7 Donut Shop Coffee Blends, Ranked Worst To Best

If you're anything like me, the very first thing you do each morning is make a cup of coffee to give you the energy needed to tackle the rest of your day, or at least the next few hours until it's time for the next cup. Of course, coffee people (myself included) will tell you that not all blends are created equally, and everyone has their preference. For me, I prefer donut shop coffee blends. It's a style that deliver smooth, classic-tasting coffee that pairs well with breakfast or dessert thanks to incorporated flavor tones such as cocoa, roasted nuts, and caramel.

Although there are light and dark donut shop varieties available from different brands, my favorite options are medium roast blends because they balance that smooth finish with a somewhat bold taste. Yet even among donut shop coffee blends, numerous options abound. How are you supposed to pick the perfect one to start your day?

This question set me off on a journey to try all of the donut shop coffee blends I could get my hands on and then rank them from worst to best. To determine each blend's ranking, I assessed the smell and taste. Beyond my love of coffee, I also relied on my past experience in the food industry to make my determinations. You can find my full methodology at the end of this article. Ready to dive in? Let's get into it.

Despite being the lowest ranked donut shop coffee on this list, the Good and Gather Donut Shop Blend isn't terrible. It's not like I gagged while drinking it or felt repulsed by the smell (which has happened more often than I like when doing these ranking articles). Rather, it was just kind of a disappointment that didn't live up to my expectations of what coffee should be. If I had to summarize it, I'd say this option was just a hair below mediocrity.

The scent was fine and featured a predominately nutty flavor profile with faint hints of the sweet cocoa tones that help make donut shop blends what they are. The smell didn't really portray any significant bitterness, although my first taste did. That first sip was embodied by much more bitterness than I would have liked, framed by mild nutty tones and faint sweet notes. But, like most of the lower ranking options, this tasted watered down — and that's despite being a medium roast coffee. Plus, there was a lingering bitter aftertaste that I found mildly unpleasant.

I won't be purchasing this Good and Gather coffee again, nor will I be drinking it if someone else offers it to me. Skip this and choose a better embodiment of the donut shop coffee blend flavor profile.

Bowl and Basket is the private label of Shoprite, which is where I do most of my grocery shopping. That being said, I haven't always had the best experiences with the private label. For example, I recently ranked the Bowl and Basket frozen green beans as one of the worst available options. Still, the brand has a few excellent products, and I'm always willing to give them a chance. Unfortunately, that chance was wasted when it comes to the Bowl and Basket Donut Shop Coffee Blend.

The scent was robust but surprisingly singular in its complexity. While every other donut shop coffee blend on this list had multi-layered scent profiles, this one mostly just smelled bitter. If I brought my nose really close to the cup, I may have detected the mildest cocoa notes, but it was so faint that my mind may have been playing tricks on me. The taste was similarly simple, featuring a predominant bitterness with undertones of roasted nuts and cocoa. Those undertones were very faint, and I'm honestly not sure that most people would pick up on them. All that aside, I did rank this option better than Good and Gather because it's just slightly less watered down.

I won't be purchasing this coffee again, nor can I recommend it in any good faith. Instead, choose either of the top two donut shop coffee blends to avoid starting your day off with disappointment or mediocrity.

One thing I want to note about this specific donut shop coffee is that it was only available in the larger size. This was mildly annoying because I was aiming to purchase the smaller sizes of each coffee so that I didn't waste as much if I didn't enjoy it after the initial taste test. That being said, Signature Select is the private label of Acme Grocer, which falls under the parent company of Albertsons.

The scent of this coffee while brewing was very light, which I was a little disappointed in. While most of the other options filled my kitchen with a thick aroma of coffee compounds, this one just ... didn't. As I was pouring my cup, I did smell faint notes of nuttiness, bitterness, and warmth, but it was underwhelming, to say the least. When I took my first sip, I immediately noticed this was a distinctly light roast. While I wasn't a fan of this watered-down flavor on its own, I have to say that it worked really well with a little bit of sweetened coffee creamer. Instead of overwhelming the creamer, this Signature Select Donut Shop Collection Coffee Blend balanced it beautifully.

I probably won't purchase this again because there are options I prefer more. However, you wouldn't be amiss to try this if you regularly drink your coffee with creamer.

The Barrisimo Donut Store Blend is a product from one of Aldi's private labels. And I'm a huge fan of Aldi. Previously, I've done rankings on the store's ground meat options and taken a deep dive into Aldi bakery items to see how they stacked up. Spoiler alert — most of its items are unexpectedly delicious. But that makes it all the more disappointing to discover that I simply didn't enjoy this coffee blend the way I wanted to.

