Angels' Cup is a coffee subscription box focused on single origin coffees from top roasters.
Freshness is a top priority for Angels' Cup, and they ensure a 24 hour turnaround time between receiving freshly roasted beans, packing them, and shipping them out to subscribers.
Subscribers can choose to have their beans sent whole, coarsely ground (for French press coffee), or finely ground (for drip coffee).
Angels' Cup ships every week, but subscribers can adjust their preferences online to receive boxes less frequently.
This box was sent to us at no cost for review. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes.)
This review is of The Black Box, $21.99 a month, box.
The Subscription Box: Angels' Cup
The Cost: Three different plans are offered:
- The Black Box includes 4 larger samples (11 oz. total) for $21.99.
- Cupping Flight includes 4 smaller samples (4 oz. total) for $9.99.
- All Stars includes 1 bag of coffee (12 oz.) for $19.99.
COUPON: Save 25% off your first box with code addiction25!
The Products: Freshly roasted, single-origin coffee from top US roasters.
Ships to: Ships free to the US. Shipping to Canada is an additional charge.
Check out all of our Angels' Cup reviews and find more coffee boxes in the Drinks Subscription Box Directory!
Keep Track of Your Subscriptions: Add this box to your subscription list or wishlist!
Angels’ Cup offers a few different subscription plans, and this is a review of the Black Box, which includes four 2.75 oz. samples of coffee. (FYI- 2.75 oz. of coffee is about enough to brew a small/medium sized pot from each sample.)
I’ve previously reviewed the other Angels’ Cup subscription plans: All Stars and Cupping Flight. The Cupping Flight includes smaller samples of each coffee, and the All Stars box includes one 12 oz. bag of coffee. You can find reviews of both the All Stars box and the Cupping Flight here.
Angels' Cup includes individual tasting cards that match up with each of the coffees they send.
To guide your tasting, you can use either the provided tasting cards or the Angels’ Cup App.
The app is really simple and fun to use. You start by entering in the unique sample numbers that accompany each coffee, and the app guides you through the tasting by prompting you to think about and select the color of the beans, the flavors in the coffee, and its characteristics. At the end of the tasting, it compares your answers to those of experts and other tasters in the Angels’ Cup community.
It’s definitely possible to do a tasting without the App, but I think it adds a lot to the experience.
Now, before I dive into the tasting, I want to mention that my box was missing one of this month’s coffees. (I received duplicate bags of another.) This is the first time I’ve ever had a problem like this with Angels’ Cup, and I ended up really enjoyed the coffee I got two bags of, so no real harm done. I reached out to Angels' Cup about the duplicate and they offered a refund for a quarter of the monthly subscription cost.
FYI, I received two bags of Paradise Roasters Vietnam Langbiang, and the missing sample was #1595: Parlor Coffee Honduras Nueva Esperanza, which retails for $15 for 8 oz.
Sample # 1618: Red Rooster Coffee Costa Rica- Las Lajas ($15.99 for 12 oz.)
My husband is the resident coffee expert in our family, so he helped me out with this review by brewing up all of the different beans. (He used an immersion brewer.) The first sample we tried was this black honey processed coffee from Costa Rica. Angels’ Cup recommends looking for flavors of berry, fruit punch, and milk chocolate, and I definitely picked up on the chocolate and berry notes. (Not so much the fruit punch, though, unfortunately!)
Sample #1597: Paradise Roasters Vietnam Langbiang ($16.95 for 12 oz.)
As recommended, we tried all of the samples blind and made guesses about their origins before peeking on the back of the provided info cards. We were both convinced that this coffee was Central American, so we were truly shocked to discover that it’s actually from Vietnam! Vietnamese coffee? Whaaat? I’ve never tried coffee from Vietnam before, and I honestly had no idea it was even grown there! The flavor of this coffee is really interesting and pretty unique. The Angels’ Cup experts found flavors of Chardonnay, raisin, pineapple, cashew, nutmeg, and tamarind. After reading out this list of flavors, we tried the coffee again and both immediately picked out the flavor of tamarind. There’s a really interesting tanginess in this coffee that tastes a little similar. This is the coffee I received duplicate samples of, and I’m really happy about that— this coffee is so interesting!
Sample #1596: Paradise Roasters Ethiopia Chele’lektu
This coffee is not currently available for sale on the Paradise Roasters’ site, so we relied on Angels’ Cup’s cards for information about it. I tend to really like Ethiopian coffee, and this one was no exception. The flavor is a little citrusy and it reminds me a bit of tea. (Tea is a common flavor in Ethiopian coffees.) Angels’ Cup found additional flavors of honeysuckle and marijuana. Yep, you read that right! LOL- that’s a first!
Verdict: I really enjoyed the samples included in this month’s Angels' Cup box! They were all interesting picks, and I’m thrilled that I got to try Vietnamese coffee for the first time. There was a hiccup with this shipment, but since I loved the coffee I received two samples of, I guess it worked out in my favor! If you like sampling coffee from top roasters across the country, I can definitely recommend Angels’ Cup. They always send coffee with a light or medium roast (which is my preference), and I like how Angels’ Cup boxes are designed to guide you through the tasting process. I always have a lot of fun doing the blind tastings! At $21.99, this isn’t a high-value subscription, but I do think Angels’ Cup sends great coffee and provides a unique experience. If you’re interested in sampling quality coffee from top third wave roasters, I can definitely recommend this subscription.
Are you a coffee lover? Will try out your blind tasting skills with Angels' Cup?
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