The Key Nutritional Info Costco's Food Court Menu Doesn't Give You
Most shoppers appreciate product transparency, especially when it's something going inside the human body. Fortunately, Costco largely provides this for shopping members, typically in the form of ingredient lists, nutrition values, calorie counts, and more. That's why it's surprising that one food-court category is missing some pretty pertinent information: the caffeine content in its two cold brew coffee drinks.
Costco frozen coffee concoctions identify as "freeze" drinks, featuring thick, slushy textures and sweet coffee flavors. Availability may differ depending on location, but when they're offered, it's in the food court section of the warehouse.
The first one is Costco's Cold Brew Latte Freeze, which is made from Kirkland Signature Columbian coffee beans. This one rarely, if ever, shows up on the overhead menu board, rather presenting as an option at the self-serve beverage kiosk. It's basically a frozen version of a cafe latte, highly capable of giving a similar "brain freeze" to a 7-11 Slurpie.
The second food-court drink in the category is the Costco Cold Brew Mocha Freeze, which is almost identical to the latte version, distinguished mostly by a dash of rich premium chocolate. This one gets prominent menu space, complete with a calorie count — but still no caffeine revelation.
The more extensive Costco nutrition sheet provides detailed info such as fat, sugar, carbohydrate, cholesterol, dietary fiber, protein, and sodium content for both the cold brew freeze drinks — but again, omits any mention of caffeine.
About the coffee in those Costco cold-brew freezes
The Costco food-court menu board specifies that the Mocha Freeze is made with the company's store-brand Kirkland Signature Columbian coffee beans. It's unclear which of the Columbian blends makes its way into the freezes, as Costco currently offers a dark roast version that's pre-ground, plus a pricier whole-bean option known as the Columbian Supremo. That one is a medium roast that's grown beneath rainforest canopies on small coffee farms about 6,000 feet above the Concordia region of Columbia. The flavor is described as sharp, tangy, citrusy, and slightly sweet.
Regardless of which beans end up in the icy food-court delights, we may never know the true caffeine content, as it's also missing from the product details when buying the Costco Columbian beans on their own. However, there's still one more way to explore what's potentially in those freeze drinks. The company offers pre-brewed canned or bottled drinks, including the Kirkland Signature Columbian Cold Brew, available in 11-ounce silver cans. They bear the same packing art as the pricey Columbian Supremo medium-roast beans, and the labeling on those cans does reveal a caffeine content of 225 milligrams per 11 ounces.
If Costco uses the pre-brewed Kirkland Signature Columbian Cold Brew coffee to make its food-court freezes, that would be your best bet for determining how much caffeine you're actually consuming. Regardless, those little cold-brew cans make it easy to recreate your own version of the buzzy Costco slushies at home.