Grind Coffee review: What does it taste like and how does the subscription work?
GRIND Coffee Pods are without a doubt one of the trendiest ways to drink coffee at home in 2023.
The stylish pink tin pots live on the shelves of homes across the nation, and shoppers have said the coffee is “consistently outstanding”, “exceptional” and even “the best pods ever”. But does it live up to the hype?
Here at Sun Reviews, we decided to put Grind to the test by trying each and every flavour of coffee that the brand has to offer. Read on to hear whether or not we think these aesthetically pleasing, luxury pods are worth it.
- Tin of Compostable Coffee Pods, £13.50 (or £9.95 if it’s your first go) from Grind – buy here
Rating: 5/5
Pros: Sustainable, reasonable price, a variety of blends available, flexible subscriptions, handy and aesthetically pleasing tin, tasty coffee, refills available, taster pack available, can buy in bulk
Cons: None
Grind started off as a coffee shop in Shoreditch in 2011, and has since grown across London with multiple cafés and roasters and expanded into coffee subscription services.
Other than allowing coffee lovers to produce barista-style coffees at home with pods, grounds and other products, Grind claims to be the makers of the ‘world’s most sustainable coffee pod’. How? The pods are home-compostable, plastic-free, and the packaging it arrives in is recyclable.
But, how easy is it to use? And what does it taste like? We tried the subscription service to find out.
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- Tin of Compostable Coffee Pods, £13.50 (or £9.95 if it’s your first go) from Grind – buy here
The first thing we tried from Grind was the tin of compostable coffee pods, which is the go-to box to subscribe to for many.
When you spend £13.50 on this (or £9.95 if it’s your first-ever Grind purchase), you get the iconic pink refillable coffee tin with 20 pods.
We already had an original-style Nespresso machine (please note, these pods aren’t compatible with the new Nespresso machines) but if you don’t have a machine and are in the market for one, they’re also compatible with the Grind One machine (£295).
For our first order, we chose the House Blend. This is the blend that originated in the Shoreditch coffee house, and it’s designed to make the perfect flat white. As certified flat white (an espresso with micro-foam, like a latte but with more coffee than milk) super fans, this felt like the obvious choice.
The coffee itself comes from Brazil and Guatemala and Grind ranks it 9 out of 11 on the intensity scale, making it pretty strong but not as strong as some of the other options on offer.
It is described as having notes of milk chocolate, almond, cacao nibs, and walnuts, and we’d say that every single one of these flavours is noticeable. This creates such a unique and distinct flavour that we’d recognise it anywhere.
We frothed up some oat milk and made oat flat whites, and tried these pods solo as an espresso, and both options were incredible. This isn’t your average coffee, it really does taste as if you’ve just popped into a fancy coffee shop. As an avid Grind café and coffee shop customer, it tastes almost the same as in-store.
And once your coffee machine is full of old pods, you simply just pop them in your food waste bin or garden compost because every pod will decompose quicker than garden grass cuttings (we know, it’s impressive). And, because they’re made from PHA, the pods are organic and biodegradable. It’s that easy to be sustainable.
We were thrilled with our first delivery and loved the idea of a reusable pink tin to store our pods proudly in our kitchen rather than shoving them away in a cupboard somewhere.
Grind Pod Taster Sample
- Pod Taster Sample, £2.50 from Grind – buy here
Not sure which blend is up your street? The pod taster sample box helped us figure that out. In this little box, which is just £2.50 by the way, you get five different blends to try: the House, Light, Dark, Decaf & Long Blend.
If you’re into lighter coffee that can stand alone without being too bitter, you’ll like the Light Blend. It has notes of vanilla, red apple, brazil nuts and cocoa powder, and is just the perfect level of intensity for an espresso or long black.
If you’re a fan of long black, you should try the Long Blend which is designed for that purpose. For coffee newbies, that’s two shots of espresso poured over hot water.
