Best Ground Coffee – Our 8 Top Picks for The Perfect Brew (2024)

There are so many ground coffee varieties on the market today, and they all promise to be the best tasting, but which is really the best ground coffee?

We wanted to know that, too, so we tested many different ground coffees and came up with these eight selections. We think they’re the best, so read on for our top picks.

Best Ground Coffee Roundup

We’ve searched for the best coffee that happens to be pre-ground without compromising on flavor, price, and added features.

Every coffee listed is easy to buy online and full of flavor, so you won’t miss whole-bean coffee.

Top Pick – Bulletproof Original Ground

The original Bulletproof coffee was a brewing recipe incorporating grass-fed butter and MCT oil into your daily brew designed to raise the metabolic rate.

After Bulletproof took off, the brand expanded to include a whole shop of ground, whole bean, and pod-based coffees that you can enjoy with or without butter in various roasts, flavors, and origins.

This coffee is our top pick because it’s safe, regularly tested for mold and toxins, and available in various grinds and bag sizes. Bulletproof Original Ground coffee is passive organic, meaning the farmers don’t use herbicides, pesticides, or other chemicals on their trees.

Bulletproof Original Ground is an excellent entryway into the brand’s line-up. It’s also a mid-priced coffee available on subscription, so you don’t have to worry about running out of coffee, and the grind size is suitable for pour-over or drip coffee brewing methods.

Emergent Brew Exclusive: BulletProof gives Emergent Brew readers 15% off any order (valid storewide). Just enter the coupon code EMERGENT15 at checkout. Here's the link to get the special offer.

Best Light Roast – Lifeboost Single Origin Light Roast

Choosing a delicious single-origin light roast like Lifeboost Single Original can help you focus on tasting notes specific to light roasts in your morning cup.

Lifeboost ethically sources the beans for this coffee from high-altitude mountain regions in Nicaragua. They are certified organic by the Natural Food Certifiers (NFC) 2020, meaning farmers do not use chemicals on their trees and haven’t done so for up to three years before they harvest the beans.

The beans are grown entirely in the shade, which many believe helps lower the acid level of the coffee. For people who need low-acid coffee, Lifeboost coffee has a ph of 6, which is a lower acidity level than other coffees that come in around 4-5.

All in all: the best ground coffee in the light roast category.

Subscription plans are available for all Lifeboost coffees, and you can receive a discount for multi-bag purchases. Emergent Brew readers get a special offer too (see below).

Lifeboost is confident you’ll love their coffee, and they offer a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can try the coffee for thirty days and receive your money back if you’re not completely satisfied.

Exclusive: Lifeboost currently offers Emergent Brew readers free shipping and 50% off 3 12-oz. bags of their premium coffee. Use this link to get the special offer.

Best Medium Roast – Hawaii Coffee Company Lion Original Roast

Lion Coffee is one of the oldest coffee companies in North America. Their Toledo, Ohio, factory opened to the world in 1864. They’ve become experts in sourcing and roasting beans since moving to Hawaii in 1979.

Now their coffee focuses on giving an experience of drinking coffee while walking down a Hawaiian beach.

Each bag of Lion original roast consists of hand-picked Arabica beans that are dried in the sun and impart a subtle, sweet flavor to the otherwise rich and full-bodied notes.

As a medium roast, it’s sure to please many different coffee drinkers. It’s light enough to have with breakfast in the morning but strong enough for service as an after-dinner companion to dessert.

The coffee has no bitter aftertaste, too, and works well for pour-over coffee makers and drip machines.

The Lion original roast is available as a single 10-ounce bag, in a three-pack, or as a pack of two 1.5lb bags. This coffee is an affordable medium roast option but may be pricey for some people. If this is the case, check out our budget pick, which is also a great medium roast option.

Best Dark Roast – Volcanica Dark Roast

Dark roasts can sometimes get a bad rap as being too bitter. Still, a good blend like Volcanica dark roast, which sources beans from Colombia, Guatemala, and Sumatra, is anything but bitter.

