About Black Rifle Coffee Company
Black Rifle Coffee Company was founded in 2014 in Salt Lake City, Utah, by Evan Hafer, a Green Beret and former CIA contractor, alongside Jarred Taylor, Richard Ryan, and Mat Best. The company is veteran-owned and majority veteran-operated, and it has grown from a one-pound home roaster into a national coffee brand sold through wholesale, direct-to-consumer, and its own retail "outposts," backed by a growing roasting operation that includes a facility investment in Manchester, Tennessee.
Black Rifle went public on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker BRCC in February 2022, and its lineup now spans whole bean and ground coffee, K-Cup pods, ready-to-drink cold brew cans, instant coffee, and decaf, alongside a recurring Coffee Club subscription. On our own cupping table, its Silencer Smooth Light Roast earned the highest owner rating of any bean in our coffee beans roundup -- a Colombia-and-Brazil blend built to win over drinkers who assume they dislike light roasts, with milk chocolate and caramel notes in place of the sour, thin profile that scares people away from lighter roasts.
Brand website: blackriflecoffee.com
What Black Rifle Coffee Company makes
Black Rifle Coffee Company's range runs wider than the products we review. The lines we know best from our own testing are marked with a star:
Whole bean & ground coffee
light, medium, and dark roast blends -- our featured pick is from this line — featured on Brew Gazette
Ready-to-drink cold brew cans
canned cold brew in Just Black and Vanilla, 150mg caffeine per can
K-Cup pods
Keurig-compatible pods including Just Black and Freedom Fuel
Instant coffee & steep bags
single-serve instant and steep-bag formats for travel and camp use
Decaf coffee
decaffeinated whole bean and ground options
Why we recognized Black Rifle Coffee Company
The Brew Gazette Top Brand recognition isn't paid for and can't be applied for. We award it to the brands whose products consistently stand out in our hands-on category reviews. Black Rifle Coffee Company earned it on the strength of the products below, evaluated the same way every product on this site is: bought, brewed with daily, and judged on what lands in the cup.
Black Rifle Coffee Company products we rated highly
Black Rifle Coffee Silencer Smooth Light Roast
The highest owner rating of any bean in our 10 Best Coffee Beans roundup -- a smooth, approachable light roast built for drinkers who assume they dislike light roasts because they associate them with sour, thin, under-developed coffee. It cups as milk chocolate, caramel, and hazelnut with a soft, mellow body and none of the sharp acidity that scares people away from lighter beans, using a Colombia-and-Brazil base roasted to keep more of the bean's origin sweetness intact.
Read the 10 Best Coffee Beans of 2026 guide →What earned Black Rifle Coffee Company the recognition
- The highest owner rating (4.7 stars) of any bean in our coffee bean testing, earning its place among our top picks against nine other blends.
- Veteran-founded and majority veteran-operated, started in 2014 by Green Beret and former CIA contractor Evan Hafer alongside Jarred Taylor, Richard Ryan, and Mat Best -- a credential verifiable outside of Amazon review counts.
- Publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under BRCC since February 2022, with real capital behind its roasting operations, including a facility investment in Manchester, Tennessee.
- Its Silencer Smooth Light Roast defies the light-roast stereotype, cupping as milk chocolate, caramel, and hazelnut with a soft body rather than the thin, sour profile that turns many drinkers off of lighter roasts.
- A broad product line -- whole bean and ground coffee, K-Cups, ready-to-drink cold brew, and instant coffee -- sold direct-to-consumer, wholesale, and through its own retail outposts.