Hardy Coffee Co. Subscription Box Review – August 2016

Hardy Coffee Co. promises “excellent, approachable coffee roasted in Omaha Nebraska.”  They offer a number of subscription options, including one or two 12-oz bags of either their Benchmark blend, a decaf version of their Benchmark blend, or a Single Origin selection.  Prices start at $16/month for one bag of the Benchmark blends or $18/month for one bag Single Origin; they also offer discounted prices for prepaying for multiple months.

I am reviewing the Single Origin subscription.  This month’s offering is Monte Cristo.  I love learning about new beans and new roasts, so I always enjoy reviewing coffee subscription boxes.  I was not familiar with this bean, so I definitely was looking forward to trying it out!

Hardy Coffee Co. promises, on the bag, “fresh and unique coffee experiences.” The coffee is definitely fresh – as the bag also displays a roasting date, here August 15.  I received the box a few days after that.  Nothing beats freshly roasted coffee!

The back of the bag also provides some tasting notes – cranberry, cacao, and slightly herbal.  That sounds intriguing!

Here’s a glamour shot of the beans – aren’t they pretty?  (Yes, it’s possible that I’m slightly obsessed with coffee.  I admit that.)  There was not much aroma when I opened the bag – a lighter roast again, which is probably good since it’s summer.

And the ground coffee – again, you can see it’s lighter in color.  I used my Black & Decker burr grinder and my mid-level Mr. Coffee maker to prepare my coffee.  As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not fancy…but I do appreciate my coffee.  Appreciate is probably not strong enough!  I LOVE my coffee.

The taste:  I didn’t get the cacao notes that the bag suggests, but there was a definite herbal and tart berry/cranberry taste to this coffee.  Although I generally brew my coffee strong, this roast was still fairly light – maybe a little lighter than I prefer, but still a very nice aroma and flavor.

Bottom line:  Hardy Coffee Co. makes really nice and tasty coffee.  With the Single Origin subscription, I’ve gotten a nice variety of different beans from a number of coffee regions, which is a lot of fun.  I wish they would provide a little more information, beyond the few phrase tasting notes – but that’s because I’m a wanna-be coffee geek, so I want to learn more about the different regions, beans, roasts, etc.  But if you’re looking for a good cuppa coffee, which is obviously the point of a coffee subscription, you won’t go wrong with Hardy Coffee Co.

Have you tried Hardy Coffee Co.?

Visit Hardy Coffee Co. to subscribe or find out more!