10 Best Costco Coffees to Try (Whole Bean & Ground Coffee)

This post breaks down the ten best Costco coffees you should try. These whole bean and ground coffees (and cups and pods, too) represent the cream of the crop for Costco coffees this year.

The US is home to 574 Costco warehouses, and I’m pretty sure my wife and I have been to 573 of them.

All jokes aside, we’re both huge fans of the stores, their corporate policies, and their online shopping options. Our household is a major consumer of coffee products. We’ve been down the road and back again with every coffee Costco sells.

You might also be interested in my post about the best coffees to try at Central Market.

1- Best Overall Coffee at Costco – Ruta Maya Organic Jiguaní Whole Bean Coffee

There’s a lot going on with Ruta Maya’s Café Jiguaní.

First, it’s made to mimic traditional Cuban coffee production, roasting, and blending. That means a gourmet coffee experience spiked with toasted nuts, cacao, and smoky spices. It also produces a unique coffee aroma that practically rolls out of the cup and fills your space with a classic roast coffee bean sweetness.

Next, it has a really dark roast, like it’s darker than most coffees labeled “dark roast.” It’s not quite a black or French roast, but it’s considerably darker than most American-style dark roast coffees. This reduces the caffeine content quite a bit. Consider this a “session coffee,” if you will, a brew you can make and drink several cups of back to back.

In other words, you’ll want to drink more than just one cup. These beans are USDA Certified Organic, shade-grown, 100% Arabica, produced in the traditional manner by a co-operative of Mayan farmers in Chiapas, Mexico.

The day I visited to put this post together, you can get a 5-pound bag for under $50. While $9 or so per pound is a bit more than most people spend for an everyday coffee, it makes this an achievable top-shelf coffee that’s widely accessible from Costco.

It’s my favorite coffee Costco sells by a wide margin.

Buy Ruta Maya Organic Jiguaní Whole Bean Coffee – my favorite coffee at Costco – online or have it delivered same-day. You can also usually find it at your local Costco warehouse.

2- Best K-Cup Coffee Pods at Costco – Tim Hortons Original Blend

If there’s a Platonic ideal of a cup of coffee, it should be a lot like Timmy’s Original Blend.

Despite their insistence on putting gravy on fries, 30 million Canadians can’t be wrong. Tim Hortons is to Canada what Starbucks is to the US, a ubiquitous coffee shop chain visited by 80% of Canadians at least once a month.

When you brew a K-cup of Tim Hortons Original Blend, you’re getting the real deal, as made in thousands of stores across North America.

The company is expanding globally, including plans to build a bunch of new shops in Texas and Florida. This displays the genius of Tim Hortons’ executives. If you can make it in retail-crazed Texas and Florida, the lands of snowbirds and retirees, you can branch out into smaller or more regional markets. Tim Hortons’ coffee comes from 100% Arabica beans. It’s roasted, blended, and brewed to reduce bitterness. The word “smooth” is right there in the advertising copy, but it’s no boast. This is a smooth coffee. It’s also aromatic, and balanced in profile, with that perfect donut shop coffee mouthfeel. The reduction in acid doesn’t mute the blend’s strong coffee flavor. That’s the real magic of this coffee.

The fact is, most people love this coffee, even us uncultured Americans. Online reviews of the product as sold at Costco are strong.

You can find Tim Hortons Original Blend K-Cup Pods in a 100-count box at Costco warehouses or have them shipped to your house. This is my favorite K-Cup from Costco, and it isn’t even close. It’s a crowd-pleaser, the kind of coffee that fills the house with its aroma and wakes people up happy.

3- Best Nespresso Compatible Coffee at Costco – Peet’s Coffee Capsules

These Nespresso-compatible aluminum capsules are super easy to use and produce an excellent cup of coffee in very little time. I don’t know any better sales pitch than that.

If you don’t live in a city where Peet’s Coffee runs one of their 200 stores in the US and a few international markets, you may not know much about it. Peet’s makes awesome coffee shop-style coffee, but it’s their variety of retail products like whole bean and ground coffees that I really appreciate. What began as a small whole bean coffee retail store in Berkeley is now a household name with $1 billion in annual revenue.

