11 Coffee Brands That Use High Quality Beans

In the '90s, we might have been perfectly happy to sip a cappuccino from Starbucks and buy ground coffee from the grocery store. But, coffee aficionados today are in the market for a flat white or pour over from a third wave coffee shop and buy beans from artisan producers. While having so much access to quality brews is brilliant, it can also be baffling and leave you wondering which coffee brands use high quality beans.

Honestly, there are too many great roasteries right now to list even half of the great producers, but that didn't stop me from getting deep into the best coffee on the market. Of course, coffee is subjective. Some people love the lightest, fruitiest roasts out there, while others like rich, funky beans with natural processing. But, even once you get past preferences, it's clear that some coffee brands use higher quality beans than others.

As a former barista and self-professed coffee nerd, I already had insight into the producers making top-of-the-line coffee right now. On top of this, I researched reviews and customer opinions, to come up with 11 coffee brands using some of the highest quality beans. Whether you're looking for some new beans to try out or you want to see if your favorites made the list, let's get into the details.

If you're into specialty coffee, you've probably heard of Onyx Coffee Lab. It's among the cream of the crop of coffee roasters, with its offerings spanning a wide range of flavor profiles. So, whether you're into light, fruity roasts or richer, chocolaty flavors, this brand probably has something for you.

Onyx was founded in 2012, with the aim of creating a more equitable coffee industry and promoting sustainability. It has some of the best local coffee shops, as well as a roastery in Arkansas where it prepares its iconic beans for the market. One of the things we love about this brand is that it forms lasting relationships with its growers. It sources beans directly, rather than just shipping them in from an importer and roasting them. The folks at Onyx visit farms and select only the beans that meet their high quality standards, not just in taste, but in ethics and sustainability.

Onyx Coffee Lab is often mentioned by specialty coffee fans as a firm favorite. It's beloved for its innovative approach to coffee. It often uses non-standard processing techniques, such as natural processing (where the fruits are dried in the sun whole, so the bean picks up more flavor from coffee cherry) and anaerobic fermentation (where the beans are left to ferment in an oxygen-free environment). This produces particularly rich, funky coffees, though it also has plenty of lighter options.

Sey Coffee is one of the coffee brands using the highest quality beans right now, focusing on particularly light roasts that are fruity and acidic and particularly favored by pour over fans, as this brewing method makes the most of the subtle flavors. The Brooklyn-based micro-roaster has built an excellent reputation among specialty coffee fans for light roasts that are designed to let the natural characteristics of the beans come through.

Sey believes it's only as good as its raw beans, and it puts a lot of emphasis on its relationships with producers. The company works closely with growers to improve the quality of its coffee over time. It's also willing to buy very small lots when it finds something particularly exciting, even when that makes the coffee more expensive.

Its roasted beans tend to be bright and complex. They usually have floral, citrus, and stone fruit notes rather than heavier chocolate and caramel flavors. Sey is often listed among coffee fans' favorite roasteries, with some longtime drinkers of its coffees saying that they've never had a bad batch from this producer.

That said, Sey's style isn't for everyone. Its coffees are exceptionally lightly roasted, and some drinkers find them difficult to brew without being too watery, or prefer the funkier flavors that come with different processing styles. Beans from this brand are best suited to people who enjoy light, delicate coffees rather than darker, richer roasts. If that's what you're looking for, Sey should be high on your list.

Starting up in Portland, Oregon in 2009, Heart Coffee Roasters uses some of the highest quality beans and produces excellent coffee. As well as having a roastery in Portland, it also has a couple of coffee shops where it serves its beans, it is considered among the best coffee brands in the U.S. Coffee fans have been delighted by its offerings, without having to spend a lot of time and effort brewing its beans just so to get good results.

The idea behind the brand is to bring out the natural fruit flavors in coffee, rather than letting the roast dominate. Heart doesn't describe its coffees as light, medium, or dark roasts. Instead, it develops a specific roast profile for each coffee, concentrating on even roasting, sweetness, and clarity of flavor without over-roasting the beans. This helps to highlight the inherent flavors and qualities of each coffee, rather than forcing it into shape by aiming for a specific level of roast.

