New subscribers to Atlas Coffee Club can get their first bag of beans free — it's some of the best coffee I've ever had

• Coffee lovers often pay premium prices for fancy beans that they don't realize have been sitting on grocery shelves for months.
• Atlas Coffee Club curates a global selection of single-origin coffee that gets freshly roasted and shipped to your house starting at $9 per 12-ounce bag.
• You can schedule your frequency every two or four weeks depending on your coffee habit.
• New subscribers can get a free 12 oz. bag of beans that yields around 30 cups.
• Read more: The best espresso machines

I love coffee, and I'm willing to take a chance and assume that since you clicked into this post, you probably do too.

I'm not above the crappy coffee served by my local donut shop, but when it comes to the kind I brew at home, I prefer a more sophisticated cup. I usually spend about $15 on a 12-ounce bag of coffee beans in my local grocery store, opting mostly for the locally roasted kinds or global specialty brands.

Atlas Coffee Club is an affordable "Coffee of the Month" subscription service that sends globally curated, single-origin coffee to your door — meaning I don't have to carry bags of coffee home from the grocery store. At $14 for a 12-ounce bag and $9 for a 6-ounce option, the prices are even better than what I was buying at the grocery store — and as it turns out, so is the coffee.

What is Atlas Coffee Club?

Each month, Atlas sends single-origin, sustainably farmed coffee beans from a specific country.

The company puts a lot of effort into creating a sort of immersive experience with each box, which is intended to connect you to different coffee cultures around the world. The packaging for each country is influenced by its local landscapes and textiles, inspiring a sense of wanderlust and a really special touch. Plus, each shipment comes with brewing information, a postcard from the country of origin, and tasting notes about both the coffee and the region it came from so you can learn a bit about what went into growing it.

You'll also automatically be enrolled in a rewards program — a coffee passport of sorts — that gives you points for how far your coffee has traveled, each country you've "visited" (aka received coffee from), gifts you've purchased, and friends you've referred.

What are the subscription options?

Atlas offers six different "Coffee of the Month" subscription models, so you can choose one to suit your needs:

• A half bag for $9 (six ounces, makes about 15 cups)
• A single bag for $14 (12 ounces, makes about 30 cups)
• A double bag for $28 (24 ounces total, makes about 60 cups)
• Three bags for $39 (36 ounces total, makes about 90 cups)
• Four bags for $49 (48 ounces total, makes about 12o cups)
• You can reach out to Atlas to set up a monthly subscription plan that includes more than four bags of coffee.

It roasts the beans when they're ordered so you always get the freshest batch possible, and you can select your roast preferences to include light-to-medium, medium-to-dark, or all roast types. You can even give the subscription as a gift.

You can also choose from whole bean or ground bags, and have your bags sent at a rate of every two or four weeks, with a flat shipping fee of $4.95.

Our experiences with Atlas

First thing's first: It's delicious.

I've never had coffee I didn't enjoy from Atlas, and so far, I've tried quite a few bags. In fact, I've shared some with the rest of the Insider Reviews team and they've also been impressed with the freshness and quality of the coffee.

Almost equally as important is that the coffee is produced and purchased ethically. The company's dedication to sustainability includes paying local coffee farmers above fair-trade prices to help them sustain coffee development over time, and working with local coffee farmers in their specific country to provide resources for sustainable production.

Atlas quotes on their site that about 50-60% of their coffee is Fair Trade certified, direct trade, or goes through a coffee cooperative — but all of the coffee they source uses sustainable practices, and they are committed to paying a premium price for the beans. For reference, they source from countries like Kenya, Guatemala, Indonesia, Colombia, Peru, Costa Rica, Mexico, Rwanda, Congo, and Burundi.

The bottom line

If you enjoy fresh coffee and want to learn about the background of your beans, I couldn't recommend Atlas more. The beans are single-origin, freshly roasted, and sustainably sourced, and most importantly, they make a delicious cup of coffee.