Verve Coffee Review
About Verve Coffee
Are you a true-brew coffee enthusiast who is always looking to try new, unique blends made from quality beans? If so, keep reading this Verve Coffee review to learn more about this California-based brand whose dedication to the art of roasting is matched by its commitment to lessening the social and environmental impact of the coffee industry.
From its humble beginnings as a cafe in Santa Cruz, Verve Coffee has grown its profile to nationwide status. The brand has been featured in such major media outlets as The New York Times, Forbes, and The Los Angeles Times, and it has amassed a strong social media following of over 174K on Instagram and 25.8K on Twitter.
Ready to get things brewing? This Verve Coffee review will take an in-depth look at the brand, its bestselling blends, flash brews, and instant coffees, customer reviews, promotions, and more to help you decide if these are the right beans for you to get your morning buzz on.
Overview of Verve Coffee
Verve Coffee was founded in Santa Cruz, California in 2007 by college pals Colby Barr and Ryan O’Donovan. Originating as a simple cafe, the brand began to expand when Barr and O’Donovan partnered with Silicon Valley vet Mike Eyre. Today, Verve is a booming online coffee company with 11 cafes across the US, as well as a Japanese operation.
The brand has also put social and environmental consciousness at the forefront of its business philosophy. Verve goes beyond Fair Trade policies via its direct relationships with growers and harvesters, and its Farmlevel Initiative spotlights these producers and brings transparency to the brand’s sourcing and supply chain practices.
Roasting its beans every day at its Santa Cruz headquarters, the brand mixes the traditional and the cutting-edge by employing both vintage roasters and new energy-efficient, environmentally friendly models.
That’s the backstory on this brand—now, time for this Verve Coffee review to get things roasting, beginning with a high-level view of the company’s most notable pros and cons.
Pros
- Range of unique blends, decaf coffees, Flash Brews, seasonal and holiday options, and more
- Transparent supply chain and better-than-Fair Trade business practices
- Subscription program gives you auto-delivery and free shipping for your favorite blends
- Get 10% off your next purchase when you sign up for brand newsletter
- Free shipping on orders of $35 and up
Cons
- No international shipping due to perishable nature of product, excluding the brand’s separate Japanese operation
Now that you’ve got the bird’s-eye view, how about we fly low with this Verve Coffee review and check out some of the brand’s bestselling singles, blends, and Flash Brews.
Verve Coffee Single Origin Review
The slate of Verve Coffee Single Origin offerings gives you the pure, uncut good stuff: beans that hail exclusively from some of the finest coffee-producing regions in the world. Let’s get this Verve Coffee review rolling with a look at two of the bestselling items in this category.
Verve Coffee Ethiopia Halo Beriti Instant Craft Coffee Review
Don’t have time to grind the beans yourself in the morning? You can still get a great cuppa fast with Verve Coffee Ethiopia Halo Beriti Instant Craft Coffee. This coffee hails from the Yirgacheffe region in central southern Ethiopia, which is famous worldwide for the tantalizingly sweet natural flavor of its coffee crop.
Each package makes six cups of delicious, floral-scented joe—just empty one of the individual packets into your mug, add 10 oz of hot water, stir for 30 seconds, and gulp down the goodness. The Ethiopia Halo Beriti Instant Craft Coffee is priced at $17.
Verve Coffee Guatemala La Candelaria Review
You can add some sweetness to your morning jolt with Verve Coffee Guatemala La Candelaria. Sourced from one of the brand’s staple producers, located near the active Volcán de Fuego volcano in the central highlands of Guatemala, this coffee is rich with notes of melon, brown sugar, and maple syrup.
Serving double duty as one of the components of Verve Coffee’s signature Streetlevel blend, this fragrant roast is presented here in its pure and uncut version. A 12 oz bag of Guatemala La Candelaria will run you $18.
Verve Coffee Blends Review
Ranging in flavor from nut-and-fruit-forward to rich, dark, and chocolatey, Verve Coffee blends combine the finest beans from around the world to produce distinctive coffee creations. This Verve Coffee review gets into the mix with two of the brand’s signature products below.
Verve Coffee Blend Buena Vista Dark Roast Review
Hailing from the hills of southern Colombia, the Verve Coffee blend Buena Vista Dark Roast gives you a palate-tantalizing combo of chocolate, red apple, and maple notes. Striking a perfect balance between medium and dark roast, this is a great year-round blend that you can count on to always deliver its distinctively deep, full-body flavor.
