Costco carries at least 5 different Kirkland Signature whole-bean coffees, including the Colombian Supremo, the House Blend, the French Roast, and the Espresso and Decaf Blends. Each roast delivers a different level of roast, strength, and flavor, covering all of the bases for any coffee drinker who shops at Costco. But, whether you’re a sustainable coffee drinker or not, you can sleep soundly knowing not only is buying your coffee from Costco responsible in the sense that it saves you money — but it’s also responsible environmentally. Tasting Table has a guide to decoding sustainable coffee labels, and while there are different ways to tell if a coffee is eco-friendly based on the label, you know Costco’s Kirkland coffee bags are because they sport an Enveritas logo on the packaging.
Enveritas works with other coffee brands besides Costco’s, and you can find its logo printed on bags from the likes of Peet’s, Counter Culture, Stumptown, San Francisco Bay, Philz, and Blue Bottle. The way it works is by providing smallholder cocoa and coffee farms across Asia, Africa, and Latin America with sustainability assessments — paid for by coffee roasters.
Assessments include metrics on social, economic, and environmental standards — including prevalent issues such as forced and child labor, biodiversity protection, soil conservation, and transparent pricing, among others. Once verified, the farms are connected with coffee roasters, who then purchase beans with an included fee that covers the farm’s verification to get the benefit of labeling their beans as sustainable with the Enveritas logo.
Labeling found on other Kirkland coffee products
Whole beans aren’t the only way to drink coffee at home, at least not anymore. Ever since Nespresso pioneered the world of coffee capsules, other brands have started to produce their own — including Kirkland Signature. Only, K-cup drinkers at Costco will find a different set of labels on its packaging. Because the brand that makes Kirkland Signature’s coffee pods is different from the one behind its coffee beans (which, since the disappearance of the Starbucks logo on the packaging, has been left a bit of a mystery), it makes sense that they might come from different suppliers that aren’t verified by Enveritas. Still, you’ll find a couple of other sustainable labels on them, including the USDA Organic label and the Fair Trade Certified label.
Combined together, these two labels certify that the Kirkland Signature K-cups are made from coffee produced without the use of pesticides or fertilizers — in turn supporting biodiversity and soil health — and are sourced from farms that provide safe, fair, and sustainable working conditions.
On the other hand, you might also notice that some Kirkland Signature coffee products — namely the pre-ground Colombian and decaf Colombian roasts — don’t feature any labels whatsoever, while some of the Kirkland Signature whole beans, such as the whole-bean decaf Colombian and the whole bean Sumatra, don’t have an Enveritas label but do have a USDA Organic label. There are different brands behind all of Kirkland Signature’s products, and these labeling differences, simply, reflect that.