Peet’s original blend is a 100%-Arabica bean coffee in a medium roast. This pod makes a brew that reviewers say tastes “exactly like Nespresso.” When I last checked the price, the cost was around $0.56 per capsule. That’s about half the price of a small coffee at McDonald’s.

You can buy Peet’s Coffee Nespresso Compatible Aluminum Capsules in an 80-count box, or have them delivered. It’s also available for same-day delivery in some areas.

4- Best Light Roast Coffee at Costco – Mayorga Buenos Días Light Roast Whole Bean Coffee

Most people I know stick to lighter roasts first thing in the morning. Not only are lighter roasts the ideal “wake-up” drink, but they’re also less acidic than darker roasts. Most of us aren’t interested in a big acid bomb on an empty stomach.

By those standards, Mayorga’s Buenos Días is the ideal morning coffee.

The first time I tasted it, the notes I took used the word “bright” a lot more than I’m comfortable with. When coffee nerds call a coffee bright, we just mean that there’s a tang that stands out against the coffee’s flavor background. I hope that makes sense.

The light roast makes a crisp coffee, full of flavor, and slightly heady with caffeine. Remember, lighter roasts leave more caffeine in the bean.

Mayorga’s Buenos Días even has a light quality to it in the cup. It’s somehow less viscous than the darker (and less caffeinated) brews I’d prepare later in the day.

This stuff is USDA Certified Organic, OU Kosher, specialty-grade, and shade-grown. None of that matters as much as the bright morning aroma that comes off the coffee as it brews.

Nothing pairs with morning pastries like a big steaming cup of light roast coffee. Mayorga Buenos Días is the best light roast I’ve ever bought from Costco.

You can find Mayorga whole bean coffee at Costco warehouses in a 2-pack of 2-pound bags. You can also have it shipped to you or delivered same-day (depending on where you live).

5- Best Medium Roast Coffee at Costco – Kirkland Signature Medium Roast Ground Coffee

Medium roast coffees are the everyday workhorses of the coffee scene. Most commercially-available ground coffees are somewhere in the neighborhood of a medium roast. Like a lager in the world of beer or a cabernet in the world of wine, your average coffee drinker sips something medium roast.

(You can learn more about coffee roasting here: “What are the Types of Coffee Bean Roasts and How Should I Use Them?”)

Shopping for medium roast coffees at Costco? You can’t do any better than Costco’s own brand. The big open secret is that what’s sold as “Kirkland Signature Medium Roast Ground Coffee” is just Starbucks coffee in a different (cheaper) bag. If you pick up a Starbucks-branded bag of medium roast ground coffee, you’re going to pay a lot more.

Reviews of Kirkland Signature’s medium roast coffee call it “quiet” and “clean,” lovely words that indicate its low acid, mild aroma and flavor profile, and general lightness. This is another balanced roast meant to meet the standards of lots of different coffee drinkers.

This is a good cup of coffee to pour at a meeting, a book club, a church group, etc. Nobody will be turned off by it, though the coffee snobs may be left a little wanting.

You can buy Kirkland Signature Medium Roast Ground Coffee at your local warehouse. You can also order it online, and (in some areas) have it shipped to you same-day.

6- Best Dark Roast Coffee at Costco – Jose’s Organic French Dark Roast Whole Bean Coffee

Shopping for a solid full-bodied dark roast coffee at Costco? Check out Joe’s Organic French Dark Roast.

The aromas and flavors are intense – dark chocolate, caramel, and baked apple. The caffeine content is relatively mild, thanks to the rich roast. French roast is generally considered the darkest you can go before the beans are burnt.

Lovers of dark roast coffee will appreciate the umami-like quality of Jose’s Organic French Dark Roast. The smoky, roasted, heavy coffee notes that permeate the room will act as a testament to the power of a French roast.

Hot tip – pair a just-brewed cup of Jose’s Organic with a fresh-baked fruit tart or pie for a truly phenomenal gourmet experience.

Buy Jose’s Organic French Dark Roast Whole Bean Coffee at your local Costco warehouse or order it for traditional or same-day delivery.

7- Best Organic Coffee at Costco – Mother Earth Organic Medium Roast Coffee

I chose this particular organic coffee because of its crowd-pleasing medium roast, relatively low cost, and noteworthy bright finish. It’s a great fit for coffee at any time of day.