The smell was nice, even if it was a little less complex than some of the other coffee options in our ranking. It was distinctly nutty with faint hints of caramel, but that's where the depth ended. Still, it was a pleasant, robust scent that made my kitchen smell lovely. Moving on to my taste test, I found myself rather let down. You can taste the nuttiness and the caramel tones, with a distinct bitterness, but everything is very watered down. It's almost like someone filled the glass only halfway with coffee and then dumped water to top it off. As someone who appreciates a bolder taste, I really wasn't impressed.

This isn't the worst coffee I've ever had by any means, but I wouldn't choose to drink it again. Skip this and choose one of the higher-ranking donut shop blends instead if you really want to start your day off right.

Eight O' Clock Coffee is a brand I've seen on my grocery store shelves countless times for as far back as I can remember, but I've never actually tried any of its coffee blends. Obviously, I was excited to give it a go — and, truthfully, trying new brands is one of my favorite things about the rankings I do for Daily Meal. While I wasn't wowed by the Eight O' Clock Coffee Donut Shop Blend, I can't say I was terribly disappointed, either.

The scent was a little less robust than I would have liked, but it embodied everything I expect from this type of coffee blend. Light cocoa notes were streaked with a mild bitterness and almost caramel-esque undertone, overlaying a primarily nutty scent profile. This smell turned out to be mostly indicative of the flavor profile, except that the caramel undertone didn't really shine through while I enjoyed my cup of joe. It was also a little weaker than I would have personally preferred. Truthfully, it was hard to decide between this brand and the one that ranks just one level higher, but I ultimately decided I preferred the other option a little more.

This is an excellent representation of your most basic, run-of-the-mill donut shop coffee that may not be memorable but will satisfy your craving nonetheless. I won't buy it again simply because there are brands that I prefer more, but I would definitely drink it again.

Great Value is Walmart's store brand, and its products can be very hit or miss. For example, it has some fantastic Walmart frozen pasta options, but the Great Value bread came in dead last on my ranking of store-bought white bread. So, going into this taste test, I really had no idea what to expect, despite having a lot of prior experience with the Great Value brand.

One thing I immediately noticed about the Great Value Donut Shop Coffee is that it has a very distinct, highly pleasant scent. As someone who values the smell of their foods (and drinks) a lot, this was a great thing for me. The scent is much more chocolate-toned than the other options on this list, with a light sweetness that seems to cancel out any bitterness. Although there's a light nuttiness, it plays second fiddle to the cocoa. This wasn't exactly indicative of the taste of the coffee, which was much lighter than I would have expected and a little more bitter than the smell suggests. While the chocolate tones are there, they aren't nearly as strong as they smell, and this allows the nutty flavors to shine more, which I appreciate.

While this wasn't my favorite donut shop coffee blend, I would definitely drink this again. If you do most of your shopping at Walmart, this is a pretty good store label option.

Chock Full O' Nuts is my normal coffee brand, and its donut shop blend is my daily brew. That being said, I approached this drink with the same curiosity and impartiality as every other brand on this list. Of course, I was happy to note that it remained my top donut shop coffee choice — which is a rarity. When I undertake these types of rankings, my "favorite" option so often ranks lower than I expected.

Starting off strong, the Chock Full O' Nuts Donut Shop Coffee Blend has a beautiful, strong smell when brewing. It is the epitome of everything you'd look for when brewing a perfect cup of coffee, with the scent featuring a warm nuttiness interspersed with faint notes of bitterness. Beneath this are chocolatey undertones that you'd almost miss if you weren't looking for them. Pouring the brew into a coffee cup causes a strong wave of the scent to wash over your senses, and you can't help but take a deep inhale. From the first sip, you realize the scent is very reminiscent of the taste. A distinct nutty flavor profile is the strongest, with mild notes of bitterness. That chocolatey scent shows itself at the last second, just as you swallow and the other flavors begin to melt away.

I highly recommend grabbing yourself a container of this coffee. Once you do, you'll see exactly why this ranked as the top donut shop coffee blend.

I chose donut shop coffee blends for inclusion in this ranking based on their availability to me locally. To secure the widest selection, I purchased blends from my local Acme, Shoprite, Target, Aldi, and Walmart stores, which were each located in the greater Vineland, New Jersey, area. Each blend was brewed the same way in my standard coffee machine and tasted first without any additions. After the initial few sips, I added a small amount of sweetened creamer, as this is my personal preference for my coffee. I assessed each cup of coffee based on smell and taste.

To make my determinations, I primarily relied on a great love of coffee and over 20 years of drinking multiple cups per day. My 15 years of experience in the food industry also played a role, as did my previous experience creating rankings for Daily Meal. Although personal preference played a role in this ranking, I aimed to be as unbiased about product quality as possible.