Costco Kirkland Buys That Will Take Your Morning Coffee To The Next Level

If you ever find yourself in a coffee rut, look no further than Costco. The chain's house brand, Kirkland Signature, offers a slew of products that can upgrade your daily cup of joe. For the traditionalists, there are plenty of sugar and alternative sweetener options, along with a varied selection of dairy and plant-based creamers. For those java fans that are looking for something off the beaten path to liven up their morning ritual, Costco's got a lot of unique products that can help you craft a cutting edge cup of coffee.

Coffee is one of the world's oldest beverages, and it shows no signs of slowing down in global popularity. It also continues to evolve as new techniques, ingredients, and trends take hold, elevating the simple beans-and-water brew to new gourmet heights. Whatever type of coffee drinker you are, the cavernous aisles of your nearest Costco warehouse are filled with Kirkland Signature items that can help you experiment to find the perfect pick-me-up for your palate.

Not all honey is created equal — in fact, there are as many types of honey as there are flowering plants and honey bees to feed on their nectar. Honey may be used more commonly to sweeten tea, but it's also a delicious addition to coffee, adding more depth and dimension than the usual spoonful of sugar. Any type of honey will do, and how well it works in your cup of joe depends largely on your personal preference. Costco offers several Kirkland Signature honey options, but for the money, it's hard to beat the brand's wildflower honey.

A 5-pound jug of this pasteurized honey costs the same as much smaller amounts of other varieties at the store, and while it may not have as intense a flavor as a raw nectar, that can be a benefit if you're using it in your morning coffee. After all, you don't want to completely overpower your beverage, which other types of honey can do. This mellow honey still has plenty of flavor and will soften the harsh edges of a bitter brew without completely compromising its essential coffee-ness. The smart thing about buying honey in bulk at Costco is that it doesn't spoil, so you can stock up to your heart's content.

Do you love a cafè mocha, but find it too labor intensive or time consuming to make at home? It won't win you any barista awards, but there is a quick and easy way to get your coffee and chocolate fix with minimal effort: chocolate milk. Kirkland Signature offers organic, reduced fat chocolate milk in small cartons, ideal if you only plan to use a bit at a time to sweeten up your morning coffee. As long as the cartons are unopened, they have a long shelf-life, so you can chill them one at a time as needed, saving room in your fridge.

Of course, coffee and chocolate milk won't give you exactly the same flavor or intensity as a classic coffee shop mocha, which is made with espresso and chocolate in the form of syrup, powder, or shavings. It's a start, though, and if you have a milk steamer or hand-held frother, you can easily nudge your homemade version a little closer to the gourmet drink. Topping it with whipped cream wouldn't hurt, either.

For many coffee drinkers, no doubt the suggestion of putting salt in your coffee sounds completely out of left field. Those who have tried it, though, know the alchemy that comes from the melding of these two ingredients. While salt amplifies most flavors, it does the opposite with bitterness, mellowing it out and dampening its effect on our palate. This also enhances the other flavors present in the coffee and makes it seem sweeter on our tongues.

Some add salt to grounds before they brew, while others insist that adding a few crystals at a time to a finished cup is the best way to go. Either way, you want to use good quality salt, and Costco has just the thing, offering a 5-pound container of fine grain pink salt — depending on your coffee habit, it could last you the rest of your life. Kirkland Signature's pink salt is sourced from Pakistan, the heart of the Himalayan pink sea salt mining industry, and contains the combination of trace minerals that the specialty salt is prized for. Compared to other types of salt, pink salt tends to have a milder, earthier flavor, so you can get its bitterness-balancing effect without affecting the subtle flavors of your coffee too much.

If your algorithm is non-stop caffeinated beverages (and if it is, you're not alone), you've probably seen the mix of coffee and coconut water in more than one video. The trend has been around for a while, with a few different viral iterations making their way into people's feeds and eventually their cups. It can be called cloud coffee, cloud americano, or simply coconut water coffee; it's usually iced, but not always; it can include elaborate foams and toppings, but can also just simply be coconut water and coffee.

If you're a cloud coffee convert already, Costco's Kirkland Signature organic coconut water should be at the top of your list of must-buys. If you're on the fence, this is still a great buy: It's organic and contains no added sugar, and thanks to Costco's generously sized packages, you can experiment with your coffee as much as you want. While it's most common to add coconut water to already-brewed coffee or espresso, you can also add it to hot coffee or use it to make a pitcher of cold brew. Coconut's nutty, fresh, bright, and slightly sweet flavor adds a great dimension to coffee, no matter how you utilize it.

You may have seen golden milk, or golden lattes, on coffee shop menus, or even bottled on store shelves. In these beverages, the ingredient that makes them golden is turmeric, a spice made from the roots of the plant Curcuma longa. Vibrant golden yellow, ground turmeric is common in Indian cooking and has been used for various medicinal purposes for centuries. While making fancy, colorful turmeric-laced coffee drinks may be a recent Western trend, it comes from a very old Indian tradition of mixing turmeric with milk to cure sickness and boost health.

Costco offers Kirkland Signature ground turmeric in 12-ounce containers. Depending on the recipe, and your personal taste, you can mix anywhere from a minuscule quarter-teaspoon to a more substantial full teaspoon per beverage — it works best if you whisk the spice into your choice of milk over heat before adding it to your coffee. Since 12 ounces works out to roughly 69 teaspoons, Costco's ground turmeric container will have you swimming in golden lattes for a long, long time. Whether you like the earthy spice in your coffee for flavor, wellness, or just the glowing golden hue, buying your turmeric at Costco is likely the most cost-effective option.

