Ruby Coffee Subscription Review: Accessible Specialty Coffee

There’s something about specialty coffee that makes drinking it such a unique and special experience. So much so, that you wish you could drink it every day! Well, you should know that specialty coffee doesn’t just have to be saved for special days.

With subscription services such as Ruby Coffee, you can taste delicious and extraordinary coffee that showcases the regions and producers they come from every single morning. Specialty coffee from Ruby is made accessible for everyone and is inviting enough to become your regular cup of joe!

Ruby Coffee: Company History/Overview

Ruby Coffee got its 2013 start in founder, Jared’s, garage on a property located in Wisconsin. Jared strove to make specialty coffee approachable and accessible to everyone, so he used his ten years of specialty coffee experience to craft Ruby.

The company soon grew and by 2015 they moved their roasting operations to an old warehouse, which has also grown to encompass everything Ruby Coffee has become. By 2019, Ruby Coffee also opened their very first cafe and restaurant in Wisconsin!

When roasting, they aim to highlight the colorful flavors of their coffees and seasonally change their offerings based on harvests. The coffees they choose to roast are representative of the microclimates and micro-regions that the beans come from.

Ruby Coffee Subscription Review

In the box that I received from Ruby Coffee, there were two 8-ounce bags of single origins and one 12-ounce bag of a seasonal blend. These were the Saul Vasquez Ardila, Organic Salkantay Reserve, and the Creamery Seasonal Blend.

Saul Vasquez Ardila

The first single-origin option that I got was the Saul Vasquez Ardila, which comes from Colombia in the region of Palermo, Huila. It’s a washed processed coffee that’s grown at an elevation of 1,700 masl and goes through a 60-hour dry fermentation.

Saúl Vasquez Ardila is actually one of 6 brothers that come from a family full of coffee producers. Ardila runs Finca La Primavera alongside his wife. The relationship that Ruby has with this small estate producer is new and is partnered through an exporter, Azahar.

This exporter allows farmers to make their own decisions on how they process and ferment their coffee based on their own coffee growing experiences. Ruby chose this coffee due to its non-traditional processing methods and its unique flavor profile. Tasting notes include pomegranate, limeade, vanilla, and golden raisin.

Once I got to brewing this coffee, I found that the aroma was strongly fruity with a sweet and acidic smell that creates a beautiful combination. Its taste is smooth and sweet with juicy fruit notes as well as a very light and mellow acidity. This is a great, simple, and delicious cup of coffee.

Organic Salkantay Reserve

The next single-origin coffee I received is the Organic Salkantay Reserve, which comes from Peru in the region of Cusco. It’s a fully washed coffee that’s grown at an elevation of 1,800-2,000 masl. Tasting notes include dark chocolate, almond, red raspberry, and caramel.

The farm of Salkantay operates under the Huadqiña Cooperative, which has been contributing to La Convencion Valley’s coffee production since 1964. The environment here is perfect for growing bright and complex coffee thanks to the extreme elevations near the Incan Ruins of Machu Picchu.

Ruby Coffee has had a relationship with this producer for two years and is partnered through an exporter. Since they aim to offer delicious coffees on a consistent basis, Ruby finds it important that this option is still on their product list.

Upon brewing this coffee, I noticed that the aroma was smoothly sweet with an underlying fruity acidity that complements the darker tones well. Its taste was dark, warm, and nutty with a sweet base and a touch of berry acidity at the finish.

Creamery Seasonal Blend

The last coffee that Ruby sent me was their Creamery Seasonal Blend, which is described as being exceptionally sweet and designed for both drip coffee as well as espresso. This offering showcases seasonal coffees in a consistent blend, so while the components may be changing based on the harvest, Ruby still maintains the same flavor profile.

This is done by selecting coffees that complement each other. They rotate between several coffees, but the components included in the seasonal blend I received were Peru Tabaconas, Colombia Buesaquito, Guatemala La Morena, and Mexico Grupo Miramar Mixteca.

It’s described as a well-balanced, full-bodied, inviting, syrupy, and approachable blend that can work well for pouring a cup of drip or pulling a shot of espresso. Tasting notes include fig, almond, cherry, and dark chocolate.