Heart also sources its beans thoughtfully. It has built long-term relationships with producers in countries including Brazil, Colombia, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Honduras, Kenya, and Mexico, and regularly visits the farmers it works with. It also buys coffee seasonally, visiting farms around harvest time to help with quality control and to choose the best beans.

If you love light to medium coffees that are roasted perfectly for the bean, consider Little Wolf Coffee. It started in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 2016, after its founders had spent a couple of years roasting in their own homes. This brand selects only the highest quality green coffee to roast, and this shows in the finished product. It's a smaller brand than some on this list, but shows up on Reddit as some people's "favorite roaster."

Its beans might not have the vibrant acidity of those from brands like Sey, but this isn't necessarily a flaw, just a difference. It doesn't always aim for the lightest possible roast, but tries to do right by the beans in question, letting them develop fully without overdoing it. Little Wolf has a couple of coffee shops in Massachusetts and also sells online, including having a coffee subscription option.

If you don't like tons of acidity in your coffee, but aren't particularly into the richest, most intense roasts either, this is a perfect middle ground. While one of the mistakes people often make with coffee is not letting freshly roasted beans rest, Little Wolf's are actually best used within three weeks, so it's not one to snooze on.

Anyone in search of quality beans should put Passenger on their radar. This roastery is meticulous about its sourcing and uses only the highest quality beans. It has a reputation for being among the best coffee brands in the world, which is a lot to live up to, but we think it manages it.

Passenger's coffee is usually on the fruitier side, with a lot of washed process beans that give you a cleaner, brighter cup compared to naturally processed varieties. However, it does also sell some natural process coffees with funkier notes and richer, more chocolaty flavors. So, you can find something to suit most palates.

Its approach to sourcing is all about long-term collaboration with coffee farmers around the globe, building business relationships that are mutually beneficial. It buys most of its coffee from just seven producers in South Asia, East Africa, and Central and South America. This allows the company to grow stronger partnerships and create a more sustainable model of business for farmers.

Rather than (coffee) cherry picking only the best beans from farmers, it commits to buying larger quantities of each harvest, which is better for the producers. However, by working with those who produce great quality beans, this doesn't make Passenger's offerings any less good. It's a fairer way of working with the people growing the beans, and the company's careful sourcing pays off in quality and ethics.

Based in Raleigh, North Carolina, Black & White Coffee Roasters has become one of the most talked-about names in specialty coffee circles. It regularly comes up alongside heavy hitters like Onyx and Sey whenever coffee nerds start comparing notes on who's roasting the best beans right now. It's seen as a pricey brand, which is a nice occasional treat rather than an everyday brew for most folks.

The brand was founded in 2017 by Kyle Ramage and Lem Butler, both former U.S. Barista Champions who wanted to bring the caliber of coffee they'd experienced in the competition to everyday drinkers. What sets Black & White apart is the sheer range it offers. When shopping online, you can search by roast level, from lighter to darker, but also by funk so you can shop specifically for beans anywhere on the clean to funky spectrum. That means you can find everything from a bright, washed single origin to wild, cofermented beans.

Black & White notes that its beans are ethically sourced. It also clearly puts a lot of care and attention into sourcing a range of beans, processed in different ways, but all of exceptional quality. So, it's a brand with a lot of choice, especially beyond the light roasts popular with a lot of specialty coffee producers right now. People from around the world drink coffee in all kinds of ways, so there's no right or wrong. Whether you like bright and fruity or intense and funky, there's something for you from this brand.

When Sweet Bloom Coffee Roasters comes up in coffee circles, people often have nothing but good things to say about the brand. Founded in Lakewood, Colorado in 2013, it has a small selection of coffee shops and a roastery to its name, where it creates some of the best coffee on the market in the U.S. today.

This brand is serious about collaboration with its producers, working closely with growers and selecting the best beans to work with. You'll find a range of both washed and natural process beans, some with fruity flavor profiles and a lot of brightness, others with the richer, more chocolaty flavors at the forefront.

