10 Best Coffee Beans in Canada: 2024 Reviews & Top Picks

Drinking the best cup of coffee must start with the coffee itself. While the coffee maker is important, if your coffee grounds aren’t fresh or as high-quality as they should be, your daily cup (or multiple cups) of coffee just won’t bring you to coffee nirvana. So, grinding your own high-quality coffee beans is clearly the best way to go, but how do you choose the right ones?

These reviews of 10 of the best coffee beans for Canadians should help start you off on your quest. The buyer’s guide should also give you more insight into buying the right coffee.

A Quick Comparison of Our Favourites in 2024

	Image	Product	Details
Best Overall		Muskoka Roastery Loon Call	Rainforest Alliance Certified Multiple flavours to choose from Also available as grounds and pods	CHECK PRICE
Best Value		Kicking Horse Coffee Three Sisters	Smooth, mellow medium roast Available in different roasts, sizes, and decaf Fair-trade, kosher, organic beans made in Canada	CHECK PRICE
Premium Choice		Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee	No bitterness One of the best coffees in the world Mild, creamy, with notes of chocolate	CHECK PRICE
		Eight O’Clock The Original Whole Bean	Kosher certified Many flavours to choose from Rich and smooth with no bitterness	CHECK PRICE
		Death Wish Coffee Co. Valhalla Java	Higher than usual caffeine levels Dark roast, organic, and fair trade No bitterness, smooth and robust	CHECK PRICE

The 10 Best Coffee Beans in Canada

1. Muskoka Roastery Loon Call Breakfast Blend — Best Overall

The best overall coffee beans for Canadians are Muskoka Roastery’s Loon Call Breakfast Blend. It is made in Canada (the Muskoka area, to be exact) and is available in whole coffee beans, ground, and environmentally friendly pods. Additionally, Muskoka Roastery has multiple coffee beans to choose from (such as light and dark roasts, as well as flavoured). Loon Call Breakfast Blend is a full-bodied, medium roast with a hint of fruit and berry. The company is also Rainforest Alliance Certified, which means it only sources its coffee beans from sustainable farms that provide a higher quality of life for farm families.

The issue with these coffee beans is that you might find that the coffee is not quite as full-bodied as you’d like. Some people add spoonfuls of ground coffee into the filter to get the full flavour.

2. Kicking Horse Coffee Three Sisters — Best Value

The best coffee beans in Canada for the money is Kicking Horse Coffee Three Sisters. This is a coffee company based in Canada (Invermere, BC) that uses fair-trade, kosher, organic beans roasted on the doorstep of the Rocky Mountains. Kicking Horse has several roasts, from light to dark and from decaf to espresso. Three Sisters is just one of many, and it has tasting notes of cocoa and stone fruit and is just the right amount of mellow for a medium-roast coffee.

The main issue with this coffee is a few of the bags might suffer from quality control, where the beans might be over-roasted or oily.

3. Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee — Premium Choice

Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee is our pick for premium choice as this is a special coffee! Jamaica Blue Mountain coffee is considered one of the best coffees in the world. The beans are grown at specific altitudes in volcanic soil and are harvested and separated by hand. The Jamaica Coffee Industry Board (JCIB) must approve the beans, so if you don’t see the JCIB stamp of approval, they aren’t legitimate Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee beans. The coffee is creamy and mild without any bitterness and has notes of chocolate.

The problems are that it’s expensive and that to take full advantage of the flavour of these beans, you need to grind them and brew them at a specific water temperature. It’s a great deal of work but worth it!

4. Eight O’Clock The Original Whole Bean Coffee

Eight O’Clock The Original Whole Bean Coffee uses 100% Arabica beans, and the company has been brewing coffee for over 160 years. It has much more than the original blend, with 50 flavours for each of America’s states. It’s kosher certified, and the resulting coffee is smooth and rich with no bitterness. It’s also quite reasonably priced.

However, for some people, this is average coffee that lacks somewhat depth of flavour.

5. Death Wish Coffee Co. Valhalla Java

Death Wish Coffee Co. Valhalla Java is a dark roast that is organic and fair trade. What makes this coffee stand out from most others is that it contains higher than normal levels of caffeine. The coffee is smooth and robust but without bitterness and has earthy and chocolate tasting notes.

The flaws here start with the price. It is quite expensive, and while coffee connoisseurs appreciate caffeine, the high caffeine from Death Wish coffee might be too much for some consumers.

6. Raven’s Brew High Caffeine Deadman’s Reach Coffee

Raven’s Brew High Caffeine Deadman’s Reach Coffee is a robust coffee that has higher than usual caffeine levels. The coffee beans are packed in airtight bags shortly after they’ve been roasted. Raven’s Brew uses air roasting to avoid scorching the beans, which helps retain the flavour and keeps it from being bitter. The company supports sustainability through small family growers. This coffee has tasting notes of hazelnut and bittersweet chocolate.

