The Ultimate Ranking Of Canned Coffee Brands

Coffee consumption in the U.S. is at record levels, and ready-to-drink coffee is growing in popularity. These convenient canned (and occasionally bottled) coffee drinks, perfect for grabbing on the go, are taking up more space on grocery store shelves than ever, with new brands regularly introducing their own brews. Canned coffee can stay fresh for a while too, making it great to stock your pantry with. So, when faced with so much variety, which canned coffee brand should you reach for? There are the tried-and-true household names like Starbucks and Dunkin', but what about the smaller, lesser-known offerings?

As a coffee connoisseur, hardcore caffeine fiend, and former barista, these ready-to-drink coffees have intrigued me lately. For a long time, I've thought of them as nothing more than a convenient caffeine boost to grab on the go, not something to seek out unless I was in too much of a hurry to stop and get a "real" coffee. Maybe, though, I wasn't giving them enough credit. Could a canned coffee reach the heights of a properly brewed fresh cup? And if so, which ones are the best of the best? I tasted nine brands, thirteen total individual coffees, and ranked each brand according to flavor, value, and quality, from worst to best. While I may never sleep again, at least now I know which brews to reach for, and which ones to leave on the shelf.

I'll preface this by saying, this coffee is not for me. If you are looking for a sugar-free canned flavored latte, maybe this will have some appeal. Personally, I didn't find much to enjoy in this can except for the initial vanilla aroma. Once I tasted it, I didn't want to have another sip. That's partially because, as I've discovered over the years, I don't enjoy stevia-sweetened beverages. Stevia is a popular alternative sweetener, but to my palate, it adds an unpleasantly bitter, chalky flavor that takes over. Unfortunately, that means this coffee was my least favorite of the bunch.

What it reminded me of more than anything was a protein powder shake. I don't drink those for the taste, and I wouldn't drink this for the taste either, but if you're looking for a functional beverage, perhaps it'll be something for you. It's high in protein and low in carbs, so nutrition-wise, it's not a bad choice. If you can handle stevia, give it a try; if stevia is not your thing, I'd go with something else.

I must admit, I've never understood the widespread appeal of Dunkin' coffee. Having spent some time living in the chain's birthplace, Massachusetts, where there's a Dunkin' on every corner, I have had my fair share of the stuff. It always struck me as unremarkable coffee at best, or downright awful at worst. Take my opinions here with a grain of salt, I suppose, although I do try to stay as objective and open-minded as possible whenever I am reviewing a product.

The Dunkin' original iced coffee comes in a 13.7-ounce bottle. It's made with real dairy, a combination of skim milk and cream, and sweetened with cane sugar. When I opened and poured it, I took a sniff and got nothing. It may as well have been water. I wondered if I'd lost my sense of smell. On the palate, it's just pure sugar — I had a hard time discerning any recognizable coffee flavor. That said, it wasn't offensive, just kind of boring and way too sweet. After a few sips, I felt like I had a sugar high. And it's no wonder. Dunkin's iced coffee contained the most added sugar of any product on this list, clocking in at 28 grams per serving — or 57 percent of the recommended daily allowance. If you're looking for a sugar bomb, this might be for you.

As a frequent Trader Joe's shopper, I'm always tempted by their coffee offerings, and every time I give in, I get burned. I'm not sure what it is about their coffee that doesn't do it for me, but I've tried a ton of their products and am always disappointed. I was hoping things would be different with their ready-to-drink cold brew cans. I like the size of the cans — eight ounces is just about the perfect amount of coffee, if you ask me — and the design is attractive. 

Unfortunately, what was inside didn't match up. Both the black and the vanilla-flavored cold brew were thin, without much richness or texture to speak of. I liked the black coffee's flavor at first but, as I kept drinking it, the bitterness on the finish began to compound so intensely that by the time I was halfway through the can, I thought I was drinking a triple IPA. I don't mind a bitter coffee, and I drink mine black fairly often, but there's something harsh about the way these coffees finish. I appreciated that the vanilla coffee wasn't overly sweet, but the flavor balance was off. These were the least expensive coffees on the list, but I'd rather spend more to get a tastier brew.

Full disclosure, Peet's is my local coffee spot, and has been for over a decade. I'm a big fan of their in-house coffees, and I use their coffee beans when I brew at home. I wasn't familiar with their ready-to-drink bottles, and so was quite curious to give them a shot. The vanilla creme coffee is the only one I tried, and as familiar as I am with their brand, this coffee took me by surprise.

This is the second most sugar-packed coffee on this list, with Dunkin' edging it out by one gram. I was shocked by how sweet it was. Unlike the Dunkin' offering, however, it actually had some coffee flavor to it, which made it less cloying and somewhat more enjoyable to drink. That said, it's a massive bottle at 13.7 ounces, and I found myself feeling like I'd had enough after just a few sips. It's decadently rich and creamy, and you can tell it's good quality, but I would consider it a special treat to enjoy once in a while, rather than an everyday grab-and-go coffee.

