It is very easy to cultivate an addiction. It always has been. Although when it comes to caffeine addicts, groaning and complaining about having withdrawal symptoms after a coffee free morning, a lot of people would discard their behaviour as being hipster.
Imagine this: you slurped your last cup of coffee yesterday in the late afternoon. You woke up in the morning feeling a slight headache messing up your daily routine. At noon, you pick up an espresso from a nearby café and after a few moments you realise the headache is gone.
Does it sound familiar?
Everybody knows that drinking coffee helps adjust to the pressure. However, have you ever thought about yourself as an addict? According to Medical News Today, these symptoms can really appear within 12 to 24 hours of your last caffeine dose. Of course, from one person to another, they will vary in severity and duration. But do not worry, there is another solution for shaky, unpleasant mornings and it has a name: a coffee subscription!
It represents a service you will never want to abandon; it can make sure that you no longer have to wait until noon to get your batch and get rid of the awful withdrawal symptoms. Although subscribing to coffee is not a brand-new phenomenon, there are still many people who have not given it a try yet. However, this year may bring some new members as our lives temporarily moved to kitchen tables and living rooms. But, where to start as a new or an aspiring coffee subscriber?
Most companies allow their members to choose favourite beans, a frequency of their coffee rituals, and a preferred grind. If you find it difficult to pick the right beans, Pact Coffee’s website is directional and easy to navigate. If you are one of those who always lets the barista decide whether to make your cappuccino from Ethiopian or Brazilian beans, you can quickly educate yourself about flavours, methods, roasting, and origin on Pact Coffee’s blog. And if you are the kind of nosy customer who pokes around the coffee machine, supervising all the processes and discussing with the barista about the newest roasteries in town, you will probably know what exactly you want.
The Pact Coffee leads you throw their ‘Create your Pact Plan’ in five steps according to the coffee type, grind size, coffee range, and delivery frequency. Their policy is all about transparency; they use a direct trade sourcing model which means that they try to eliminate all unnecessary steps in the supply chain. Instead of paying distributors and traders, they pay farmers between 25 and 125% above Fairtrade rates. Those farmers come from many continents and the quality of their products is ensured by measuring the coffee scoring, which at the same time works as a motivation; the higher the score the higher rate the farmers get.
If you fancy reading all about the coffee world, you should not miss a CaféDirect’s blog, which covers a wide range of themes from recipes to empowering female growers in Peru. CaféDirect stands out because of its commitment to invest 50% of their profits into the Producers Direct, a charity working with farmers. They offer weekly, fortnightly, or monthly delivery and allow you to cancel or change your plan anytime. You can choose from five types of subscription: Discovery Plan; Bright & Aromatic; Rich & Chocolatey; Roaster’s Choice Decaf; and Roaster’s Choice Espresso.
Another great option is that of Manumit Coffee, offering many subscription options according to the frequency and also discounted fixed plans. However, their attractive strongpoint stems from their story; the Manumit actually means ‘to set free from slavery’ and this is exactly what they do. If you become a subscriber, your coffee will be roasted by men and women who have suffered from exploitation by modern slave traders and who are trying to rebuild their lives. You can read more about roasters from different part of the world on their outstanding website.
Coffee subscription services can show you that baristas are not the only ones who can make delicious coffee. In fact, you can do it yourself, and all you need is to make sure that your beans jar is always full. Fortunately, you can plan your supplies so that you never run out of it. There are many good reasons for subscribing so go get your plan and spare yourself a headache.
Sara Davidkova
Featured image courtesy of Annie Spratt, Tyler Nix, and Anastasia Zhenina via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to these images.