Maple syrup makes a fantastically flavorful sweetener for coffee, and Costco offers two different Kirkland Signature varieties of the sweet, sappy stuff. Both are organic and grade A, which signifies high quality. The difference between the two is the color. Grade A maple syrup can be divided into four color categories: golden, amber, dark, and very dark. As you might imagine, as the color intensifies, so does the flavor, with golden having the lightest, most delicate taste, and very dark being the most robust.

The plastic jug of Kirkland maple syrup falls into the amber category, which is very common and exhibits a classic maple syrup flavor. It's cheaper and comes in a larger quantity than the golden syrup — but before you reach for that bigger jug, you may want to reconsider if you plan on using it as a coffee sweetener. The golden syrup's lighter character will add sweetness without overpowering the coffee's natural flavors. Additionally, it's slightly less viscous than the amber variety, so it will dissolve more easily into your beverage. The golden syrup container is also superior, with a pronounced lip and built-in flip-top cap, while the amber syrup's jug is a notorious source of frustration for customers. That makes the golden maple syrup a much better buy for coffee enthusiasts.

Coffee drinkers looking for yet another alternative sweetener should take a peek behind their favorite margarita bar. Blue agave, the plant that's processed to make quality tequila, can also be made into a sweet nectar that's just as suitable for coffee drinks as it is for cocktails. This substance easily mixes and dissolves into beverages, which makes it easier to add as-is into your coffee — even iced coffee, which can always be a challenge to sweeten using traditional methods. The flavor of agave syrup is fairly neutral with just a touch of rich, subtly honeyed flavor, so it's a good choice if you like your coffee to taste like coffee. Kirkland Signature's blue agave nectar is organic and relatively inexpensive, and comes in a two-pack of 36-ounce containers.

If you're used to sweetening your coffee with other syrups, keep in mind that agave nectar packs a serious sweetness punch. It's higher in fructose than sugar, which could be a health concern for some, as agave can be difficult for the body to process. However, it's also sweeter than sugar, so you can use less of it to get the same effect. It's also lower on the glycaemic index scale, meaning it won't cause insulin in the bloodstream to spike like sugar does. If you take the health effects into consideration and decide to use agave as your coffee sweetener, a nice bonus is that it does double-duty as a cocktail ingredient, too.

Should you be lucky enough to enjoy coffee out anywhere in Italy, you may raise an eyebrow at some of the habits that differ from American coffee culture. One notable custom is serving a small glass of sparkling water alongside your espresso, americano, or other caffeinated drink. Italians like to prime their palates with a sip of mineral-laden bubbly water before indulging in their brew, and usually finish the coffee drinking experience with another sip to cleanse any leftover coffee bitterness before they go about their day. You can live la dolce vita yourself, anywhere, by grabbing a case of Kirkland Signature's Italian sparkling mineral water and keeping it on hand to enhance your morning coffee ritual.

Costco sells its sparkling mineral water, which is actually produced in Italy, in packs of 24-half-liter bottles. While this water isn't as chock-full of minerals as some other popular brands, it is a lot cheaper. If you're drinking it more to accentuate your coffee experience and less for the health benefits, it's a perfectly fine and affordable option. You can also add it directly to your coffee drink if you want to add a bit of spritz to your caffeine buzz.

While it's not for everyone, the bulletproof coffee trend is still going strong, and is a morning must for many people who swear by its positive health effects. Also sometimes called butter coffee, it's a combination of regular joe, butter or ghee, and MCT oil, which is oil made from medium-chain triglycerides. That last ingredient is a key part of the purported benefits of butter coffee, as MCTs absorb rapidly into the bloodstream to swiftly boost energy levels. MCT oil's high fat and caloric content are meant to keep you full throughout the day so you eat less, leading, in theory, to weight loss — although more data is needed to back this up. MCTs are naturally found in coconut oil, so many butter coffee enthusiasts use it in place of MCT oil, and sometimes as the sole ingredient to make a butter-less butter coffee.

Costco's Kirkland Signature organic virgin coconut oil comes in a substantial 84-fluid ounce container. If you're using just a spoonful in your morning cup, that massive amount will last ages, making it incredibly cost-effective. This oil is cold-pressed and unrefined, meaning it contains more nutrients and has a fresher flavor than other types. Before adding coconut oil to your daily coffee, be sure to look up the health issues involved — it's high in saturated fat and may not be suitable for everyone, and is not recommended as a meal replacement. If it's a ritual you're familiar with, you can't do much better than Costco's Kirkland Signature coconut oil for quality and value.

Non-dairy milks have become incredibly popular as flavoring and enriching enhancements for coffee. Not only do they offer alternative options for folks with dietary restrictions, they also add unique flavors and textures that bring new dimensions to steamed-milk drinks like lattes and cappuccinos, as well as a simple cup of coffee with a splash of milk. Costco offers a variety of non-dairy, plant-based beverages, and one of the best Kirkland Signature products for coffee enthusiasts is the brand's organic almond non-dairy beverage, especially the unsweetened vanilla-flavored variety.

This dairy alternative is made from lightly roasted almonds, which gives it a subtly nutty flavor enhanced with a kiss of vanilla, both of which are organic ingredients. While in typical Costco fashion it's only available in bulk, the case contains six individual one-quart cartons, so you don't have to worry about consuming the entire gallon and a half while it's still fresh. Depending on how much coffee you drink and how milky you like it, this case could get you through literally hundreds of cups, and it sells for just under $10, making it an absolute steal.