In this FAQ section, we aim to answer most of your pressing questions about our coffee boxes, shipping methods, shipping dates and much more. If you still have any unanswered questions after this, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
What is a coffee box?
Our coffee box is a monthly coffee delivery containing between 1 and 6 bags of +/- 250g of freshly roasted whole bean coffee. Each coffee is carefully selected by The Coffeevine before being roasted to order and shipped to Amsterdam where we pack our coffee boxes.
Do you only offer subscriptions?
You actually have the choice between our monthly coffee subscriptions, no-strings-attached one-off boxes and our gift box. In addition, we also offer custom subscriptions for collectives, coffee shops and other businesses who are looking to source larger amounts of coffee. Send us an email via our contact form to find out more.
What kind of coffees do you include in your coffee boxes?
We only select the highest quality single-origin coffees from the most exciting global roasters. They are the best in their field and take great pride in their craft. Some buy their coffees directly from the farmers, while others work with renowned green coffee importers who do that extra bit of legwork for them. Our coffees are all roasted to order and come packaged in the roasters’ own packaging.
How do you select your coffees?
We have a tasting panel consisting of professional baristas, roasters and competition judges who join us once a month to blind-taste and rate the large number of coffee samples that we receive. At the end of each cupping session, we pick the best tasting coffees to go into our next edition. That way, every roaster gets a fair chance at getting featured and our coffees are chosen purely based on craft, quality and taste.
Sometimes, these cuppings take place in other cities and are then also open to participation from the general public. Keep an eye on our events and Instagram pages for future announcements.
Are the coffees pre-ground?
No. We expressedly do not offer pre-ground coffees in our coffee boxes to ensure that the coffees maintain their maximum freshness and to keep unnecessary waste at a minimum. In addition, our roasters put a great deal of love and thought into their packaging and we celebrate their brands just as much as their coffees, which is another reason why we don’t want to tamper with their bags or repack their coffees into other bags.
Are your coffees organic or Rainforest Alliance certified?
Sometimes, we offer coffees that are organic certified but this is not something we pursue by matter of policy. The vast majority of the coffees we feature are organic by default because the producers don’t use any chemicals or pesticides on their farms, instead working primarily in close sybiosis with nature. Since getting certified is quite expensive and out of reach for small producers, this is not something we require.
How do the subscriptions work?
Our subscriptions are all billed at monthly recurring intervals and we offer a wide range of payment methods including credit card, direct debit and Paypal. There is a 3-month minimum duration period. You can keep the boxes coming for as long as you like and you can sometimes suspend your deliveries if you need to take a short break. Our boxes are always shipped on the 20th of every month or the next business day if the 20th falls on a weekend.
How much does a subscription cost?
We offer different price points for different coffee boxes depending on the number of bags included, the type of box and the duration of the delivery. You can find a complete overview in our shop. Our prices do not include shipping. Shipping costs are added at checkout depending on your location and the shipping service that you choose.
We work with Postnl and UPS for all of our shipping needs and do not make a profit on these shipping costs. This way we can offer you the best rates.
Collectives and B2B customers get discounts based on the number of bags ordered and shipping is done via UPS. Please contact our sales team via the contact form to find out more.
How easy is it to cancel my subscription?
Very easy. You can cancel anytime after an initial period of three months via your Coffeevine account. If you just want to try our our service first without committing, please select our one-off box. If you just want to take a break, you can also temporarily suspend your subscription or make changes the number of bags or roast profile that you want to receive.
When do you ship?
For our monthly coffee boxes, we work with a preorder system and ship only once a month, on the 20th (or the next business day if the 20th falls on a weekend of holiday) of the month. We do this to make sure our amazing roasters only have to freshly roast and ship their coffees to us once.
If this isn’t entirely clear, this example should help:
To subscribe in time for our April coffee box you must place your order between the 16th of March and the 15th of April. All orders received within that timeframe, will ship a few days later, on the 20th of April.
If your order was received on the 16th of April or after, it will count towards our next box, i.e. the May box and so on.
This can also mean that you might get billed twice before your first box arrives. If you have any concerns about your charges, please contact us. We’re always happy to help.
Once a shipment has left our HQ, we will send out separate confirmation and tracking emails. Please make sure you keep an eye on your ‘promotions’ folder as our emails often land there.
My box didn’t arrive! What now?
We offer our Standard tracked delivery and UPS as our two main shipping methods. The Standard tracked delivery method uses the postal network and is somewhat slower as packages are handled by different carriers. UPS is faster and only uses its own network.
99% of our boxes that ship with the Standard tracked delivery method arrive at their destinations without any issues. If your box has not been delivered to you within a reasonable time frame, please enter your tracking code on your local postal service’s website first as this will provide you with more information about the possible location of your package should it have been delivered to a local pick up point, for example.
You can also use https://parcelsapp.com/ as this is collates updates from all carriers into one place.
While we strive to deliver our boxes as quickly as possible, we do not give any guarantees for delivery within a certain time frame. The delivery depends on many factors including the speed at which boxes are forwarded to their destinations, how quickly they are processsed by local customs or how fast they can be delivered once they have arrived in the destination region.
It happens every now and again that a box is returned to us for different reasons. If you are a subscriber and your box was returned because you were on holiday or because you didn’t pick it up in time, we can send the contents back free of charge inside your next box.
If you provided an incorrect address, you didn’t claim your box or you bought a one-off box we can only resend it for an incidental shipping fee.
We do not provide refunds for any boxes that are still in transit and we reserve the right to assess each case one by one based on whether the box has been declared lost or arrived damaged. Should this be the case, you can contact us and we’ll find a solution for you.
Please note, if you live outside the EU, it could be that will get charged import duty and tax. We do not include these extra charges in our prices and do not assume responsibility for the extra cost you might incur.
Ok great! I received my box but I really don’t like the coffees. What now?
That’s a pity. We take the greatest care to select only the finest and most delicious coffees but of course, coffee is a very subjective product, not unlike wine, chocolate or cheese. If you really don’t like one of our coffees, why not give it to one of your friends? Sharing is caring!
(For hygiene reasons we absolutely cannot accept returns of opened coffee bags and we don’t offer refunds on opened bags.)
I’m really not very experienced with the whole coffee-making process. How can I learn to get the most out of my beans?
We regularly post handy brew guides to our blog with recipes of our own and recipes from the three brilliant roasters that we work with.
I love the coffee box. Can I also give this as a gift?
Absolutely! You can just select the gift coffee box option on our coffee box page and really help make someone’s day. Our gift boxes are prepaid for 3, 6 or 12 months and you can add a greeting card to make it more personal and tell your loved one, friend or colleague that it was you who sent it.
Or just keep it a secret and see if the lucky one can work it out for him/herself?
I loved one or more coffees from my box. Where can I get more?
That’s great to hear! The best way to order more coffee is to contact the roaster directly or to purchase more coffee from his / her webshop. This way you can support them directly and give them some love. Our customers and subscribers also get access to exclusive discount codes from our roasters so they can buy more coffee from them. Nice perk, right?
