Best Place to Buy Coffee Online

July 4, 2020|Russell Volz|Beans And Roasting

If you’re looking for the best place to buy coffee online, then this article was written just for you. But, I (Russell) will warn you now, I’m going to give to you the straight scoop, no BS, no PC, honest to God truth. If you want your information sugar coated, go somewhere else. Yes, this article is a bit long, but I’ll promise you this, you’re going to learn more about coffee in these 1200 words, than you ever thought possible. AND you’re going to find the best place to buy coffee online. So, let’s dive in.

Fresh Coffee Beans Are Best

When it comes to coffee, here’s a truth that’s undeniable. The fresher the bean, the better the coffee. The difference between fresh roasted coffee and old stale coffee is nothing short of astounding.

Here’s another fact. All coffee starts going stale and thus bitter within days of roasting and no space-age packaging can change that fact. As the founder, owner, coffee roaster, chief bottle washer, and VP-Of-The-Keys for Lake City Coffee, I can guarantee you that even a dog can taste the difference between coffee roasted yesterday, verses coffee roasted months ago.

Any specialty coffee expert can tell you that all roasted coffee over 30 days old, tastes like horse piss. Unfortunately, a vast majority of roasted coffee sold in the United States has been sitting in warehouses or on store shelves for months if not years. No wonder all burnt and bitter industrial coffee tastes horrible.

Best Coffee Is Smooth

Let’s define “best”. If you like burnt and bitter industrial coffee, then go buy Charbucks, Yuban, or even Kingsford Charcoal. It all tastes the same.

But on the other hand, if you’re love smooth coffee, then you’re in the right place. By smooth, I mean coffee that is not better and is not burnt. Smooth coffee tastes like, well, like coffee. Take away the bitter and the burn and what you’re left with is a coffee flavor that includes subtle notes of:

Chocolate
Nut
Citrus
Earthy
Bark
Berry
Etc.

So, in my book and for the purpose of this article, we’re talking about smooth coffee.

Burnt vs. Smooth

The other day, I had a new local customer, John, in my kitchen doing taste testing with me. Now this guy knows good coffee, but he’s always loved dark roast. Medium roast just wasn’t strong enough for him. Obviously, he likes his coffee to slap him in the face.

Unbeknownst to him, I made him a triple strength cup of my medium roasted coffee. John took one sip and it blew his mind. He sipped again, really paying attention. Then, he looked at me and said, “Chocolate”. I was surprised when he sipped again and said, “nut”. A third sip and he said, “Wow, that’s a smooth finish!”

Yep, he’s about the 300^th person that I’ve converted from dark roast to medium roast. Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with dark roast. Heck, I sell a lot of it. BUT, I don’t burn my dark roast coffee beans. My dark roast is barely dark; meaning it’s a dark brown, thus giving a hint of burnt flavor, but not so much that you can’t taste the other flavors that God put into those beans.

Smooth Coffee Beans

As I said above, I love smooth coffee and that’s all we sell. I’ve tried coffee from nearly every country in the world and the smoothest coffee, in my humble opinion, comes from the Tarrazu region of Costa Rica.

This region of Costa Rica is world renowned for not only its smooth non-bitter beans, but also for its rich flavor with prominent notes of chocolate. Yet, not all Costa Rican beans are created equal.

Alisha and I taste test over 20 samples of Costa Rican coffee beans each year. Gee, 20 samples seems likes like a lot, doesn’t it? Well, it is a lot. Most coffee roasters, even the small independent ones like ours never taste test the beans that they buy. Less than 5% of coffee roasters taste test 2 or maybe 3 different beans.

We taste test 20 samples, because we have a very well defined taste profile that we refuse to change. We insist that all of our coffee is smooth as silk, with prominent notes of chocolate. So yes, we’re pretty damn picky when it comes to our beans.

Low-n-Slow Roasted Coffee

Coffee roasting can be approached two ways. Industrial coffee companies consider roasting a science. To them, it’s a science of maximizing their profit. That’s whey they roast hot-n-fast (time is money don’t you know) producing burnt and bitter coffee.

