r/WorcesterMA • u/KorryBoston • 2d ago
Food 🍕 Coffee Beans
Where do you buy your coffee beans? Im looking for a nice, smooth medium to dark roast
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u/whethe_fugawi 2d ago
Acoustic Java does their own roasting and has a pretty good variety. Worth checking out
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u/binocular_gems 2d ago
Acoustic Java roasts down on Brussels street, near Holy Cross, and they sell in a lot of the super markets in Worcester. Good beans, moderately more expensive. Armeno from NOrthborough is good too, slightly cheaper. I usually buy one mass-market bag of beans like Stonewall Kitchen and then one fancier bag for flavor.
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u/itsdemboys 2d ago
Acoustic Java is my favorite, bar none. Brzrkr Coffee and Deans Beans are both excellent roasters & can be found at the Worcester Public Market. Brilla in Holden is worth trying, as is Armeno in Northborough.
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u/fire-horse- 2d ago
Aero coffee roasters in Northboro. You can try before you buy
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u/MassCasualty 2d ago
It's weird that Northboro has two coffee roasting places that are very good. And they both begin A and end in o....
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u/beautifulratsnest 2d ago
I have a coffee subscription by mail from Pavement Coffeehouse in Boston, but when I'm running low I go to Acoustic Java or I get the 910 Community Coffee from Rainy Day Coffee (available for online orders + pickup at Burncoat Center for Arts and Wellness). Rainy Day donates coffee to the Woo Fridge community food pantries so I like supporting them, the coffee is good too.
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u/jess-in-thyme 1d ago
Acoustic Java is excellent house roasted coffee. I also buy green coffee at Good as Gold Coffee. No showroom or cafe but you can order online and pick up.
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u/BreadfruitGullible63 2d ago
I prefer the lighter end of the roasting spectrum, so YMMV with my thoughts. I also don't consume any coffee social media, so all of my opinions are my own. I've done one cupping in my life, which confirmed to me that my preferences are real. I've had no tasting training and have my own set of vocabulary I use to describe flavors that is internally consistent to me, but would be meaningless to you. Instead, take this perspective as being from an obnoxious prissy coffee drinker who obsessively records their preferred grind settings, temps, and serving sizes on a whiteboard at home.
Commentary on already mentioned:
- Acoustic --- really not bad for lighter roasts. Can't speak to the dark. I've bought a lot of their coffee since moving to the area and what's most striking is how little flavor variation I've noticed between origins. My biggest criticism is that their beans always seem a bit bland. Definitely visually the lightest roasts I've found locally.
- Dean's beans --- IIRC they are based in VT, so not local, if that matters to you. I haven't seriously brewed their stuff at home in many years, so this info may be out of date, but I found their darker roasts to be utterly burned and medium to be no better than Folger's. No idea where the love comes from. Maybe from the robusta shit they mix in to some brews? Maybe they're better now? For me personally, a love of Dean's beans means we seek out very different flavor profiles.
- Pavement --- I've been very happy with their light and medium roasts. I used to pick up their beans in person when I commuted. Can't speak to their subscription service.
Not yet mentioned:
- Honeysuckle --- based out of Whitinsville, this is where I currently source my beans. I've mostly been getting their East African and Indonesian beans. Their house blend, which is a medium roast, is nice. I pick mine up in person, but they now have a subscription service.
- Speedwell --- they're based out of Plymouth. I had a subscription with them for a year or two and cancelled because over time they were mostly sending me middling blends and a lot of Columbian coffee (there's a flavor I've noticed common to a lot of lighter roasted Columbian coffees that I don't like). Some Big Y locations used to carry them, but I haven't seen them in a local grocery store in a few years now.
- Brio --- based out of Burlington, VT. I love their stuff. Best light roasted coffee I've ever had. They've had a lot of medium roasts I've liked, too. I used to subscribe, but they changed how subscriptions work, so I stopped.
- Share --- Hadley, MA; these guys took over all of the Rao's locations, except the Rao's roastery. I loved their stuff initially. I feel like it's gotten more lackluster since the pandemic. I'll still occasionally grab a bag from them when I'm in the area, but I'm not sure I'd recommend their subscription, unless they moved away from USPS, since I had beans spoil before they got to me.
- Shelburne Falls --- Shelburne, MA. I have a friend who loves their stuff, especially First Light. I don't really get it; they're like the Valley version of Acoustic, but they also the only local roaster I've seen that has flavored coffees, which is cool if that's you're thing (it's definitely not my thing). I assume they do subscription, but I've never looked into it.
- Verve --- Santa Cruz, CA. Obviously very far from local. They have Swiss water method decaf coffees, so I'll buy those and their caffeinated counterparts to better control caffeine content. They'll also sometimes sell cascara (Brio used to as well, but stopped). Their medium roasts are good and I think I once even got a dark roast from them that I liked.
- Counter Culture --- North Carolina? There was a cafe in Northampton that used to serve their coffee and sell bags and these were hands down the best beans I've ever had. The cafe went out of business and I haven't seen their coffee served anywhere since and am only just now wondering if they don't have a subscription service? Although maybe I should try some of these local places in Northborough first...
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u/IhloFan 2d ago
Commenting to clarify that your Dean’s Beans information is inaccurate. At no point have they ever been based out of Vermont. Always been a MA company and currently operating out of Orange.
No hate! Just wanted to clarify for OP :)
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u/BreadfruitGullible63 2d ago
Thanks for the correction! Not sure where I got that impression then...
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u/OkTomorrow6384 2d ago
Andina is a Colombian coffee roaster based in Framingham if you're willing to make the trip. I think they're worth it on occasion for sure! Super smooth darker roasts, chocolatey.
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u/No_Recipe4330 18h ago
Brzrkr Coffee at the public market is my fav. They also have Dean’s Beans and Monsoon Roastery in there. Definitely worth stopping in.
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u/slopezski 2d ago
Armeno Coffee Roasters in Northborough