Black Rifle Coffee

#1: Post by **iploya** » December 24th, 2022, 11:23 am

Anyone have experience with this? I'd be interested how their stuff compares to the specialty coffee that can be ordered online from various roasters.

I am switching a family member's subscription from another roaster to Black Rifle for a few months just to try. My expectations are managed (different business model, seems to be high-volume nationally advertised) but the person I am buying for is pretty open minded. BR does have lots of options in terms of beans and roast levels, so that might be nice for someone looking for a variety in their subscription.

#2: Post by **Milligan** » December 24th, 2022, 11:34 am

The one bag I tried tasted like typical commercial, high volume coffee. Better than Starbucks burnt coffee, but not what I would consider specialty from what I've sampled. There would be many roasters I'd consider a sub from before Black Rifle.

December 30th, 2022, 12:08 am

I went to one of their cafes ones. I was not impressed. Then I went to another specialty shop that used to have great coffee. They switched to their beans. Again very unimpressed.

#4: Post by **SutterMill** » December 30th, 2022, 12:49 am

Milligan wrote:The one bag I tried tasted like typical commercial, high volume coffee. Better than Starbucks burnt coffee, but not what I would consider specialty from what I've sampled. There would be many roasters I'd consider a sub from before Black Rifle.

This echos my experience as well. Decent high volume coffee but nothing thats going to knock your socks off. I've only tried 2 bags

#5: Post by **ReignDrops** » December 30th, 2022, 1:12 am

I feel that almost all of their line up is over roasted and this is coming from a guy who enjoys Lavazza Gold Selection, Lavazza Super Crema, Blue Bottle Hayes, and Caffe Lusso GMC. Their light side of a medium roast is actually oily.

December 30th, 2022, 12:30 pm

tried it in Utah a couple of times and regretted it both times. Seems like their image is more important to them than their coffee. They might help more veterans if they had better coffee.

#7: Post by **Chert** » December 30th, 2022, 12:37 pm

There is an account not far from here and I haven't tried it. Like all franchise and expanded cafes, they may or may not represent the brand very well.

Are your comments based on skilled brewing / extracting or is the roast poored down in the venues you visited?

#8: Post by **cmin** » December 31st, 2022, 11:27 am

Black Rifle is what we call a 'lifestyle' company in our sector, their not a coffee company, that's just their gimmick attached. Props to their business development and IPO and $ they've made, but their coffee is terrible lol. I got various stuff of theirs out of curiosity. They specialize in marketing, not coffee

It taste barely a notch above Starbucks, even their lighter stuff taste like burnt ashes/smoke.

December 31st, 2022, 11:31 am

Chert wrote:
Are your comments based on skilled brewing / extracting or is the roast poored down in the venues you visited?

Both times that I had it were downtown SLC at different shops. I don't remember which ones but they had proper equipment. I always look for scales and at the cleanliness of the grinder hopper as a sign. These places passed that test or I wouldn't have gotten anything. I don't remember anything more than not liking the espresso. It's been a while. I didn't know BRC's politics at the time but liked the idea of supporting veterans. I just didn't like their coffee and here is not the place to discuss their politics, but like I said, at the time I was unaware of it.