You can get the Buena Vista Dark Roast as either whole bean or grind in three different sizes and price points:
- 12 oz: $17
- 1 kg: $48
- 5 lbs: $94 (marked down from $110)
Verve Coffee Blend Streetlevel Review
Sourced from small producers throughout Honduras, Guatemala, and Colombia, the Verve Coffee blend Streetlevel is what made the brand’s name back when it was an upstart little sidewalk cafe in Santa Cruz. A just-right medium roast with notes of citrus, apple, and honey, it adds an intoxicating dash of sweetness to your everyday cup.
You can get the Streetlevel blend in a 12 oz bag for $18, 1 kg for $51, or a hefty 5 lbs for $99 (a 15% savings). And remember, if you subscribe to this or any other one of the brand’s products, you can get it auto-delivered with free shipping.
Verve Coffee Flash Brew Review
Simply put, the Verve Coffee Flash Brew is cold brew in a can. But describing it that way does an injustice to the complexity and care that goes into making this delicious, flash-chilled refreshment. Our Verve Coffee review spotlights two of the three varieties of this tasty treat below.
Verve Coffee Nitro Flash Brew 12 Pack The Original Review
Up for a morning brewski? Not that kind, you alky. Blending Ethiopian and Colombian coffees into a refreshingly sweet bevvy with notes of honey, chocolate, and strawberry, the Verve Coffee Nitro Flash Brew 12 Pack The Original is a great day-starter for those who like to take their daily jolt cold.
The Nitro Flash Brew 12 Pack The Original is priced at $47.
Verve Coffee Nitro Flash Brew 12 Pack Vancouver Decaf Review
Love that classic coffee taste, but aren’t too keen on the caffeine? First off, I just don’t understand you. But it takes all types, I guess! The Verve Coffee Nitro Flash Brew 12 Pack Vancouver Decaf is a Colombian-Brazilian blend that gives you deliciously nutty chocolate notes in smooth, easy-drinking form.
Like all of the brand’s Flash Brews, the Vancouver Decaf comes a dozen to an order for $47. If you want to mix and match, you can get the brand’s variety 12-pack, which gives you four each of the Vancouver Decaf, the Original, and the Ethiopia Sakaro Single Origin.
Who Is Verve Coffee For?
Verve is for coffee connoisseurs who want to bring cafe quality, care, and flavor to their everyday mug without having to line up. (Though if you’re lucky enough to live in the vicinity of a Verve Coffee cafe, you can do that as well!) It covers the whole spectrum of coffee lovers with its variety of blends, single-origin roasts, cold brews, instant coffees, decaf options, and more.
The brand also caters to the ever-growing number of customers who place ethical consumption high on their list of priorities. Verve is commendably transparent about its sourcing, and places the actual coffee producers front and center so that buyers can know who and where are responsible for their delicious, steaming cup.
Verve Coffee Reviews: What Do Customers Think?
This would be no Verve Coffee review worthy of the name if we didn’t rope in comments from customers to see what real people have to say about this forward-thinking California-based coffee brand.
First up, let’s head to the brand website and take a look at the ratings for some of Verve’s most popular offerings:
- Seasonal Holiday Blend—5/5 stars based on 59 reviews
- Buena Vista Dark Roast—5/5 stars based on 277 reviews
- Streetlevel—5/5 stars based on 358 reviews (one of which dubbed it “the best coffee on the west coast”)
- Nitro Flash Brew 12 Pack Vancouver Decaf—5/5 stars based on 5 reviews
So suffice to say, people seem pleased as punch with what Verve has going on. One of the themes that keeps recurring in customer comments is how this coffee sparks fond memories of the West Coast for both visitors and longtime former residents. One review of the Streetlevel spoke eloquently to this:
“There’s something about ordering a 5 pound bag of roasted whole bean Streetlevel that sets Verve above the rest. Maybe it’s knowing that the day I order it, it’s roasted and shipped off to me. Maybe it’s that usually within 2 to 3 days of ordering it, I’ll get to cut the Verve packaging tape (which BTW is pretty cool), and open the bag [to] inhale that sweet aroma.
“Or, maybe it’s because now, for the next month and a half, I’ll get to wake up to a great brew, and dream that I’m back in Santa Cruz, sipping my cup at 1010 Fair Ave, before my morning walk along West Cliff. Keep up the great job, and thanks for letting me experience a little Santa Cruz on the East Coast.”