The issues are that it’s pricey and the coffee beans are sometimes oily.

7. illy Caffe Whole Bean Coffee

Illy Caffe Whole Bean Coffee sources its beans from nine of the best Arabica coffees from around the world. Illy Caffe was created in Italy by the Illy family in 1933 and has been named one of the world’s most ethical companies. Part of this honour is due to how respectfully it treats its growers. Illy Caffe packs the beans in a pressurized and air-free can to retain the freshness, and when brewed, the coffee is smooth and rich, with notes of chocolate and caramel.

The cons are that it is fairly expensive for such a small tin and that it is shipped from overseas, so you’re not guaranteed the freshest beans.

8. West End Coffee Roasters, Columbia Supremo

The Columbia Supremo from West End Coffee Roasters is just one of the company’s available coffees (which also include decaf, espresso, and Ethiopian, to name a few). The beans are grown in Rainforest Alliance-certified farms in Huila, Colombia, and are processed using traditional methods. This includes manual hand cranking for the removal of the cherry from the beans and the beans being dried on raised beds, which provide good air circulation. The beans are roasted in Vancouver, BC, in small batches and are immediately packed to preserve freshness. The coffee is bright and a little acidic, with caramel and dark chocolate tasting notes.

However, it is pricey, and the bags don’t tend to have a roasting date stamp, making it hard to gauge how fresh the beans are.

9. Death Wish Coffee

Death Wish Coffee is called the world’s strongest coffee. It’s a robust dark roast with a bold flavour and a strong caffeine kick. But it’s also smooth with chocolate and black cherry tasting notes. While coffee lovers love the caffeine that gives them a boost of energy, they keep coming back for the smooth and rich taste. It’s organic and fair trade, and it’s available in grounds, pods, and whole beans.

But it is expensive, especially for Canadians, and the high caffeine content might not be for everyone.

10. Cooper’s Cask Coffee

Cooper’s Cask Coffee is essentially a variety pack. You get four bags of different flavours, as the coffee beans are aged in rye, rum, bourbon, and malt whiskey barrels. Each bag of coffee is 4 ounces, so you get 16 ounces of coffee altogether. The coffee roaster has joined up with distilleries, where the beans are aged 45 to 60 days in the barrels. The malt whiskey is made with Sumatra beans and is a medium-dark roast, the rye whiskey is made with Ethiopian beans and is a light roast, the rum features Rwandan beans and is a medium roast, and the bourbon uses Colombian beans and is a medium-dark roast. The coffee beans are roasted in small batches by artisan coffee roasters.

The problems with this coffee are that it is expensive and that not everyone wants to taste booze in their coffee. Also, some coffee drinkers might find the scent and flavour too strong, while others might want more.

Buyer’s Guide: Selecting the Best Coffee Beans in Canada

Before you go buy any coffee beans, here are a few tips about what you should look for when shopping.

Shop Local

The freshest coffee beans that you can get are from a coffee roaster in your area. If you prefer buying your coffee online, that’s fine, but if you’re having issues with stale coffee, consider shopping local.

Price

The price of your coffee beans is always an important part of shopping. How expensive the beans are depends on the brand and how much coffee you drink in a day. Also, just because one bag of coffee beans is $20 more expensive than another doesn’t automatically mean they taste better. You might need to experiment with different coffee beans until you find the right one for you. Aim for the smallest bags until you can establish your favourite.

Size

Sometimes, purchasing large bags of coffee beans can save you money. But if the beans go stale before you’re able to use them all, you’ll end up losing money. Consider how much coffee you drink in a day, and buy the right size accordingly. If you tend to only drink about one or two cups of coffee per day, you are probably better off with no more than a 340-gram bag at a time.

Tasting Notes

Most coffee roasters will mention their coffee beans’ roast and tasting notes. Dark roasts tend to have tasting notes of chocolate and sometimes fruit, but if you prefer lighter coffee and hope to have something with earthy notes, check out what’s written on the bag. The roast and the tasting notes can make or break your love of the coffee.

Conclusion

Our favourite overall coffee beans are Muskoka Roastery’s Loon Call Breakfast Blend. They are made in Muskoka and are a full-bodied, medium roast with a hint of fruit and berry. Kicking Horse Coffee Three Sisters is also based in Canada and uses fair-trade, kosher, and organic beans that are just the right amount of mellow for a medium-roast coffee. Jamaica Blue Mountain Coffee is our pick for premium choice because this is one of the best coffees in the world and must bear a certified stamp of approval.

We hope that these reviews of the best coffee beans in Canada have brought you a little closer to the perfect cup of coffee and the perfect morning!

See Also: 10 Best Espresso Coffee Beans in Canada: Reviews & Top Picks

Featured Image Credit: Spalnic, Shutterstock