The blenders at Volcanica have made a multi-origin blend where each of the three 100% Arabica sources complements the other. Once brewed, the coffee smells fantastic and is a great way to wake up in the morning.  

The flavor notes for this dark roast are caramel, smoke, and dark chocolate. It’s full-bodied with a good acidity level of 5.4, making it an available option for people who need a lower-acidity coffee.

Volcanica Coffee is a family-owned company that offers kosher and fair-trade coffee that is certified as organically grown and is part of the Rainforest Alliance. They offer a 100% customer satisfaction guarantee.

Emergent Brew Exclusive: Use the coupon code SAVE5 to get 5% off your next Volcanica order. Use this link to get the special offer.

Best Budget Pick – Lavazza Qualita Rosa

Quality coffee doesn’t have to be expensive. Some of the best ground coffee, like Lavazza ground coffee, can be purchased affordably for new brewers and coffee lovers alike from companies like 1st in Coffee.

Lavazza operates in Italy and produces coffee at a budget price that wouldn’t be out of place in an Italian coffee shop.

The Qualita Rosa is a medium roast coffee that uses mostly Brazilian Arabica beans with some African and Southeast Asian Robusta beans for a full-bodied cup that isn’t too intense. Medium roast lovers will easily enjoy the chocolate undertones in this coffee, even without milk or sugar.

Lavazza is one of Italy’s top brands, often used in Moka pots and combined with heated milk to make caffè lattes. Maybe its popularity is because the company, located in Turin, Italy, has been researching the best way to provide its coffee since 1895.

Lavazza Qualita Rosa ground coffee can be purchased in bulk or as a single brick. Unlike many coffees, it comes in a brick with all the air removed before delivery, so you’re only paying for the shipping of the beans, and they stay fresher longer.

You can use this coffee in virtually any coffee preparation method, whether it’s an espresso machine, french press, pour-over, Moka pot, or cold brewed.

Best Premium Coffee – Private Reserve 100% Kona Coffee

Although price shouldn’t dictate which coffee you choose, as expensive doesn’t always mean good quality, sometimes only a premium coffee will do. Kona coffee comes from a tiny 26 ft by 3 ft area in the Kona region on Hawaii’s big island, and the beans, once roasted, create some of the best ground coffee in the world.

Hawaii Coffee Company’s premium range of coffee called Private Reserve has been blended entirely from Kona beans. They are hand-selected and then roasted to a medium roast for a bold and full-bodied taste that doesn’t have any bitter aftertaste.

One thing that choosing pure Kona coffee does is offering you a cup that is pure coffee flavor. This is a very smooth coffee, and it tastes just as good without milk and sugar as it does with. If you’re a coffee lover that always steers clear of black coffee, this is one to try because the flavor is so clean.

If you’re looking for a coffee with less caffeine, as medium roasted beans have more caffeine than darker roasts, try a darker brew like Hawaii Coffee Compay’s Private Reserve Vienna roast in an Aeropress, drip machine, pour-over, or french press.  

Best Flavored Coffee – Volcanica French Vanilla Flavored Coffee

Volcanica offers a wide range of flavored coffees in regular and decaffeinated varieties, including holiday flavors that you can buy all year.

However, their French vanilla flavor may be the best of their incredible selection because it is strong, lasts a long time after brewing, and tastes like natural vanilla!

Their French vanilla gourmet blend contains no allergens or sugar but has a smooth and robust vanilla flavor that doesn’t taste fake.

Underneath the added vanilla flavor is a medium roast with no bitter aftertaste and comes from responsibly sourced beans from an Arabica blend that is free-trade, organic, and Rainforest Alliance certified.

While the French vanilla was our top pick, Volcanica offers many flavors, including caramel, hazelnut, and pumpkin.

They also offer a combination box with one bag of each flavor plus French vanilla. It makes a great gift or a sampler pack of some of the best ground coffee to see which flavors you like best.

Emergent Brew Exclusive: Use the coupon code SAVE5 to get 5% off your next Volcanica order. Use this link to get the special offer.

