Second State Coffee

Charleston, South Carolina is home for this roastery, and its own site puts craftsmanship and hospitality at the front of how it describes the work. The catalog reads like a cafe's back bar rather than a collector's shelf. Eight coffees are active, five single origins and three blends, which puts blends at 38 percent of what is on offer.

Roasting centers hard on the middle. Five of the eight coffees are roasted medium, two land at medium-light, and one goes medium-dark, which leaves neither end of the scale in use and puts almost everything within one rung of dead center. That is a roast board built for consistency across a menu rather than for contrast between bags.

Prices sit low and stay there. Twelve-ounce bags start at $17 and the median lands at $18.25, with the top of the range at $28, so most of the shelf is priced for a weekly habit rather than a special order. One decaffeinated coffee is active. Colombia supplies three of the five single origins, with Ethiopia and Guatemala taking one each.

Single Origins

Blends

Roast Profile & Flavor Range

Medium is the house setting. Five coffees out of eight land there, two sit a rung lighter and one a rung darker, and the total absence of both full light and full dark roasts means a drinker working through this catalog will never meet either a grassy cup or a burnt one.

The acidity and body readings run opposite to each other. Acidity averages below the midpoint of the five-point scale while body averages above it, so these coffees come across as round and weighty rather than sharp. That pairing is what makes them work with milk.

Processing is split three washed, one fermented, and one recorded as experimental. Twelve-ounce bags run $17 to $28. Three of eight active coffees are blends.

What Second State Coffee Coffees Tend to Taste Like

Sweetness is the most repeated descriptor in the catalog, named three times outright, and it sets the tone for everything underneath it. Caramel, cacao, and chocolate follow, which gives most of these coffees a cocoa base that holds up under milk and does not thin out as the cup cools on the counter.

The fruit runs dark rather than bright. Pomegranate appears twice, black fruits once, and blood orange once, so what acidity there is arrives as a deep red tartness instead of a lemony snap. Citrus zest shows up in a single coffee. Black tea appears once and reads as the driest note in the set.

Two of the descriptors are about approach rather than flavor, with one coffee called approachable and another called classic. That is a fair summary of the whole shelf.

Why Buy Second State Coffee

• A $17 entry point: Twelve-ounce bags start at $17 with a median of $18.25, which is a serious argument for daily drinking.

• Built for milk: Acidity below the midpoint and body above it make these coffees hold their shape in a latte. CoffeeByMe routes milk drinkers here first.

• Blends carry the menu: Three of eight active coffees are blends, so house recipes take on as much of the work as the single origins do.

• A center-weighted roast board: Five mediums, two a rung lighter, one a rung darker, and nothing at either edge of the scale to surprise anyone at seven in the morning.

Is Second State Coffee Right for You?

This is a strong fit for a drinker who takes coffee with milk, or who has been told they are sensitive to acidity. An average acidity below the midpoint, a body above it, and a roast board that never leaves the center produce cups that stay comfortable in a latte, in a French press, or in a drip pot left on a warmer.

Fruit chasers will want more than this offers. Two coffees at medium-light is a thin bench for anyone who buys for bright acidity, and three countries makes for a short origin list. The darkest thing here is a medium-dark, so a drinker who wants a real dark roast will not find one. Everyone else gets a $17 entry point.

Frequently Asked Questions