Last August, a brand new online coffee shop called ROASTe introduced me to some world class coffees that I don’t think I’ll ever forget. They had names like Romance by Paradise Roasters and an amazing coffee called Colombia – Guiterrez. In other words, I’m a fan of there’s and I thought I would pass on some information they sent me about the redesign of their site.
Unlike a lot of site redesigns, they didn’t just make it look pretty, they added a one-click search right from the homepage, that makes it easier, faster, and more “fun” for people to find the most popular gourmet coffees according to their tastes.
In one click, customers see gourmet coffee choices in top-ranked order, in the categories – organic, strong, award-winning, sweet, Asian, Fair, light, African, spicy, chocolaty, creamy and French. Peer reviews from fellow coffee aficionados provide an additional layer of feedback, helping customers find coffee they’re most likely to enjoy.
Another thing that I like about ROASTe is that on their homepage is a rotating list of more than thirty micro-roasters, many of them award-winners such as PT’s Coffee Roasting Company, Higher Ground and Kickapoo Coffee. Other highlighted sections include the overall most popular coffees on the site, top-rated coffee makers, a featured customer review, a “Special of the Week,” and a featured coffee blogger.
With a $15 gift card from them, I couldn’t resist giving their redesigned website and giving it a test drive. They have a lot of coffees, which is a good thing, but can make it a little overwhelming if you’re just browsing. However, with the aid of their new one-click search, I was guided to a couple of coffees to try. Expect the review coming soon.
ROASTe is offering free shipping for a limited time. Customers interested in the “Special of the Week” will enjoy a 10-20% discount on a highlighted specialty coffee.
Have you tried ROASTe? What was your experience like? What’s your favorite site to buy coffee online?
—
Fine Print.
You might be wondering what is Go Coffee Go? No it’s not the best cheerleader cheer ever. It’s a brand new coffee shop that launched online in Novemeber. A few weeks ago, they sent me a gift certificate to try out their website and order some coffees. I’m not one to turn down coffee, so accepted their offer.
I really like Go Coffee Go. I’ll probably be ordering coffee from there even without a gift card. But to be fair, I looked for some things that I didn’t like. I didn’t want to sound like an advertisement for the site, but I really couldn’t find any negatives.
Go Coffee Go is like an online shopping mall for coffee. You can order coffee from 12 roasters. One thing that I like is that the coffee isn’t stored in a warehouse. It’s freshly roasted and shipped directly from the roaster.
The roasters are some major names in specialty coffee like Barefoot Coffee, Higher Ground, PT’s Coffee and Ritual.
Just as impressive as some of the roasters include, was the amount of fair trade, organic and shade grown coffees that they sold.
The site was broken down into categories by coffee type, region, roaster, roast type and more. It even made it easy for me, a very picky coffee shopper to find more than a few coffees that interested me.
There were recommendations from the Professor Peaberry, who seems to be the site mascot. Luckily for me, this was no Phillie Phanatic mascot. I can only imagine what he would recommend to a Yankees fan. Professor Peaberry’s recommendations were fun to read, but also informative and helpful. If for some crazy reason, you’re not a fan of mascot reviews, you can also check out the picks of people who have bought coffee from the site.
The prices were reasonable and so were the shipping costs. I bought two 12 ounce bags of coffee, the total was about $18. The exact same price as on the Higher Ground website. Shipping was close to $7, which is pretty similar to what I’ve paid in the past. There were also deals from select roasters for free shipping if you bought X amount of bags.
The coffee was at my door extremely quick, I ordered it late Thursday night and the UPS man dropped it off on Tuesday. That pretty much means they put together the order on Friday and shipped it out the same day. For someone who needs their coffee as soon as possible, it was perfect for me.
What about you? Do you buy your coffee online? Have you tried Go Coffee Go, a similar site or purchasing directly from the roaster?
