The Starbucks Coffee Dupe That You Can Find At Costco

If you've got a taste for Starbucks but don't have the budget to enjoy Seattle's finest every day, don't worry — with a Costco membership, you can enjoy no-bar access to a dupe of the Starbucks Pike Place Roast that's nearly identical, for a fraction of the price: Costco's Kirkland Signature House Blend.

There are many perks that come with a Costco membership. One of the most notable benefits is exclusive access to the Kirkland Signature items, the range of private-label products, from batteries to clothing, that are produced by outside manufacturers at bargain prices. Starbucks has previously been the big-name behind several of Costco's coffee beans, but in recent years, it appears that Costco sources its coffee from a new, unknown supplier.

Starbucks describes its flagship roast, Pike Place, as a Latin American blend that's smooth, with notes of both chocolate and nuts. The Kirkland Signature House Blend makes a similar promise, characterizing itself as a Latin American blend that's also smooth and balanced. And the price difference is hard to ignore: For whole bean coffee,  depending on your location, a pound of Pike Roast can cost around $14, whereas the Costco version will only set you back $7.76 per pound.

Both coffees are medium roasts, so you can expect moderate acidity, medium body, and notes of chocolate and nuts. On paper, the Kirkland Signature House Blend ticks a lot of these boxes — and according to Costco fans, the taste does too. "Immediately upon opening, you're met with the familiar nutty aroma of a true medium roast," one Redditor noted. "Upon pouring and sipping, I was surprised to find it was a TRUE medium roast flavor."

Starbucks has several ways that it brews coffee, and copying these methods can make your Kirkland Signature House Blend taste even closer to the real thing! Starbucks emphasizes four key fundamentals for the perfect brew: proportion of coffee to water, freshness of beans, fineness of grind, and water temperature.

The most common way Starbucks brews its coffee is using super high-tech, automated espresso machines, and its Clover Vertica machine for freshly brewed coffee. But don't worry — you don't need fancy machinery to brew Starbucks-quality coffee at home. While an espresso machine or a drip coffee machine can certainly make brewing easier, they're not essential. The only real gadget you'll need is a coffee bean grinder — preferably one where you can customize the size of the grounds.

One of the easiest and most convenient ways to brew Starbucks-quality coffee at home is to use the pour-over method, which is basically the manual version of a drip coffee machine. Place your coffee grounds in a filter, pour hot water (making sure it's around 200 degrees Fahrenheit for optimal extraction and flavor). Another way to extract the best flavors from your Kirkland Signature House Blend beans is with a French press, which steeps coarse coffee grounds in hot water and then separates them from the brewed coffee using a mesh filter that you plunge down. Instead of a medium ground, you'll wanna go for a coarse ground with this method. Expect a bolder taste with a French press, as there's no paper filter to absorb the oils from the beans. Another one of Starbucks' small yet impactful tricks for delicious coffee is using filtered water, so if you've got a water filter handy, you're already one step closer to the perfect brew!