The Type Of Coffee That's Harder To Find At Costco
There are a lot of reasons to love Costco: the bulk discounts, the samples, the hot dogs, and of course, the variety of stuff available. Costco seemingly has everything, from sweatpants to bafflingly affordable rotisserie chicken. So when the discount store doesn't have something you're looking for, it can come as a bit of a surprise.
If you're not very particular about your coffee, Costco's ample stock of options will probably be more than enough for you. But those with specific coffee preferences may be disappointed by the array on offer — namely, drinkers of light roast coffee may need to hit up a different store to get their perfect cup.
Costco does apparently stock at least a handful of light roast options — but sans accessible. actual data on Costco's inventory at our fingertips, it's impossible to say how much of a discrepancy is actually at play. Anecdotally, light roast lovers have reported slim pickings at the club store, at least on sites like Reddit, that is. So what's the actual deal here?
Making light of things
Light roast coffee, as you can probably guess, is coffee that's only been, well, lightly roasted — for less time and at a lower temperature than medium and dark roasts. The reason some coffee connoisseurs prefer light roast to medium and dark roast coffees is because the roasting process burns off some of the flavor notes naturally present in coffee beans; this lessens its complexity and changes its general profile from bright and fruity to nutty and smoky. Light roast coffee may also retain more caffeine than darker roasts (although this difference is likely marginal).
We know that Costco carries some light roast coffees. There's the Mayorga Buenos Días organic whole beans, which are available on its website and described as having notes that are "sweet, bright," and distinctly citrus-like. Keurig machine users can try the Kirkland Signature Breakfast Blend, an organic light roast coffee sold in K-Cup format, or the Starbucks Blonde Roast, which also comes in K-Cups. If you're planning to make cold brew, the San Francisco Bay light roast cold brew grounds are made for exactly that.
Through the darkness
Still, just four light roasts sold on Costco's website, alongside over 50 medium and dark roasts, certainly suggests that the discount store overall carries less light roast coffee than other varieties. If you're a hardcore light roast devotee and none of the available options are doing it for you, you may be better off skipping Costco coffee altogether.
Some light roast fans on the Reddit thread recommended the Kirkland Ethiopian light roast, but the product is no longer on the website and some customers report not having seen it in stores for months, so it's possible the product may have been discontinued.
But all said, you never know what might pop up at your local Costco, so keep your eyes peeled the next time you're walking through the coffee aisle — even the Ethiopian light roast may reappear someday, if we're lucky. Things at Costco are changing all the time.