Shopping for coffee beans is always an adventure. The selection varies depending on which grocery store you visit.
Expect Familiar Brands
In all big chain grocery stores expect to see the same brand name coffee beans no matter where you go. Where I live in Canada some of the brand names include Folgers, Maxwell House, Van Houtte, Starbucks and Tim Horton’s.
Now there is nothing wrong with the brand names. Their products have high sales which is why they are sold everywhere. Many enjoy their products.
Problem is it limits the availability of coffee beans from the smaller unknown companies. And these companies may have a hidden gem which us, the consumers, may not know or ever find out about.
You May Find The Random Unique Brand
This can range from the no name store brand to one you may have not seen or heard about before.
The local store brand is usually cheapest in price.
The unique brand is one which can be difficult to find elsewhere. In fact, not long ago I visited an upscale grocery store for the first time. They sold a big tin of fine coffee grind made by an established company. Now this is a specific grind which I never knew existed.
After discovering, purchasing and trying it, I checked every other grocery store for it. Up to the date of this post I still can’t find it anywhere. Even checked with Amazon (Canadian version) and nothing.
This specific coffee grind can only be found at that grocery store and the coffee companies official website.
Shopping For Coffee Beans At The Local Cafe
The local cafe is probably the best place you can find fresh coffee beans available for purchase. When I say local cafe, I don’t mean coffee shops like Starbucks or Tim Horton’s. I mean the small local independent cafes.
Some supermarkets are stepping up their efforts as well. Near me is a Longo’s grocery store and at one of the end aisles there’s a huge coffee setup. It’s almost like a mini coffee shop. Many different coffee beans are in what appears to be dispensers and an employee is there to help with questions and if anyone wants to purchase any of the beans.
Now that’s a huge upgrade over going into the regular coffee aisle and choosing from a selection of coffee which was packaged who knows when.
Shopping At Unique Retail Establishments
Most retail stores come with small coffee sections. But there was one store which had a huge selection.
And that my friend, is the Costco Business Center.
If you have read any of my other posts, you might have been able to figure out I’m a huge Costco fan.
Now if you are in Canada, as of this posting, there is only one Canadian location. It’s in Scarborough Ontario. Scarborough is the eastern part of Toronto.
But if you are from the United States of America, I may have some great news for you. There are a total of 17 Costco Business Centers there.
That’s right – Seventeen!
In early 2019 we spent a weekend in San Francisco, CA. It was my first time there and I was really excited.
We landed there in the evening and used an Uber to get us into the city.
While driving I believe on Highway 101, I looked out the window and said to my wife “OMG!”
Yes, I actually said the three letters O-M-G.
She asked “What?” and I said “There’s a Costco Business Center!!”
For me San Francisco was very exciting because I’m a total tech geek and it was neat to see offices for startup and big tech companies. But I showed the most emotion seeing a Costco Business Center.
Yes I know.
I’m a strange person.
But that’s not all. Two years prior we we flew to Los Angeles, CA for a long weekend. Prior to the trip I was using Google Maps and trying to figure out how many things can we cram into our long weekend there.
Los Angeles is an enormous city!
Since we were staying in Hollywood, I zoomed in on random areas to see if we can see anything interesting. Believe it or not I got really excited. Please see the image below to understand why.
My eyes came across the Costco Business Center. I honestly can’t remember if the Toronto location had opened yet, or if it has but I haven’t gone yet.
Overall I definitely wanted to check this place out, but it was a bit far from where we were staying. Would be very difficult considering we didn’t rent a car during our stay.
There was a big rumor floating around – Los Angeles traffic is horrible.
We didn’t want to experience that, so our main method of transportation was the hop on, hop off buses.
I Need To Get Back On Topic
This post is supposed to be about shopping for coffee beans.
Instead I’m rambling about the Costco Business Center and how excited I get thinking about it. Oh yeah, and a couple California cities.
Speaking of California, I would like to point out I visited Napa Valley and it was beautiful.
Thanks For Reading
Thank you for checking out my post. I hope you got a few laughs from me going off topic a few times.
Overall if you have a Costco Business Center near you, please check it out and let me know if they have a huge supply of coffee beans.
You don’t need to inform me about the Toronto location because I’m there quite often.
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below.