- I tried every available coffee flavor from 7-Eleven and Wawa to see which chain's brews were better.
- I preferred the coffee at 7-Eleven because of its range of bitter, sweet, and smooth flavors.
- Wawa had a great variety of coffee, but I found grounds at the bottom of some of the cups.
I've tried black coffee from several fast-food chains and recently set out to find the best convenience store options. After trying every available coffee from Wawa and 7-Eleven, I preferred the latter for its wide selection and range of flavors.
As someone who typically drinks my coffee black, I was looking for something that wouldn't taste too bitter but wasn't overly sweet.
After trying five 7-Eleven and eight Wawa coffee flavors, I found that I greatly preferred one chain over the other.
7-Eleven's selection ranged from bitter to sweet
The coffee station at my local 7-Eleven in New Jersey is a self-serve area with various sweeteners and creamers available.
I tried all five available flavors: 7-Breakfast, Colombia, 7-Brazilian, hazelnut, and french vanilla.
The 7-Breakfast flavor was light, with no bitterness or aftertaste.
I initially liked my first sip of the Colombian, as it had a very rich coffee flavor. However, it had an extremely bitter aftertaste.
The 7-Brazilian flavor had an oddly smokey taste that reminded me of cigarettes, and I had to toss this after a few sips.
Though I usually don't like sweet flavors, french vanilla and hazelnut were my favorite coffees from 7-Eleven.
The french vanilla coffee had a very sweet smell, but it had a pleasant, mild flavor that didn't taste like vanilla at all.
The hazelnut coffee was smooth and flavorful without being too sweet.
Overall, I was surprised that my favorite coffees from 7-Eleven were its sweet ones since I typically prefer plain medium roasts.
Wawa's coffee seemed fresh, but some flavors were too intense
When I arrived at Wawa, an employee was refilling the containers with what appeared to be freshly-brewed coffee, which made me hopeful for what I was about to drink.
I was really impressed with the chain's selection. Wawa had french vanilla, hazelnut, cinnamon bun, regular, decaf, dark roast, Columbia, and Cuban coffee available.
The cinnamon-bun flavor wasn't too bitter or too sweet and tasted like a standard light cup of coffee with cinnamon added in. However, the cinnamon-bun coffee smelled overly sweet, which initially made me want to avoid drinking it at all.
Though I saw an employee switch out multiple coffee containers, the dark roast was the first coffee I tried from Wawa that actually tasted fresh. However, it was the most bitter coffee I drank from either convenience store.
Wawa's Colombian coffee was a medium roast that was smooth and not bitter and was easily my favorite of the chain's coffees. It also smelled pleasant and didn't have a bitter aftertaste as the 7-Eleven Colombian coffee did.
I found Wawa's Cuban flavor too bitter and almost undrinkable.
I tried Wawa's french-vanilla flavor first and flinched at how intensely sweet it was. The coffee tasted syrupy and I found myself missing the subtle sweetness of 7-Eleven's version.
The hazelnut coffee was far less sweet and had a vaguely nutty flavor, though it wasn't as delicious as its 7-Eleven counterpart.
The decaf and regular coffees were both described as mild roast.
The regular coffee was far more bitter than I expected from a mild roast.
The decaf flavor was better than the regular one, though it was still very bitter.
I noticed coffee grounds in some of the cups from Wawa
While drinking Wawa's Colombian coffee, I had a sip with coffee grounds in it.
I checked my other cups and saw that five of the eight coffee flavors I tried from Wawa all had varied, but sizeable, amounts of grounds at the bottom.
I've tried hot black coffee from about a dozen fast-food and coffee chains, and have never found grounds in my cup until now.
I had already preferred 7-Eleven's coffee, but this cemented my decision.
When a representative for Wawa was reached for comment about the grounds, they shared that the brand "includes recurring quality checks for our coffee program across all our stores" and "take this process very seriously and always want to ensure we are serving the highest quality coffee in every Wawa store every day."
They went on to say they believe this is "an isolated situation" and seemed eager to address it, which I did appreciate. I have a lot of friends who are huge Wawa fans and they told me they'd never found grounds in their coffee before, which made me believe it could've just been some bad luck.
Grounds aside, I preferred 7-Eleven's coffee and range of tasty flavors
After trying its range of flavors and enjoying most of its coffee, it was clear that 7-Eleven was the winner.
Both chains had plenty of options, so coffee drinkers who prefer rich dark roasts or sweeter flavors could find something at either location — but to me, 7-Eleven was the better chain for a morning brew.
Though small cups of coffee at 7-Eleven cost $2.09 and the Wawa coffee cost $1.85 each, I would rather pay 24 cents extra for a beverage that I enjoy more.