Speedwell Coffee

Nothing in Speedwell's catalog costs more than $20 for a 12 ounce bag. The floor is $15 and the median is $17, which puts the entire active shelf inside a five dollar spread. The roastery works out of Plymouth, Massachusetts, and has been roasting since 2008.

Seventeen coffees are active, nine of them single origins and eight of them blends, which puts blends at 47 percent and makes the split close to even. Colombia supplies four of the nine singles. Two come from Ethiopia and the remaining three arrive one apiece from Central America and East Africa.

Three of the 17 are decaf. Nothing is roasted dark, and the deepest setting on offer is medium-dark, so the roaster is drawing a line short of the char end while still keeping some weight available for drinkers who want it. Pricing this tight tends to describe a catalog meant to be bought weekly rather than sampled once, and the roast decisions point the same direction, toward coffee that has to work on a Tuesday morning rather than impress at a cupping table.

Single Origins

Blends

Roast Profile & Flavor Range

Six of the 17 coffees sit at medium-light and five at medium. Four go to medium-dark and two stay light. The dark column is empty. Acidity averages a shade below the middle of the five-point scale and body lands right at the middle, which means most bags read soft and rounded rather than sharp, with four roast levels compressed into the middle two-thirds of the scale.

Processing across the nine single origins runs five washed, three natural, one honey. That leaves four lots where drying or fermentation is doing part of the flavor work rather than the roast. Colombia leads sourcing with four lots and Ethiopia follows with two, while El Salvador, Guatemala and Kenya contribute one each. Twelve ounce bags run $15 to $20 against a $17 median.

What Speedwell Coffee Coffees Tend to Taste Like

Cocoa is the most common note by a wide margin at six mentions, and chocolate and dark chocolate add four more between them. That is the floor under almost all of these coffees. Above it sits stone fruit, peach at four mentions and plum at two, and then a lighter layer of citrus at three and strawberry at two. Caramel and toffee each appear three times, filling the space between the cocoa and the fruit. Jasmine turns up twice and anise once.

The house cup is chocolate-led and sweet, with peach doing most of the lifting and acidity staying moderate. These are not bright, acid-driven coffees. They read closer to a well-made mug of drinking chocolate with fruit around the edges, and the honey and natural lots are where that fruit gets loudest.

Why Buy Speedwell Coffee

• Priced under twenty dollars: Every 12 ounce bag falls between $15 and $20 with a $17 median, a five dollar spread across the whole active catalog. CoffeeByMe flags catalogs priced this tightly for drinkers buying by the week.

• A real decaf bench: Three of the 17 active coffees are decaf, which is enough that the decaf drinker in a house is not stuck with a single option.

• No char at the top end: The roast scale stops at medium-dark, and 13 of the 17 coffees sit at medium or lighter.

• Cocoa runs underneath: It shows up six times in the notes, more than any other descriptor, with peach riding just above it in most of the bags.

Is Speedwell Coffee Right for You?

Anyone buying coffee weekly on a budget should look here first, since a 12 ounce bag tops out at $20 and half the catalog sits at or below $17. The shelf suits drinkers who want chocolate and sweetness ahead of acidity. Three decafs mean the decaf drinker in a household gets an actual choice instead of one default bag.

It is a poor match for someone chasing light roasts. Two coffees are roasted light and the weight of the catalog sits at medium-light and medium, so the delicate, tea-like end of specialty coffee is thin here. Origin hunters get five countries. Dark-roast drinkers get none, because the scale stops at medium-dark.

Frequently Asked Questions