San Francisco Bay Coffee Co. Whole Bean Coffee

How to Buy Whole Bean Coffee

Although we're thoroughly acquainted with baristas, know the difference between an espresso and a latte and have at least heard of single-serve coffee makers, some of us are convinced the best cup of coffee we can drink is the one we make at home. That is, after investing in quality whole bean coffee and grinding it just before use.

True coffee aficionados grind their own beans and produce the best-tasting and most fragrant brews. Sam's Club has just the whole bean coffee brands to delight both your wallet and your taste buds.

The Science of Coffee Making with Whole Bean Coffee

Getting the grind right is important with whole bean coffee. The more finely the coffee is ground, the larger the surface area exposed to water. That means it will need to brew for less time to extract the coffee. Over-brewed and over-heated coffee gets bitter quickly, and if you don't take sugar in your coffee can be quite unpleasant to drink.

The brewing method you use dictates grind size. You'll want extra coarse coffee for cold brew coffee, while percolators and French presses require a coarse grind. Solo and Chemex brewers do best with medium-coarse, freshly ground beans. Flat-bottomed drip coffee makers and pour over methods work well with a medium grind, but go for medium fine if your drip has a cone-shaped filter or you're using a Moka pot or a pour-over cone. Espresso machines need finely ground coffee, and Turkish coffee is made with extra finely ground beans.

Extra coarse grinds look like small pebbles, while coarse should be the size of coarse sea salt. Medium grind has a similar texture to coarse sand, while fine feels like sugar. Extra fine feels just a little grittier than powdered sugar, while Turkish grind feels like flour.

If you've never ground your own coffee before, think about what kind of grinder you want to buy. You can get excellent results from either manual or electric grinders. A small camp stove and a manual grinder means you'll still be able to have coffee during power outages. But it may be more difficult to get precisely the grind you want with a manual grinder.

Old-fashioned manual coffee grinders featured tiny little drawers that made it difficult to grind enough beans for more than a couple of cups of coffee at a time. Newer hand grinders have larger reservoirs though and some of them boast they eliminate 90 percent of the noise electric grinders make. Being able to grind your favorite whole bean roast quietly in an office cubicle or in your kitchen without waking the family is a plus. But electric grinders are faster, and once you've adjusted the settings for the perfect grind for your coffee-making system, as long as no one changes it you'll be able to produce perfectly ground beans every morning.

Whole bean coffee consistently ground and brewed produces consistent flavor. The delicate oils contained within the coffee beans add flavor and aroma. Try to use your freshly ground whole coffee beans within 15 minutes of grinding, because they lose 60 percent of their aroma in that time.

Can I Get the Coffeehouse Experience at Home?

You can grind whole bean coffee just as well and as easily with a $20 grinder as you can with one that cost you $1,000. Far more important to achieving the coffeehouse experience than any piece of mechanical equipment is the quality whole bean coffee you buy. Sam's Club has ideal beans for making truly gourmet coffee.

Our selection includes:

• Java Brothers, an American coffee company whose smooth beans have a touch of brown sugar sweetness and a roasted almond finish
• Top-rated Starbucks House Blend, a medium roast
• Three different Caribou blends, including a French Roast and decaf
• The delectable dark roast from Peet's Coffee.

If you prefer light to medium roasts, choose Barista Brava Breakfast Blend, which offers a hint of acidity and body.

For medium to dark roast coffee, Community Coffee has some bold offerings that are sure to enchant lovers of daring coffees.

Of course, there's one thing about the coffeehouse experience you won't want to replicate, and that's the price. Whole bean coffee made at home isn't just significantly cheaper than coffeehouse coffee, it's also a whole lot more cost-effective than single cup coffee brewing. One cup of coffee from a single cup coffee brewer costs more than 50 cents. Using any kind of coffeemaker with whole bean ground coffee costs less than a dime a cup, even taking into account the cost of filters.

Coffee Roasts and Flavors

Flavored coffees are hugely popular these days, and at Sam's Club we carry a nice assortment of flavored whole bean coffees. Don Francisco's coffee offers a wonderfully fragrant and flavorful Vanilla Nut blend, while Luna Roasters offers premium coffee beans with equally premium flavors, including rich and smoky Dark Side, naturally sweet and cocoa-like Nicaragua and delicately florally Hawaiian Kona.

Boyer's Coffee offers another gourmet experience with awesome flavors like Hazelnut, Butterscotch Toffee, and Rocky Mountain Thunder. We also carry their whole bean Mountain Roast Decaf.

All these whole bean coffees are sensational on their own, but you can also indulge in your favorite creamers and sweeteners to customize your brew.

Does Sam's Club Sell Organic and Fair Trade Whole Bean Coffee?

Our selection includes some of the best organic coffee in the world. Take a look at our array of whole bean coffees and marvel at our many organic and fair trade coffees. Our very own Member's Mark brand of whole bean coffee comes in delectable breakfast blend organic coffee beans, as well as Fair Trade Certified French Roast and Fair Trade Certified Columbian Supremo.

Top-rated Caribou Coffee offers delicious whole bean coffees that are Rainforest Alliance Certified, while Cameron's Specialty Coffee's whole bean coffees are not only roasted in small batches but are always sustainably sourced. Buying bulk gourmet coffee makes even more sense when you know you're purchasing whole bean coffee that's sustainably grown and produced with environmentally friendly practices.