Is Costco's Kirkland-Brand Coffee Made By Starbucks?
If you've ever set foot in a Costco, you've definitely encountered the bulk supermarket's in-house brand, Kirkland. And if you're even more knowledgeable about Costco, you probably know that these Kirkland products are often produced by some well-known companies, and can be far fancier than your average store brand products. For example, its batteries are produced by Duracell (although, contrary to some popular rumors, Kirkland's vodka is not made by Grey Goose — the exact producer is unknown).
The same goes for Costco's coffee — sort of. It's been confirmed that Kirkland coffee is produced by Starbucks, the much-loved Seattle-based giant. This is no big secret, since Kirkland coffee bags have been marked with the words "custom-roasted by Starbucks" and the signature logo — at least until recently.
Since late 2023 or early 2024, eagle-eyed Redditors have noticed that such labeling on the medium roast Kirkland House Blend has vanished, suggesting that at least the house blend is now produced by another company; although the exact company is unclear. Costco's website still lists some Starbucks products as available for online ordering, though not with Kirkland branding. These include 2½ pound bags of French roast, instant coffee, and various K-Cup pods. Another section of Costco's site that is labeled "Starbucks whole bean coffee" lists various other products (like the house blend), but the Kirkland products are not marked with any Starbucks branding, implying that Kirkland coffee may no longer be produced by the company.
Not all Costco coffee is (or was) Starbucks
As of early 2024, it's not totally clear whether Starbucks is producing Kirkland coffee as it did in the past, since they no longer feature any mention of the Seattle coffee chain. But whether or not Starbucks and Costco have broken up, it's worth noting that not all Kirkland coffee is (or was) supplied by Starbucks. Both the Kirkland whole-bean espresso blend and its decaf blend are (or were) supplied by Starbucks, but Costco appears to have used another company for its Colombian coffees (including the "Colombian Supremo" variety). California-based Rogers Family Co. has been named as one supplier of this coffee. However, the packaging for the Colombian Supremo doesn't indicate any other brand aside from Kirkland (including Rogers Family Co.), so this is hard to confirm.
It's also been confirmed that some Kirkland coffee has been supplied by other companies, including Keurig and Green Mountain, who mostly provide Kirkland-branded coffee pods. (Technically, these are the same company, since Green Mountain bought Keurig nearly 20 years ago, and nearly a decade ago, Green Mountain was bought up by a large private equity firm.) So, even if Kirkland's house blend is no longer provided by Starbucks, it's worth knowing that Starbucks was never the sole supplier for all Kirkland coffees to begin with.
So who supplies the Kirkland brand coffee now?
This is not the easiest question to answer, since Kirkland packaging tends to be relatively coy about which other brands are involved in producing these products. It's always possible that the Kirkland House Blend is still from Starbucks and that Costco simply eliminated the coffee chain's branding. However, there are rumors that Starbucks ended its contract with Costco, and the new packaging for the house blend seems to back this up (although there's no official confirmation from Costco). Plus, the Kirkland espresso blend, which was formerly supplied by Starbucks, also has new packaging that's free of any Starbucks logos.
A possible candidate could be Rogers Family Co. (which also operates under the name San Francisco Bay Coffee), since the brand is already reportedly behind Costco's other Kirkland Signature coffees. But Kirkland's coffee packaging doesn't typically flag the original supplier, so beyond the coffee producers that are already known to produce Kirkland coffee (Rogers, Keurig, and Green Mountain), it's hard to make any other guesses since evidence is minimal.