselves, and we're not 100% sure about the growing conditions of every single coffee. But if you browse the roasters we work with, you'll see they're all responsible organizations that take pride in what they do and are aware of the impact they have on society.
Do you ship internationally?
We only ship to the US and Canada at the moment. We've tried in the past to ship around the world, and we had a lot of problems with shipping delays, lost packages, and coffee getting stuck in customs. We're trying to find a better solution, but so far we haven't.
My packages haven't been showing up because I entered my address wrong. Help!?*
A: Haha, don't worry, we'll refund that too, even if it's multiple shipments. But we do email you a tracking number, so please check it and let us know as soon as there's a problem.
*True stories!
Want to know anything else?
Save yourself the time and trouble of writing the same email over and over again by listing your most commonly asked questions and answers here. A dedicated FAQ page should help address the basic needs of your customers, cutting down on customer service emails, increasing conversions, and creating a more satisfying shopping experience!
How frequently do you ship new coffees?
We ship 4 fresh and unique coffees in every shipment.
- Light Roasts, we never ship the same coffee twice in a calendar year. Each shipment will contain 4 fresh and unique coffees.
- Medium Roasts, we choose 4 fresh and unique coffees to ship for 2 weeks in a row. Once a coffee has been featured, it will not be shipped again within the calendar year.
- Dark Roasts, we choose 4 fresh and unique coffees to ship for 4 weeks in a row. Once a coffee has been featured, it will not be shipped again within the calendar year.