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Any custom/duty on coffee shipped from the US?

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Deal Fanatic
Feb 15, 2006
9183 posts
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Toronto

Any custom/duty on coffee shipped from the US?

Kona coffee is great. If I order roasted coffee from Kona, Hawaii, shipped to Toronto, will there be custom/duty charged?

Anyone who have tasted Kona coffee would know it's good. They usually cost $20+/lb, depending on the grade, and the coffee farm.
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Deal Expert
Dec 5, 2006
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Markham
Arrgh wrote: Kona coffee is great. If I order roasted coffee from Kona, Hawaii, shipped to Toronto, will there be custom/duty charged?

Anyone who have tasted Kona coffee would know it's good. They usually cost $20+/lb, depending on the grade, and the coffee farm.

Just curious,is this the coffee you mentioned? thanks

http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product.asp ... lang=en-CA
Deal Fanatic
Feb 15, 2006
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Toronto
smartie wrote: Just curious,is this the coffee you mentioned? thanks

http://www.costco.ca/Browse/Product.asp ... lang=en-CA
Nope. Didn't know Costco sells this coffee.

There are many Kona farms in Kona, most of the small. When you order, the day (morning) they roast is the day they ship. So you get very fresh coffee.

Others who sell Kona coffee, will not come close in terms of freshness. This is the one I had ordered before.
http://www.smithfarms.com/
The first time, picking up from the Kona port when we cruised there. They roasted in the morning.

The second time I ordered and had it shipped to a US hotel when I went there. So no custom duty/tax and cheaper shipping. They also ship to Canada, slightly higher shipping cost. But if there's no custom/duty charges, that'll be good too.
Deal Addict
Jul 30, 2005
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Mississauga
How is Kona coffee compared with brewed Jamaican Blue Mountain (not the instant coffee kind)?
Deal Addict
Oct 9, 2005
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Arrgh wrote: Kona coffee is great. If I order roasted coffee from Kona, Hawaii, shipped to Toronto, will there be custom/duty charged?

Anyone who have tasted Kona coffee would know it's good. They usually cost $20+/lb, depending on the grade, and the coffee farm.

No, but there will be HST.
Deal Guru
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Jan 30, 2006
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Vancouver
Is bringing coffee thru the airport/customs an issue? I am flying San Diego to Bellingham. Should I just carry it with me to alleviate any issues with the airports. Coffee does sometimes smell somewhat like POT . :)
Deal Fanatic
Feb 15, 2006
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Toronto
mannyb wrote: How is Kona coffee compared with brewed Jamaican Blue Mountain (not the instant coffee kind)?

I like Kona coffee better.

I got to compared them. This March we went on a Caribbean cruise and one of the ports is Ocho Rios. I arranged with a major coffee farm in Jamaica to buy 12 pounds of Blue Mountain coffee. It was the Export Grade Gold label roasted whole bean coffee (can't buy that in retail stores in Jamaica). In fact, a very high percentage of Blue Mountain coffee is exported to Japan thru some long term contracts. The rest to else where, and some left in Jamaica. Anyway, the agent I met near the Ocho Rios pier told me the coffee was roasted the day before we got to Ocho Rios, and then shipped to him. So I got some very fresh Blue Mountain coffee.

The Blue Mountain coffee was also good, and expensive. It was not as strong as I thought it'll be. Kona coffee is a medium coffee that like Blue Mountain, doesn't leave a tart taste in the mouth. Between the two, I like Kona coffee better.

But that is my taste. It's almost like fine wine, some people would enjoy certain wine better than others.
Deal Fanatic
Feb 15, 2006
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Toronto
guessaaa wrote: No, but there will be HST.
But there's no HST charged on whole bean coffee in Ontario?
trellaine201 wrote: Is bringing coffee thru the airport/customs an issue? I am flying San Diego to Bellingham. Should I just carry it with me to alleviate any issues with the airports. Coffee does sometimes smell somewhat like POT . :)
Shouldn't be an issue. I've brought roasted whole bean coffee in my luggage. No problem. Good coffee does not smell like pot.
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Dec 20, 2004
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Montreal, QC
trellaine201 wrote: ... Coffee does sometimes smell somewhat like POT . :)

:lol: It doesn't smell like POT... It smells like coffee.. However since the smell of coffee is quite empowering, many people use coffee and hide POT and other drugs within the coffee to try to throw smelling dogs off the scent of the drugs. However this is why many times the dogs will stop and point out bags with Coffee in them, they are trained to do so..

I brought quite a bit of Kona coffee back when I was out in Hawaii, and had no issues. I even brought back some unroasted beans for a friend, who prefers to do his own roasting.

Actually, the "William Spartivento" beans costco carries are not too bad. I've bought a few different ones (espresso blend, kona blend, jamaican blue blend, etc..) and they are pretty well priced, nice balanced blends, and often less than $25/kg in warehouse. OK these are for the blends, not the 100% pure kona or 100% blue jamaican, but they are pretty good for the price. It's a lot better than the other commercial junk out there like CharBucks, or VanHoute, or whatever else they carry.
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Jan 30, 2006
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Emporium wrote: :lol: It doesn't smell like POT... It smells like coffee.. However since the smell of coffee is quite empowering, many people use coffee and hide POT and other drugs within the coffee to try to throw smelling dogs off the scent of the drugs. However this is why many times the dogs will stop and point out bags with Coffee in them, they are trained to do so..

I brought quite a bit of Kona coffee back when I was out in Hawaii, and had no issues. I even brought back some unroasted beans for a friend, who prefers to do his own roasting.

Actually, the "William Spartivento" beans costco carries are not too bad. I've bought a few different ones (espresso blend, kona blend, jamaican blue blend, etc..) and they are pretty well priced, nice balanced blends, and often less than $25/kg in warehouse. OK these are for the blends, not the 100% pure kona or 100% blue jamaican, but they are pretty good for the price. It's a lot better than the other commercial junk out there like CharBucks, or VanHoute, or whatever else they carry.

LOL thats what I meant ;) people hide it inside hahaha.
Deal Addict
Oct 9, 2005
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Arrgh wrote: But there's no HST charged on whole bean coffee in Ontario?

Then no taxes.
Member
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Jun 30, 2004
493 posts
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Toronto
As long as it from the US, coffee would be a Category 3 item and would not be assessed any taxes or duties.

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