If you prefer your coffee on the darker side, go for the Dark Blend. This one tastes like raw cacao, walnuts, burnt sugar, and black treacle, so it’s really rich, intense and complex.
For all the flat white fans out there, as we’ve already said, you need to try the House Blend. It’s the perfect consistency and blend for this popular drink.
And if you’re trying to cut down on your caffeine consumption, try the House Decaf Blend. It tastes like the House Blend, just with added raisin notes and without the caffeine.
How do I refill my Grind Coffee?
- Refills of Compostable Coffee Pods, £15 (or £9.95 if you subscribe) – buy here
You don’t need 100 different Grind tins lined up at home, so Grind offers a refill service where you can just order boxes of coffee.
This is a sustainable way of fuelling our coffee obsession since you’re only receiving the compostable pods in a letterbox-friendly recyclable package, and then storing them in the pod you’ve already got at home.
To sign up to get refills to your door on a regular basis, you’ll need to subscribe on the Grind website here.
Or, if you’re a converted fan, you can buy in bulk here. Buy a box of 100 pods of your blend of choice for £45 — that’s £2.22 per pod — or subscribe and get it for £29.85. Yep, that’s less than 30p per pod. A total no-brainer. Then, choose whether you want it delivered weekly, every two weeks, or every three weeks.
Is Grind good value for money?
- Tin of Compostable Coffee Pods, £13.50 (or £9.95 if it’s your first go) from Grind – buy here
Grind coffee may be a little more luxurious than the average bag of coffee beans at the supermarket, but it’s actually very good value for money.
When you purchase the tin with 20 compostable coffee pods for £13.50 (or £9.95 if it’s your first go), you’re spending 68p or 50p (depending on whether or not you’ve subscribed) per pod.
The price per pod when you shop for refills is even better. If you subscribe, you’re getting 30 pods for £9.95 — that’s 33p per pod.
And, if you subscribe in bulk, you’ll get 100 pods at less than 30p per pod (£29.85 in total).
Grind coffee pods are not pricey at all compared to what you’d pay in a coffee shop. You can make a high-quality oat milk flat white for just 30p (plus the cost of a splash of milk) at home. So, while it feels like a total treat, you’re actually saving money if you’ve previously made a habit of going out for coffee every day.
Who are Grind’s competitors?
During the pandemic, lots of coffee companies decided to set up subscription services to keep their customers satisfied in lockdown. And, since many of us work from home, at least some of the time, it’s still a popular way to get your coffee fix (and save money while doing it).
We’re huge fans of Grind, but we recently reviewed a whole range of coffee pods and we also loved Caravan, Nespresso, and Lost Sheep Coffee. If you’re really keen to be more sustainable, Odd Coffee Co rescues rejected coffee pods and sells them in bulk to stop them from being wasted and sent to landfill. These are also super cheap too, at 22p per pod when you subscribe to the 100-pod box.
Is Grind Coffee worth it?
After trying Grind coffee out for a month, we think it’s worth the hype and have since become regular subscribers ourselves. The pods make it easy to make professional barista-style cups of coffee at home, helping us resist the temptation to pop out and buy a coffee when we’re working from home.
Not only is the coffee delicious, but it’s incredibly aesthetically pleasing. We love our pink tins and showcase them on our kitchen shelves for a girly touch. But, if pink doesn’t go with your colour scheme, you can go for a silver tin instead.
And to top it all off, this brand has considered every single detail when it comes to sustainability. Regular aluminium pods are rarely recycled (less than 30% are, according to Grind), and these pods take a huge amount of energy, water and chemicals to produce. Grind’s pods are totally organic, plastic free and biodegradable, so they’ll break down naturally. Even if Grind pods aren’t recycled (which they should be, or you can stick them in your food waste bin to break down with nature), they will still break down eventually.
So, with Grind, you might be indulging in a luxury, but you’re also being kind to the planet. Good job, Grind. We’re sold.