Even Verve’s renderings of much-maligned instant coffee score high marks. For example, the Buena Vista Dark Roast Craft Instant Coffee pulls in 5/5 stars from 29 reviews, with one commenter giving a vivid portrait of both its flavor and the feelings it evokes:
“I love coffee for its taste but also it’s nostalgia and ritual. I LOVE an instant coffee after a long surf in Baja ‘cause that’s all you’re gonna get sometimes and it reminds me of the coffee my grandma used to make me in Australia after a surf. Verve just put all that in a cup. Great work fellas. Coffee is more than the hipster fluttery and this is a great example.”
The high quality of the brand’s home-brew coffees is complemented by the in-person experience at Verve’s storefront cafes. On TripAdvisor, one commenter left a 5-star review of the brand’s flagship location in its hometown:
“I always stop by Verve whenever I’m near Santa Cruz to get a latte and a bag of their seasonal coffee beans. I regularly order their coffee beans online for home use as well – their Sermon espresso beans are well-balanced and not temperamental. 3rd wave coffee at its finest!”
Amazon is another good source of customer feedback for this brand, with the signature Streetlevel blend scoring 4.6/5 stars based on 266 ratings. One reviewer attested to how the quality of the brand’s coffee remains just as high in packaged form as it does served fresh on location:
“This is my son’s and my favorite coffee. We are originally from Santa Cruz where there are 4 Verve locations but only get there several times a year, so it’s great to be able to get it on Amazon whenever we want!”
Is Verve Coffee Worth It?
This Verve Coffee review has no problem concluding that, yes, this brand is definitely worth it. For over a decade, Verve has earned its reputation as one of the best coffee companies going, and the hundreds of enthusiastic customer reviews leaves no doubt that it has attracted a strong following around the world.
We also appreciate the brand’s dedication to ethical sourcing, its transparency about its supply chain, and the fact that it foregrounds the growers and harvesters of its coffee so that buyers can appreciate the labor, craftsmanship, and care that goes into every cup.
Verve Coffee Promotions & Discounts
There are a few ways you can save when you shop on vervecoffee.com:
- If you sign up to receive the brand newsletter, you will receive 10% off your next order
- The brand has a refer-a-friend offer that lets you give a $5 credit to your buddy, and then receive a $5 credit yourself once they place their order
- If you subscribe to any product, you will receive free shipping on every order
Where to Buy Verve Coffee
You can buy Verve Coffee at the brand website, vervecoffee.com. You can also find select products at the brand’s retail partners, such as Whole Foods, Target, and Amazon.
FAQ
Who owns Verve Coffee?
Verve Coffee is owned by its founders, Colby Barr and Ryan O’Donovan. The pair continue to run the brand along with the company CEO, Mike Eyre.
Where is Verve Coffee made?
Verve Coffee’s beans are sourced from small producers in coffee-growing regions around the world, including Ethiopia, Honduras, Guatemala, and Colombia. All beans are small batch-roasted daily at the brand’s headquarters in Santa Cruz, California.
Does Verve Coffee ship internationally?
As there is no international shipping information on the brand website, it appears to this Verve Coffee review that the brand only ships to customers in the US. The good news, though, is that Verve is carried by several other major international retailers, including Amazon, so its products are still fairly easy to access.
What is Verve Coffee’s Shipping Policy?
Verve Coffee offers free standard shipping for orders of $35 and up. Delivery is fulfilled via USPS First Class mail, or USPS Priority for orders that exceed 16 oz. Expedited shipping is available via UPS 2-Day or UPS Next-Day, with extra fees calculated at checkout.
Note that all Flash Brew orders require expedited shipping, as the products must be packed in ice to preserve them.
What is Verve Coffee’s Return Policy?
Due to the fact that coffee is a perishable food item, Verve Coffee cannot offer returns. But as the brand is dedicated to customer satisfaction, they do invite buyers who have experienced an issue with their order to reach out to them via the contact form on the website within 15 days of receipt.
Verve Coffee apparel and brewing equipment can be returned for a refund or exchange within 30 days of purchase. All items must be in their original condition and unused. Once your returned item has been received, refunds will be issued in the original form of payment.
How to Contact Verve Coffee
Have any lingering questions after reading this Verve Coffee review? You can contact the brand via:
- Email: support@vervecoffee.com
Contact form on brand website
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