Trader Joe’s is a popular grocery store chain thanks to the quality of their products, often taking care to offer specialized brands for allergies and restrictions. Their customer service is renowned, with a prioritizing of the satisfaction of customers. However, some have been disappointed that Trader Joe’s coffee, one of their most popular items, has been discontinued!
Trader Joe’s Decaf Medium Roast, Bay Blend, and Smooth ; Mellow brands have been discontinued. The Trader Joe’s company reports that it discontinues items which customers do not prefer to make room for more popular items that will appeal to customers more regularly. They determine the popularity of a product like coffee by how well it is selling.
In this article, we will go over the history of Trader Joe’s coffee and the company itself, the impact of these coffee products’ discontinuation on customers, the company’s response, and some frequently asked questions! Let’s get right into it.
The History of Discontinued Coffee Products at Trader Joe’s
If you love to drink coffee, you are just as likely to have a very favorite coffee brand. Once this favorite is found, you may return to it again and again as a primary source of caffeine that you can trust to satisfy you.
This is why coffee that has been discontinued, especially from a much-loved chain like Trader Joe’s, is such a big deal!
Let’s take a look at some examples of the coffee products that used to be available at Trader Joe’s, as well as possible reasons for why they are not being offered any longer:
- Trader Joe’s Bay Blend Coffee – One of the most popular Trader Joe coffee blends to date. It was a very dark roast with an intense flavor. Customers are mystified as to why this coffee was discontinued, but it was likely not selling enough to justify keeping it around.
- Trader Joe’s Smooth ; Mellow Blend – This Arabica, whole blend coffee was offered in both decaf and regular whole bean, and was noted for it’s mild acidity and flavor. It was not as popular as the Bay Blend, and it’s gentle approach to flavor may not have allowed it to stand out as well.
- Trader Joe’s Decaf Medium Roast – Though Trader Joe’s still sells it’s regular medium roast in an organic form, the Medium Decaf roast is gone. Customers enjoyed it’s flavor, but it did not sell well enough as the regular blend to keep it on Trader Joe’s shelves.
These coffee roasts were definitely favorites among regular customers, but it is likely that, in all cases, they were not selling enough for the Trader Joe’s company to make back what they were spending in manufacturing and production costs.
The Impact of Discontinued Coffee Products on Trader Joe’s Customers
If you aren’t a coffee drinker, or are simply curious about how Trader Joe’s coffee could be so missed, you may wonder about the impact that these discontinued products had on customers of Trader Joe’s.
Truthfully, many customers experienced disappointment and frustration that the product was no longer offered. According to one retiree who loved Trader Joe’s Bay Blend coffee, no other type of bean was satisfying.
This led to hunting for other coffee products that might have a hope of becoming a new favorite when the old one was no longer made available by Trader Joe’s. Some customers hunted for comparable types of coffee beans, sourced from some of the same regions such as Mexico or Columbia.
However, sources are not the only thing that makes a coffee blend unique. Oftentimes, roasting is just as important.
Beans are roasted to retain their oil content, and it is this oily characteristic that made so many of Trader Joe’s roasts special to customers. Finding other brands with the same qualities is not easy, even if they do come from similar sources.
To check the current price and availability of Trader Joe’s Coffee Products, click here to view the selection on Amazon.
Trader Joe’s Response to Discontinued Coffee Products
The company does not discontinue coffee products, or any of their products, without a rationale. After all, according to their website, Trader Joe’s wants to bring well-priced products of high quality to customers, but without sacrificing what customers seem to prefer.
Trader Joe’s evaluates each product, such as Bay Blend Coffee, by seeing whether their sales figures are enough to “earn” a spot on their store shelves.
When sales of the coffee are not meeting a specific quota, Trader Joe’s believes that customers would benefit from something new and better.
In the case of coffee, Trader Joe’s has made an effort to replace their old brands with new, popular coffee products. Some of these include the following:
- Organic Joe Medium Roast – This coffee is ground already, and is a new take on the old Medium Roast which has been discontinued. It is made with many of the same beans, but is organic in sourcing and roasting.
- French Roast Coffee – Brazilian and Peru coffee beans with a rich, intense, chocolaty flavor.
- Joe Light Roast Coffee – This coffee is pre-ground and made from Ethiopian and Guatemalan beans, keeping up a sweet note in flavor and fine acidity.
Though they have discontinued the Medium Roast, Bay Blend, and Dark Roast and attempted to replace them with the above other offerings, Trader Joe’s doesn’t stop there. It offers customers a chance to give feedback about discontinued products.
Going to Trader Joe’s Official website and selecting the “Contact Us” page will give you an opportunity to fill out a “Discontinued Product Feedback” form, which allows customers to register their disappointment and concern for a favorite product that is no longer sold.
Though Trader Joe’s does not guarantee that this will allow the customer to see their product back on shelves, it is taken into consideration as they move forward and restock.
Frequently Asked Questions
Still wondering about Trader Joe’s, their coffee selection, discontinued brands, etc.? We have a section of questions that are frequently asked and answered below!
Why Did Trader Joe’s Discontinue Bay Blend Coffee?
Trader Joe’s is committed to bringing customers products that are satisfying along many different walks of life, and for a while, their Bay Blend coffee with it’s oily characteristics was one of those products.
However, Trader Joe’s has been clear that any time they discontinue a product, such as Bay Blend Coffee, it is to create room for a product that may sell better and please customers even more.
Bay Blend Coffee was not selling in high enough quantities to justify it’s permanent place on the Trader Joe’s retail lineup, so it was discontinued despite some customer unhappiness.
Why Does Trader Joe’s Discontinue Products?
Trader Joe’s discontinues products for a variety of reasons, but their website claims that the most common is because customers are not thrilled with the product.
They know this when a product does not meet a certain number in terms of chain-wide sales, and strive to improve their product offerings by discontinuing that product and making way for a new, more popular one.
Final Thoughts
To sum everything we’ve learned up, Trader Joe’s has discontinued several of their popular coffee brands, with none being so sorely missed as the Bay Blend when checking online reviews.
This was due to their coffee blends not selling as well as Trader Joe’s needed them to, so the company discontinued the products to make room for improved versions.
Some of these versions include the French Roast Coffee, Joe Light Roast Coffee, and Organic Joe Medium Roast. Customers can either use these replacements to satisfy their cravings, or register complaints at the Discontinued Products page of Trader Joe’s websites in hopes of bringing their favorites back!