Best Decaffeinated – Lifeboost Single Origin Decaf Medium Roast

Decaffeinated coffee doesn’t have to be boring! Many great companies offer decaf versions of their caffeinated roasts, and Lifeboost is one of those companies.

Their decaf medium roast is single origin, low acid, freshly roasted, and shipped immediately delivered after grinding to get as much flavor out of the coffee as possible.

The farms that grow their coffee are bird-friendly, family-owned farms in Central America that produce organic beans which are non-GMO and tested for toxins and mold by third-party companies.

Lifeboost’s labeling and forthrightness about where their coffee comes from are refreshing.

Everything you need to know about where their coffee comes from and how it is processed is right on the bag. They also try to embody the “clean” statement they make, which is essential for coffee targeted towards people who are choosing their coffee specifically for certain traits.

The grind is a good size for most coffee preparations, including drip machines, pour-over, Moka pots, Aeropress, and some versions of the French press.

Coffee lovers can purchase this coffee on a subscription, and Lifeboost offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Exclusive: Lifeboost currently offers Emergent Brew readers free shipping and 50% off 3 12-oz. bags of their premium coffee. Use this link to get the special offer.

Finding the Best Ground Coffee Guide

Now that you’ve seen our top picks, here are some tips to help you find the best ground coffee by considering four elements.

Roast Level

Typically there are three different roasting levels offered by most coffee companies.

• Light roast – typically, they have a higher caffeine content than other roasts and have a brighter and cleaner flavor profile with fruitier top notes.  

• Medium roast – is the most popular roast that is neither too bitter nor too bright. It’s a good starting point; most coffee roasters will have a medium roast.

• Dark roast – these have more robust flavors and can be bitter with chocolate, smoke, tobacco, and caramel notes. It pairs well with milk or cream and sugar as a dessert drink.

As more coffee companies come onto the market, they are offering more roasts, including medium-dark roast or light-medium and other roasts that allow people to ease between roasts.

Special Requirements

Do you have health requirements that keep you from enjoying traditional coffee? If you require your coffee to be decaf because of caffeine sensitivity or you need a lower-acid coffee because of stomach or dental issues, then look for coffees that specifically cater to your requirements.

Choose coffees of at least 5.5 or higher ph level for a less acidic brew or designed for cold brewing.

Many coffees offer their entire range in caffeinated and decaffeinated varieties. Some, like Volcanica, even have decaffeinated versions of their flavored coffees.

Brewing Method

There are many different ways to use ground coffee to make a great cup, but choosing the right grind size is essential.

A medium grind, the usual grind size for pre-ground coffee, will work for many brewing methods, including pour-over and drip brewing.

Unless the roaster specifies the size of the ground, it’s safe to assume it’s an everyday medium grind that’s not too fine or too coarse.

A fine grind or espresso grind is excellent for espresso machines.

It will also work with drip machines and other coffee brewing methods like Moka pots, where a fine mesh catches the coffee, and the grounds only need a quick soak.

A coarse grind is perfect for French press, Aeropress, and cold brew. These are all methods where the grounds sit for an extended period, extracting the flavor slowly.

Freshness

Many coffee lovers will say that whole-bean coffee is the only way to go, and you should grind it just before brewing. That’s because coffee starts to lose freshness as soon as it is ground.

However, many companies, such as those on this list, are now specializing in fresh coffee, where beans are ground just before delivery and shipped quickly to the customer. This strategy maximizes flavor and freshness.

These fresh coffee companies also use packaging that keeps the beans air-tight and oxygen out, slowing the beans’ breakdown after grinding. If you choose from this list of the best ground coffee, you’ll see that even ground coffee can taste amazing.

Conclusion

Finding your favorite ground coffee may take a few tries, whether you choose light, medium, or dark roast.

Our choice for best ground coffee is the Bulletproof Original Ground because it’s affordable, great tasting, and a medium roast that almost everyone can enjoy.

Start with the Bulletproof Original Ground coffee, or enjoy one of our other best ground coffee picks.