Over the last couple of years we’ve seen a proliferation of coffee subscriptions, each offering a carefully curated, seasonal selection of coffees chosen to suite your taste. While we can confidently say there’s never been a better time to buy coffee with an automated payment, the choices can be overwhelming. When we first heard about Angels’ Cup we were a little incredulous. Do home baristas really need one more coffee subscription? But as we learned more we were intrigued.

Angels’ Cup offers an interesting twist on a typical coffee subscription: none of the coffees in the monthly box are labeled. Instead, each coffee is identified by a code. Users can then brew the coffee and use a corresponding smart phone app to record their tasting notes about the coffee. After recording their own notes, users can enter the code to discover the origin and roaster. Each roaster includes their own tasting notes, allowing the user to compare their tasting notes.

As a barista, I find coffee consumers are often uncertain about their palates. They know what they like, but feel uncomfortable describing what they’re tasting. We think that Angels’ Cup offers a fun, interactive way to develop one’s sensory skills in a no-pressure environment. Consumers who enjoy sampling different roasters will be pleased to find Angels’ Cup has worked with a very wide array of roasters (including my own place of employment, Quills Coffee). The diversity of each shipment is exciting, but it might be frustrating for subscribers to adjust to the different roasting styles. Different roasts need different parameters and the samples are small enough to only allow a few stabs at dialing in.

Overall, Angels’ Cup is a great program for coffee enthusiasts who want to develop their palates and taste a wide array of different roasters. In a crowded marketplace, Angels’ Cup has managed to differentiate their offering through a unique concept and a solid app.

Our thanks to Angels’ Cup for sending us a sample box to test.