What is Black Rifle Coffee?
Black Rifle Coffee Company is a veteran-owned coffee roaster located in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was founded by Evan Hafer in December 2014 and has since grown tremendously. Hafer, a former Special Forces Green Beret, has a history of aiming to employ veterans. The company boasts a 50% hire ratio for vets and a collective more than 200 years of military experience across its ranks.
Why’s it called that?
The name Black Rifle Coffee Company comes from Hafer’s experience in the armed forces. He was quoted saying, “The black rifles we carry in the military, they are life-saving equipment”. Black Rifle started off with just a few types of coffee roasts, but now boasts several different blends and flavor profiles. Their coffee makes you feel more patriotic as you drink it.
What are they known for?
Black Rifle Coffee Company packages and names their coffees with firearms in mind. Their most popular blends are the AK47 and Silencer Smooth blends. Each package is designed beautifully and features some symbol related to the name of the roast. Their coffee is the perfect gift for the gun enthusiast or serviceman in your life.
The roaster offers their unique coffees in two formats: bagged coffee or K-Cup. Most of their coffees are offered in both formats, but be sure you’re ordering the right one for your brewing purposes!
Another awesome thing that Black Rifle does is roast to order. When you order Black Rifle coffee, it will have been roasted within days of you receiving it. This blows the normal grocery store coffee supply chain out of the water. Most coffees you pick up from the grocery have been roasted up to 6 months prior to you brewing it. Black Rifle Coffee Company enables you to enjoy some of the freshest coffee around.
Below, we’re going to go through several of their coffees and talk about why we think Black Rifle will be your new favorite coffee roaster. If you’d like to jump to a specific coffee, click one of the links below and it’ll take you to a review of that coffee:
Caffeinated AF Coffee Roast – Bag, K-Cup
Similar to Death Wish Coffee, this coffee boasts a caffeine content double that found in the average cup of joe. The roast is comprised entirely of Colombian Excelso beans. Generally, Excelso beans create a medium-bodied, rich and bright cup of coffee with a clean aftertaste.
Black Rifle roasts this coffee on the lighter side of medium. We think it’s a great all-purpose coffee for brewing methods like drip, pour over, and French press.
The CAF roast comes in two formats: pre-ground bags and single-serving K-Cups. While we prefer our coffee to come in whole bean form, Black Rifle’s roast-to-order means that you’re getting some of the freshest pre-ground coffee on the market.
If you’re a coffee lover in desperate need of a morning jolt, we recommend trying out the CAF coffee roast from Black Rifle Coffee Company.
Just Black Coffee Roast – K-Cup
Just Black is a coffee roast for those who appreciate the bolder things in life. If you enjoy drinking coffee black and rarely add cream or sugar to your coffee, this blend is for you. It sits on the darker side of the roast spectrum, but isn’t so dark that it tastes bitter.
This is one of the roasts that Black Rifle is known for; it’s their signature roast perfect for anyone looking to try the company’s coffees out.
The coffee comes in single-serving K-Cups and is offered in 12 count, 32 count, and 50 count boxes.
Death Punch Coffee Roast – K-Cup
Death Punch is the new kid on the block when it comes to Black Rifle’s coffee blends. It comes from a partnership with heavy metal band Five Finger Death Punch and even features the band’s drum art on the package.
A portion of profits generated by sales of this coffee support the Home Deployment Project. This program supports US veterans with PTSD by providing counseling, medical services, social services, and housing while they recover. It’s a great way to give back while enjoying the same morning coffee routine.
The coffee itself is a dark roast that has some medium qualities to it. It is full-bodied but not so much as to make it bitter. We enjoy the boldness of this coffee and love that we can give back to our servicemen and women in the process.
The coffee comes in a 12 count box of K-Cups, so make sure you have a Keurig before purchasing this delicious blend.
AK-47 Espresso Blend – K-Cup
The AK-47 Espresso Blend from Black Rifle Coffee Company is a caffeine-loaded single-serving coffee that is sure to wake you up and obliterate your case of the Mondays. It is a delicate blend of Brazilian and Colombian coffees that have been meticulously roasted to achieve an authentic espresso boldness.
The coffee blend is roasted on the lighter side, but still packs a heck of a punch. It comes in K-Cup format in 12 count and 50 count boxes of “rounds”.
If you’re a fan of espresso coffee, but don’t have a way to recreate that bold espresso flavor at home, you’ll love the AK-47 Espresso Blend from Black Rifle.
Silencer Smooth Coffee Roast – K-Cup
The Silencer Smooth coffee roast is a lighter coffee roast that is guaranteed to sooth your craving for coffee. It offers a delicate flavor profile that is accented with the signature Black Rifle caffeine jolt you have grown to love.
We like Silencer Smooth for our weekend brew when you don’t need nearly as much strength in each cup. You can keep coming back to the pot for more delicious coffee as you go about your Saturday chores.
The roast comes in single-serving K-Cup coffee “rounds” and is available in 32 and 52 count boxes. If you like your coffee on the lighter side, but still appreciate the caffeine buzz, the Silencer Smooth roast will not disappoint.
Mission Fuel Kits
If you’re one of those people who goes to a new restaurant and wants to try everything on the menu, the Mission Fuel Kit is the Black Rifle coffee for you. The kit comes in a cardboard box that closely resembles a tin of ammo. It is stuffed with 48 single-serving K-Cup “rounds” in a variety of Black Rifle coffees.
The box includes the AK-47 Espresso, Just Black, Beyond Black, and Silencer Smooth blends. The Beyond Black blend is one of the darkest blends that Black Rifle offers. It is an incredibly bold flavor for those that yearn for their coffee to be as strong as their biceps.
If you like the full spectrum of coffee from light to dark roast, we recommend giving the Mission Fuel Kit a try.