This is an odd one. Black Rifle Coffee Company's espresso with cream seems pretty straightforward, and I thought it would be, but it turned out to be one of the more interesting coffees that I tried. At first, I was smacked with an odd earthy taste that reminded me of mushrooms. I couldn't get past it. I set the coffee aside for a while, and when I went back to try it again, that flavor had mellowed out and the coffee had become smooth and pleasant. I'm not sure what was going on with those first sips, but once that oddness passed, this was an enjoyable canned coffee.

Clocking in at 200 milligrams of caffeine, this is not a can for the faint of heart. It's got just enough sweetness and creaminess to balance out the prominent coffee flavor without becoming a dessert drink. It's the only item on this list that bills itself as an espresso, rather than a coffee, so I'm glad they didn't water down the coffee flavor. If I'm looking for a serious buzz, I'll be reaching for this can. 

La Colombe's draft lattes are a delight to drink. I tried the triple, which is made with real milk, and the vanilla with oat milk. Both were creamy and very sippable, with good balance. The coffee flavor on both was fairly subtle, but as they're marketed as lattes, that didn't bother me too much. They're canned with nitrous oxide, a popular technique for coffee these days, which accounts for the creaminess. I did find that compared to other nitro coffees, the froth and richness faded pretty quickly, which was a little bit disappointing.

Still, despite that one flaw, these coffees were among my favorites to drink. If you're looking for a canned latte that's milk-forward and not bitter at all, La Colombe is probably the brand for you. At 150 milligrams of caffeine per can, the triple will definitely give you a good charge, and it's so smooth, mellow, and creamy you won't even realize it.

Starbucks' black nitro cold brew, which was widely launched in 2019, is marvelous. Of all the nitro brews, it had the best and longest-lasting froth — I felt like I was back in Dublin drinking a perfectly poured Guinness. The flavor profile is deep, rich, and roasted which, along with the mouth-filling texture, makes it an incredibly satisfying coffee to drink. The balance is great, with enough of a bitter tinge on the finish to let you know you're drinking a serious coffee, but it doesn't go too far or become too overwhelming.

I also tried the vanilla sweet cream cold brew from Starbucks. It was less impressive, but not bad. It smelled intensely sweet up front, like vanilla ice cream, so I was expecting a dessert-level amount of sugar. The smell, however, is somewhat misleading. There are only 13 grams of added sugars here, so it's not nearly as sickeningly sweet as some of these other vanilla concoctions. There's not a ton of coffee flavor in the vanilla cold brew, but it is there in the background. Personally, I wanted it to be more coffee-forward, but it's good for what it is.

Quite honestly, I was shocked by how much I liked Chamberlain Coffee's vanilla latte with oat milk. It was the only coffee I tried from this brand, and now I want to seek out more. The bubble on the can that said "sweeter recipe" concerned me — how sweet would it be? I'd already tasted several too-sugary coffees and was worried I couldn't take another one. To my surprise, however, the sweetness was really pleasant and not at all overpowering, and well balanced with the other flavors. It's sweetened with a combination of date syrup and cane sugar, which may have something to do with its unique sweetness profile.

Unlike the vast majority of the other vanilla coffees on this list, Chamberlain's actually tastes like coffee with vanilla, and not the other way around. I didn't have to search for the coffee flavor, as it was perfectly integrated, offering a pleasing nuttiness and lightly roasted flavor. While this didn't take the top spot, it was my favorite of all the vanilla offerings. Plus, it gets points for having an adorable can.

Here we are at number one, and I'm going to sing the praises of Rise coffee. The two varieties I sampled were the original black and the oat milk vanilla. Both come in seven-ounce cans and are nitro-infused. These are the smallest products out of everything I tried, and they're not particularly cheap. However, the quality of these coffees was so high, and the flavor so good, that even after dinging them a bit in the value category, they still ranked above all the rest.

The cans may be small, but they're bursting with flavor. The original black boasts 180 milligrams of caffeine, so it packs a mighty punch. The second you open the can and hear that hiss, aromas jump out — pungent, nutty, chocolatey, dark, and roasted scents that also show up on the palate. The nitro gives the coffee a gorgeously rich, frothy texture that holds up for some time. While I loved the original black, I only liked the oat milk vanilla; the vanilla aroma was so intense it almost put me off after the absolute perfection of the black. As I drank it, though, I found it to be quite enjoyable. It's not too sweet, and the nitro-infused creaminess works beautifully with the flavors. You can actually taste the coffee, too, which wasn't always the case with the other brands' vanilla offerings. I will be adding Rise coffees into my regular rotation, and I recommend you do, too.

To decide which coffee brands to include in this ranking, I shopped around at my local grocery stores to see which ones were readily available from multiple different grocery retailers. To keep things simple, I narrowed down the possible selections to plain black coffee, coffee with milk or milk substitutes, and coffee flavored with vanilla. Some brands only offered one of these styles, while others had two.

I tasted each coffee and assessed it based on flavor, quality, and value. For brands that offered two selections, I averaged them both out and used that assessment as representative of the brand as a whole. The two main criteria I based the rankings on — would I happily drink the entire can (or bottle), and would I purchase this coffee again? The more enthusiastically I answered these questions, the higher they ranked on the list.