How we rate coffee bags

Every coffee bag on this site is scored on the 5 criteria below, weighted to 100 points. This page is generated from the same rules that produce the numbers, so it cannot describe a system we are not using.

Each criterion says what it measures, why it carries the weight it does, and what the evidence actually is — which is often the more useful half. A score read without knowing that grind consistency comes from burr geometry rather than a measured particle distribution is a score taken on faith.

Brew Quality & Dose

28 of 100 points

A coffee bag is ground coffee in a filter, so the dose is the product. Twelve grams makes a cup; nine makes a disappointment.

What we can actually read: Grams per bag is published by about half. Origin and whether it is flavoured are published more often.

Scored directly from published figures.

The 3 rules below score this criterion out of 10, and they add up to 10 exactly. That result is then worth 28 of the category's 100 points.

  • Ground coffee in each bag5 of 10
    8 g or less
    2 pts
    over 8 g, up to 11 g
    4 pts
    over 11 g
    5 pts
  • Origin published2.5 of 10

    Also read under Sourcing Transparency, which asks a different question of the same fact.

    published at all
    2.5 pts
  • Not flavoured2.5 of 10
    absent
    2.5 pts

10 of 10

Freshness & The Bag

20 of 100 points

Ground coffee in a paper bag stales fast unless something stops it. Nitrogen flushing and individual sealing are the two things that do.

What we can actually read: Nitrogen flushing, compostability and individual wrapping are published where they exist.

Scored directly from published figures.

The 3 rules below score this criterion out of 10, and they add up to 10 exactly. That result is then worth 20 of the category's 100 points.

  • Nitrogen sealed5 of 10
    present
    5 pts
  • Compostable bag3.5 of 10
    present
    3.5 pts
  • Individually sealed1.5 of 10
    present
    1.5 pts

10 of 10

Convenience & Steep

18 of 100 points

Steep time and how many are in the box. This is a format bought for a hotel room and a desk, so both matter more than they would elsewhere.

What we can actually read: Steep time is published by about half; servings per pack by nearly all.

Scored directly from published figures.

The 2 rules below score this criterion out of 10, and they add up to 10 exactly. That result is then worth 18 of the category's 100 points.

  • Steep time6 of 10
    4 min or less
    6 pts
    over 4 min, up to 6 min
    5 pts
    over 6 min
    3 pts
  • Servings per pack4 of 10
    5 or less
    2 pts
    over 5, up to 12
    3 pts
    over 12
    4 pts

10 of 10

Value per Cup

18 of 100 points

Price per serving, because pack sizes here run from five bags to thirty and the shelf price says nothing.

What we can actually read: Needs a published price and a serving count.

Scored directly from published figures.

The 1 rules below score this criterion out of 10, and they add up to 10 exactly. That result is then worth 18 of the category's 100 points.

  • Cost per cup10 of 10
    $1 or less
    10 pts
    over $1, up to $1.75
    8 pts
    over $1.75, up to $2.25
    5.5 pts
    over $2.25
    3.5 pts

10 of 10

Sourcing Transparency

16 of 100 points

As with instant, transparency is rare in this format, so naming an origin at all is a differentiator.

What we can actually read: Origin, certifications and blend or single origin are published by a minority.

Scored directly from published figures.

The 3 rules below score this criterion out of 10, and they add up to 10 exactly. That result is then worth 16 of the category's 100 points.

  • Origin published3.5 of 10

    Also read under Brew Quality & Dose, which asks a different question of the same fact.

    published at all
    3.5 pts
  • Certifications4 of 10
    2 or more
    4 pts
  • Type2.5 of 10
    single origin
    2.5 pts
    blend
    1.5 pts

10 of 10

This category is too small to judge its own silence

We hold 5 coffee bags here. Everywhere else on this site, an input fewer than one maker in four publishes has its weight taken out of the total, because at that point we are measuring the market rather than the product. That rule needs at least eight products to mean anything — on a handful, one maker's silence looks like the whole market's. So nothing is struck out here, and scores in this category are out of the full 100.

2 inputs are thin enough that it would have been struck out in a bigger category. Read the scores here knowing that:

  • individually sealed
  • nitrogen flushed

How we rate everything else

The rules that apply to every category, where specifications come from and why blanks stay blank, are on how we score.