When I brewed up a cup of Creamery, I found that the aroma was decadently sweet, warm, and inviting. It definitely leaves you curious about the taste of the brew, which was a deliciously well-balanced combination of warm and nutty notes alongside a dark and mellow acidity.

Ruby Coffee: Subscription Options

There are a few options that you can choose from when it comes to subscribing to Ruby Coffee. You can either subscribe to any of their year-round offerings or choose one of their monthly rotating options such as Roaster’s Choice, Bright & Lively, or Rich & Sweet.

If you’re looking for a subscription that will send you something new every month, the three options of Roaster’s Choice, Bright & Lively, and Rich & Sweet will also send you coffee that’s 10-25% off the regular price.

The Roaster’s Choice subscription gives you two 8-ounce bags of beans that are some of the roaster’s favorites. The Bright & Lively subscription gets you one 12-ounce bag or one 5-pound bag of a seasonal selection that matches the flavor profile of fruitier tones and usually originates from East Africa and South America.

The Rich & Sweet subscription also gets you one 12-ounce bag or one 5-pound bag of a seasonal selection that has a flavor profile of full-bodied and sweeter tones, usually originating from Central America and South America.

For all three of these subscription options, the coffee will change every month, but you can choose a delivery frequency of anywhere between every week to every eight weeks. You can also get your coffee sent as whole beans or ground for drip, espresso, or pour-over.

Ruby Coffee: Roasting

When it comes to sourcing their beans, Ruby Coffee strives for quality, sustainability, transparency, and long-term relationships with the coffee producers, exporters, and importers that they work with to maintain responsible sourcing.

The coffees they offer are chosen specifically for their microclimates and micro-regions. They like to have a wide list of colorful coffees, so they roast to a medium degree as a way to create a balance between the unique natural flavors and the sweeter taste from roasting.

Ruby is an Organic Certified business and they also offer a few decaf options, which have been decaffeinated by use of the water process and the ethyl acetate process. The coffee company roasts on most weekdays and ships to customers the day after roasting to maintain freshness.

Ruby Coffee: Pricing

The cost of Ruby Coffee’s subscription services depends on whether you’re subscribing to their year-round offering or any of the three monthly-rotating options. To put it into a bit of perspective, at the time of writing, the Creamery Seasonal Blend I received is priced at $16, even if you subscribe to it.

The two single-origins featured in this review are priced at $22, but you don’t have the option to subscribe to them. Meanwhile, if you choose the Roaster’s Choice subscription, it’s $22 for every delivery. The Bright & Lively subscription is $19 for every delivery and the Rich & Sweet subscription is $18 for every delivery.

Shipping is not included in these prices, but the three monthly-rotating options of Roaster’s Choice, Bright & Lively, or Rich & Sweet save you anywhere between 10-25% on the coffees compared to their regular retail price.

What Makes Ruby Coffee Unique

Ruby Coffee is unique because of the dedication they put behind their goal to make specialty coffee approachable and accessible to everyone. This lets customers make exceptional and delicious coffee a part of their daily routine!

Through this effort, they also make sure they use responsible sourcing practices and maintain transparency and quality. Plus, their subscriptions make getting your supply of beans easy! As they’ll tell you, “most of [their] customers just really love getting their favorite coffee on their own schedule without having to place an order.”

How to Cancel Ruby Coffee

No matter which subscription you choose from Ruby Coffee, you can easily manage it through their website. Here, you can log into your account and access the “Manage Subscription” page. Through this portal, you can alter your frequency, subscription type, shipping or billing information, and any other necessary changes.

If you decide you want to cancel your subscription altogether, you can also do this through the same section on Ruby Coffee’s website.

Ruby Coffee: Final Thoughts

Overall, Ruby Coffee is a great source of sustainable and exceptional specialty coffee that’s not only delicious but also approachable enough for everyday brewing. With a variety of coffee options and subscriptions to choose from, there’s something for everybody!

Plus, you can be guaranteed that even with their year-round offerings that change based on harvest seasons, they’ll match the flavor profile nearly exactly to make sure you’re getting consistency. Colorful, flavorful, and expertly sourced/roasted specialty coffee? Sign us up!

Happy Caffeinating!