On the other hand, my approach to roasting is as an art. I hand roast every batch low-n-slow in order to save as much of the bean’s natural oils, creating a smoother, naturally sweet, and more flavorful coffee.

Industrial coffee companies will offer a dozen different roasts, which are all just different shades of burnt. I only offer 3 roasts; light, medium, and barely dark. Although I only offer 3 roasts, I seem to be keeping a lot of people very happy. If you want burnt and bitter coffee, then you’ll have to go somewhere else.

Fresh Beans Are Better

Most people don’t know that all roasted coffee starts to go stale within hours of roasting. Time starts turning the roasted coffee beans bitter. By the end of a week, you can tell the difference. By the end of a month and the coffee isn’t worth drinking. This is true of all coffee, even mine.

Therefore, tho old saying goes “The Fresher the bean, the better the coffee”. That’s why I roast and ship early every Tuesday morning, guaranteeing delivery in 24-72 hours. You’d be hard pressed to find coffee fresher than mine. This freshness factor is hugely important, one that you can easily tell the difference.

I’m going to share a secret with you. If all coffee goes stale within 30 days, you might be asking yourself, “If I buy 3 bags of your coffee, so I can get free shipping, how on earth do I keep that 3rd bag as fresh as the first bag?” You can’t. BUT you can preserve that 3rd bag to be almost as good as the first bag.

In 2020, I partnered with a customer of mine to develop the best way to preserve whole bean roasted coffee. It took the two of us nearly 2 months to prefect this method of making that 3rd bag taste 90% as good as the first bag. To learn how to preserve your coffee, read this article (Click Here).

Best Decaf Coffee

A vast majority of the companies selling decaf coffee use solvents, which are similar to formaldehyde. You can imagine why decaf coffee tastes nothing like regular coffee.

A very small percentage of decaf coffee is made with the Swiss Water Process, which does not use any chemicals; just 100% pure water to extract the caffeine. Sure this is far more expensive for us, but it’s worth it.

Our Costa Rican Swiss Water Processed decaf coffee receives more rave reviews than all our other roasts put together. Sure, our selection of the best beans and the Swiss Water Process is a huge help to making great decaf coffee, but in addition to that, another very important contributing factor is our roasting.

When I roast our decaf coffee, I roast it to a medium-dark color. This roast leaves as much of the beans natural oils inside the bean. Those oils are where all the bioflavonoids, antioxidants, and flavor reside.

Best Place To Buy Coffee Online

Long before roasting coffee, I spent over a decade building several internet based companies. Then one day my beautiful bride Alisha said, “You’re such a good coffee roaster, why don’t you sell your coffee online.” That was in 2015 and the beginning of Lake City Coffee.

We sell one bean and three roasts. That’s it. People compliment me often as being the best online roaster. Actually, that’s not the most important thing. The most important factor for providing the best place to buy coffee online is how fresh our coffee is.

Best Online Coffee

Here at Lake City Coffee, we guarantee, “From our roaster to your table in 24-48 hours”. That’s more than 50% of the reason people love our coffee. Early every Tuesday morning I consolidate our online orders, weigh out my green beans, and then head off to my roasting facility.

Later that day, I’m back home and Alisha has our shipping labels printed, USPS Priority Mail boxes ready, and we get to work bagging and boxing our coffee.

Then USPS shows up about Noon and off goes our coffee heading to customers all over the country.

Why Lake City Coffee

If you want bitter and burnt industrial coffee and you want to buy it online, nearly every one of my competitors can help you. 99% of all specialty roasters are trying to be the next Starbucks. On the other hand, our niche is small by comparison.

What we offer is smooth whole bean coffee, which is unlike anything that you’ve ever experienced. Additionally, you get Alisha and myself. People are always astounded to receive personal communication from the owners. Isn’t that the way is used to be and the way it should be today?

To be honest, coffee is just the vehicle. Many of our customers have become dear friends. For us, it’s not all about the coffee. It’s about you; communicating with you and serving you. That’s no bullshit, that’s no brag, just fact.