My tasting notes include a lot of things you’d expect from a medium roast blend – slightly roasted, with hints of dark chocolate and nutmeg, and a nice long finish that’s clean on the palate.

At the time of this post, the price per pound was just under $9, which is totally reasonable for a fancy USDA Certified Organic whole bean coffee.

You can buy Mother Earth Organic Medium Roast Coffee at Costco online and have it shipped to you. Same-day delivery is also available in some areas. I can almost always find it at my local Costco warehouse, too.

8- Best Ground Coffee at Costco – Copper Moon Dark Sky Blend

Costco has so many ground coffees, it was tough to pick just one favorite. I decided to go with the ground coffee that takes the most risks and presents some of the boldest flavors I’ve ever experienced in coffee.

Copper Moon’s Dark Sky Blend is roasted “to the color of the night sky,” a degree or two darker than a French roast. It’s a low caffeine coffee, as low as 60 milligrams per cup, so it’s perfect for after-dinner.

How does it taste? Like no other coffee I’ve ever sipped. I tasted burnt cashew and smoky chocolate, and the aftertaste was all dark berries and earth. It’s a coffee to be contemplated.

If you’re serving this to friends, warn them about the roast first. It’s nothing to be scared of, but it will present a totally different profile than a typical commercial ground coffee.

Buy Copper Moon Dark Sky Blend at your local Costco warehouse, or have it shipped directly to you.

9- Best Budget Coffee at Costco–Folgers Classic Roast Ground Coffee

I had to go with an American classic for my budget Costco coffee pick.

On the day of this post, you can buy 2.7 pounds of ground Folgers Classic Roast coffee for $11.49. That’s $4.25 a pound. Another way to look at it – you can brew 92 cups of coffee from this purchase, which means each cup costs about 12.5 cents.

I dare you to go to Starbucks with $0.125 in your hand and successfully order a cup of coffee.

So, how does it taste? I’d classify it as warm and earthy, and there’s a slight nuttiness at the back of the mouth. There’s nothing fancy going on, but it is a pleasant cup of coffee that most coffee drinkers will appreciate.

In other words, you don’t taste Folgers and want to sit down and write a review of it. In fact, you generally don’t think about it much at all. Just drink for the wake-up and the strong coffee flavor.

I haven’t found a better low-cost coffee product at Costco.

You can buy Folgers Classic Roast Ground Coffee at your nearby Costco store or order it for delivery.

10- Best Decaf Coffee at Costco – San Francisco Bay Decaf French Roast Whole Bean Coffee

Decaf coffee drinkers get the short end of the stick. I won’t defend or attack decaf coffee here, I’ll just say that finding a really good decaf coffee product is link hunting for the proverbial needle in a haystack.

A lot of decaf coffees taste blown out, washed out, weak, watered-down, or just plain funky.

In stark contrast, San Francisco Bay Coffee makes a very good French Roast whole bean that just happens to be decaffeinated. It uses the Swiss Water Process, so there are no solvents or nasty chemicals involved in the process. Water, temperature, and time are all that are needed to leach most of the caffeine out of the beans.

Even coffee gourmands will appreciate the dark chocolate and cinnamon notes and the long smoky finish.

You could probably put this coffee head to head with a full-caffeine product and nobody would ever be able to tell the difference.

You can buy San Francisco Bay Decaf French Roast Whole Bean Coffee at your area Costco store or order it online or for same-day delivery (in most areas).

Conclusion: The Best Costco Coffees

This list of the best Costco coffees represents a huge variety. There’s something here for everyone, from casual one-cup morning drinkers to hardcore coffee connoisseurs looking for the good stuff.

There’s one Costco warehouse for every 574,000 people in America. I think they could get that ratio down a bit. If you don’t live near one of the brand’s hundreds of retail shops, they offer same-day delivery as well as traditional shipping options for most of their products.

Between your local Costco warehouse and the online shopping options available, it’s really easy to get Costco coffee brands to your house. If they don’t have a product at your warehouse, you can usually find it online and have it shipped straight to you.

Did I miss your favorite Costco coffee brand? Let me know in the comments.