What also makes Sweet Bloom stand out is the freshness of its beans. While most coffee fans know that beans should be used within a certain period after roasting for the best results, this brand also thinks that fresh, seasonal green (unroasted) coffee beans produce the best results. As such, Sweet Bloom buys in small batches, based on what is in season in various regions at that time. This adds to the overall quality of the roasted beans.

Some coffee brands are older than you realize and Intelligentsia might be one of those. It has a direct trade model that it's been refining for close to 20 years, which rests on the belief that great coffee only happens through deliberate, coordinated effort all the way up the supply chain, starting on the farm itself. This is a long time to have been in the game for a high-end, third-wave coffee roaster.

In search of the highest quality beans, folks from the company travel regularly to visit growers, processors, and exporters rather than buying through importers. It is less about simply buying beans and more about finding growers who are as fanatical about quality as they are, then building a relationship around that shared standard.

All that pays off because, although it is a bigger name than some of the other roasters on this list, Intelligentsia is still a favorite among specialty coffee fans. That said, some people claim that it's good quality but still prefer ordering from smaller, local roasters where possible.

Regalia is serious about the way it roasts. Its team is led by Paolo Maliksi, an international roast instructor, and is guided by science and quality control metrics to bring an exceptionally consistent roast. This means you can expect top quality every time.

Some of its coffees are traditionally processed and others are design fermented, meaning every aspect of the fermentation process is thoughtfully controlled to get specific results. Lots of beans are carefully sorted so that only the ripest and highest quality beans make it through to the roasting process and into your cup.

The brand is known for its consistent quality with fans noting that they almost never come across a variety they don't like, which is a rarity, because even when buying from a good brand, beans can occasionally be hit or miss. If you're looking for a brand that uses technology to optimize its roasting, Regalia Coffee is a great pick. It might have less heart than some scrappier brands, but the coffee quality speaks for itself.

Not only does Brandywine Coffee roast its beans in Wilmington, Delaware, it also screen prints each of its packs, so every bag is a little work of art. The brand carefully sources its beans and roasts each batch to get the best out of it. This bespoke approach maintains the high quality standards that it's known for.

The brand knows that so many factors go into great beans: the approach of the growers, the soil, and what the place in which it's grown brings to the table (for instance, factors such as climate and elevation have a big impact on beans). Armed with this knowledge, it selects beans that it's confident will make great coffee. On top of this, it is careful to roast them only as much as necessary to accentuate their brilliant natural flavors.

It's considered a solid roaster that has good results with beans on the more experimental, funkier end of the spectrum. It's mentioned as a favorite with specialty coffee fans for its consistently good beans. However, its collaborations with Fellow aren't viewed as favorably, so it's best to opt for straight-up Brandywine beans rather than its collabs.

If you're looking for bright, fruity coffees that showcase the natural flavors of the beans, Flower Child Coffee will be your cup of tea, so to speak. The brand features coffees from across the globe, with the intention of showing off the unique qualities of every lot of beans, which can vary widely depending on where and how they're grown, as well as the conditions in any given year.

Flower Child is particularly focused on clean coffees (generally meaning they undergo washed processing) rather than funky varieties, which are roasted very lightly. One common misconception is that light roasted coffee is less strong. However, the opposite is actually true. The lighter the roast, the more caffeine remains, so by going with a light roast, you can expect a jolt of energy.

Reviewers score its beans highly and specialty coffee fans often discuss this brand as one that is extremely invested in the quality of the beans, how they're sourced, and how they're roasted. While not everybody loves the lightest, cleanest roasts, they're often particularly favored by pour over fans, particularly those who appreciate brighter and more subtle flavors. These aren't the types of beans to stick in a flat white or cappuccino but rather to enjoy simply and unadulterated.

I did extensive research into the best loved specialty coffees in the U.S., comparing reviews and gathering customer opinions on sites like Reddit. I also looked into how each company sources its beans, looking at factors such as how thoughtfully they're grown and selected and whether they're fairly traded. From this data I narrowed down our top 11 coffee brands, presenting them in no particular order.