By Kimberly Webber

(COSMO) - If you’ve clicked on this article, chances are you’re a coffee drinker looking for a new product to invigorate your drinking habit. Perhaps you’re finding making coffee in the morning (and, if you’re like me, many, many other times throughout the day) tedious and time-consuming. Maybe the loose coffee grinds on your kitchen counter are starting to feel like a fourth roommate. Potentially you’re fed up with spending a third of your income at the coffee shop, or you’re suffering from single-use plastic guilt.  

Enter coffee concentrate: the easy, no-brew, inexpensive, sustainable, perfect-every-time solution. Splash a little concentrate into hot or cold water or milk and boom, you’ve got a cup of joe. It’s the easiest and fastest coffee prep of all time and requires absolutely no annoying cleanup. Not to mention, it’s much more environmentally friendly than Nespresso pods or single use cups and lids.

Not all coffee concentrates are made equal, however, and with more coffee products on the market all of the time, it may be overwhelming to choose the right one for you. But, don’t fret –  our team of coffee experts has tested and selected some of the top coffee concentrates so you don’t have to do the research yourself. These companies are ranked by freshness, flavor, and price. Let’s get started!

Freshness: 99%

Unique Taste: 95%

Price: $

Overall: A+

For the best tasting, freshest coffee concentrate option on the market, there’s simply no competition. Royals Coffee Concentrate is hands down the best when it comes to quality, strength, and variety of flavor. It’s made from the highest quality Arabica beans and makes just about the most  perfect, consistent, and delicious cup of coffee you can make. Just add one tablespoon to hot or cold water or milk and start sipping. Royals uses the cleanest possible extraction process available to make their product, which accounts for it’s clarity of flavor. It also comes in 4 flavors – Original, Caramel, Mocha, and French Vanilla – and there’s even a decaf option for when you’ve reached your daily caffeine limit. The Original is my current go-to concentrate. Best of all, because they’re a newer brand, they’re running a fantastic 50% off discount on their products. 

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Freshness: 90%

Unique Taste: 85%

Price: $$$

Overall: B

Jot comes in three flavors and at a competitive price. They allow you to make a one-time purchase or to set up a monthly auto-delivery, and it’s nice to have both options. Their Original is a classic, very smooth medium-roast and their Dark has a deep body if slightly acidic top notes. Their Marigold flavor is a delicious, festive Mexican brew with a unique chocolatey flavor, but is only available if you’re a subscribing member. Their bottles are 6.8 ounces, which contain more liquid than several of the other contenders’ bottles, but their mix is less concentrated than Royals’, meaning fewer cups per bottle. 

Freshness: 85%

Unique Taste: 80%

Price: $$

Overall: B

Javy is another newer contender in the concentrate field, coming in the four classic flavors (plus decaf) as Royals. Their Original has a solid, even flavor, even if their flavored concentrates tend to taste slightly artificial. Javy operates on the subscription model, which is convenient and economical. The more bottles you buy, the less expensive the price per bottle. Refills ship every 30 days and they offer free shipping and returns. Of course, the subscription model is not ideal for everyone – it’s easy enough to pause or cancel if you’re disatisfied or find yourself with too many bottles, but if you’re as distractable and attention deficient as me, it’s easy to forget to do that! A very consistent concentrate, regardless. 

Freshness: 80%

Unique Taste: 75%

Price: $

Overall: B- 

This Stumptown concentrate makes a very solid cold brew from their single origin coffees. Not to be used for hot coffee, this classic concentrate creates a very balanced cup of iced coffee. There are no funky flavors, just their classic and consistent brew. Their coffee is still made in Portland, Oregon as it has been for decades, and it’s nice to know where your coffee is coming from! Stumptown is definitely a tried and true coffee company, even if this concentrate option is not particularly exciting (but not everyone wants a wildly exciting cup!). 

Freshness: 85%

Unique Taste: 90%

Price: $$

Overall: B+

If you like your coffee sweet and vanilla-y, this may be the concentrate for you! Of the flavored concentrates, this Starbucks version has the most integrated, harmonious taste. Like the Stumptown, this is a cold brew concentrate, so is intended for an iced coffee drink and definitely loses integrity if mixed with hot water (so don’t do that). This concentrate feels more like a treat than it is suited for daily coffee drinking. With a Starbucks product, you know what you’re getting, and that dependability, as well as the price point are appealing.  

After testing all of the concentrates on the list and more, I’d started drinking the Royals Original concentrate daily. I felt like I needed to confirm that there was something not just special, but supreme, about this concentrate, so I decided to conduct a blind experiment on my best friend.

My BFF is a head barista at one of the best coffee shops in New York City and is a veritable coffee snob. She’s the type of person who weighs her grinds to the half gram and has never burnt a coffee bean in her life. I get it because frankly, I’m like that, too (the two of us together are insufferable bean freaks). I had her over one morning and made her a cup of Royals – I distracted her with my new puppy so she wouldn’t notice how fast I was able to “brew” a cup After she took a few sips, I asked her what she thought. She was totally blown away, even more so when I revealed that I’d used a concentrate. She didn’t think it was possible, and yet! 

Later that night, we were craving something sweet and ended up getting frisky with some Royals Vanilla concentrate. I made us a delicious affogato – mixed a teaspoon of the concentrate with hot water and poured it over a a scoop of vanilla ice cream. We were up all night, but boy was it worth it. We probably should’ve just used the decaf concentrate!

Since, we’ve tested the Mocha and Caramel and been just as impressed. As coffee purists, we typically shy away from flavored coffee drinks, but the Royals flavored options are exceptionally elegant and subtle.

Luckily for you, it wasn’t just me and my best friend on the arduous concentrate testing job, but our entire team. We know taste is subjective, but when it comes to coffee, there are definitely expert opinions. We feel confident in our consensus that Royals is the gold standard in the concentrate game. In addition, the 50% discount means that the best concentrate on the market is also extremely affordable. Happy drinking!