Dolly Parton's Cup of Ambition Coffee: The Three Roasts, Price and Where to Buy

Cup of Ambition is Dolly Parton's own coffee brand, made with Community Coffee, a family-owned roaster from Louisiana. It went on sale online on 29 September 2026, National Coffee Day, in a light, a medium and a dark roast, at $12.99 for a 12 oz bag of ground coffee or a box of ten K-Cup pods, and every cup supports her Imagination Library.

A name 40 years in the making

The name comes from "9 to 5", the song in which Dolly pours herself a cup of ambition to start the working day. She said she had wanted to use it for a coffee brand for more than 40 years, calling it "one of those dreams that's taken a little longer than I thought it might", in June 2026 at Dolly's Tennessean Travel Stop, where the coffee was first sold before it went online. She filmed three commercials for it in July 2026, the first of which launched with the online release. The launch news from her own site describes her as the late global icon.

Who makes it

Dolly developed the line with Community Coffee, a Louisiana roaster the Saurage family has run since 1919; Donna Saurage, the third-generation owner, worked with her on it. Community Coffee is a big name in the South and on American supermarket shelves, and it describes itself as a family-owned importer and roaster. That matters for what is in the bag. This is not a specialty micro-lot coffee with a farm on the label; it is a well made, widely available blend from a roaster that knows how to make coffee people drink every day, and it is priced that way.

The three roasts

All three are 100% Arabica blends. The notes below are the maker's own, from the official store listing.

The Cup of Ambition Light Roast is the one for somebody who drinks coffee black and likes it sweet and gentle. The Cup of Ambition Medium Roast is the safe first choice, the balanced middle of the line. The Cup of Ambition Dark Roast is built for milk. If you are not sure what those words mean in the cup, our guide to light roast coffee explains what roasting longer or shorter does.

Price and formats

Every item costs $12.99. The ground coffee comes in a 12 oz reclosable bag with tin ties, ground for drip machines, pour over, French press, percolators and cold brew; at 15 g a cup that is about 22 cups, or 57 cents each. The K-Cup pods come ten to a box, $1.30 a pod, and were on pre-order at launch, expected to ship from 15 October 2026. There is no whole bean version. A subscription on the official site saves 20% and ships free. Sales are US only, and the official store marks them final sale.

The bag recommends 2 heaping tablespoons of ground coffee per 6 oz of water, and the pods the 10 oz setting on a Keurig. For how to adjust that to taste, see our coffee to water ratio guide.

Where to buy it

The coffee is sold on cupofambition.com, which takes you to the official Dolly Parton store, and on CommunityCoffee.com. The launch announcement also names Amazon, Walmart and TikTok Shop, with more retailers online. When we checked on 1 October, neither Amazon nor Walmart listed it yet, only fan mugs using the same lyric, so the official store is the sure place to buy for now. The coffee also went on tour: a Dolly Coffee Trolley started a Sip and Sample tour of the Southeast in Nashville on 29 September, with stops at the Country Music Hall of Fame, the Grand Ole Opry and several universities.

The Imagination Library

Every cup supports Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, her programme that sends books to children from birth to age five to build a love of reading. Community Coffee has also signed on as the anchor funding partner for Lafayette Parish, in its home state of Louisiana, and buyers on cupofambition.com can add a donation at checkout. For a lot of buyers that will be reason enough.

Is it any good?

Nobody here has tasted it yet, and we do not score taste; our scores are built from what a maker publishes. On paper it is a fairly priced, 100% Arabica supermarket blend from a roaster with a century behind it. What it does not publish is where the coffee is grown or when it was roasted, so it cannot compete on those grounds with a specialty roaster that prints both, such as Fresh Roasted Coffee. As an everyday coffee with a story and a good cause, bought because you love her music, it does exactly what it sets out to do.