I first discovered Peet’s coffee in the early 80’s, and was hooked. Forget Starbuck’s. They invented a mass marketing system, not good coffee. Peet’s made coffee without compromise, and you had to go there to get it.
Well, so much for that. They went corporate and pretty much followed Statbucks example, up to and including supermarket sales.
I roast coffee at home and I have a pretty good taste for what good coffee is, and now Peet’s isn’t. Still marginally better that that other place, but way down from what it was.
To be clear, I’m talking about coffee. Espresso, cappuccino, lattes, americanos, and like that. I’m not talking about those drinks I call “milkshakes” that made Sterbucks famous and popular with the kids.
I’m sad, and I really need to fix my roaster.
Thank you for listening.
This is a eulogy, not an opinion.
Peace,
mangeorge
What about Cunningham’s? How do you rate them?
Don’t know them. Where are they?
If they’re in the style of Starbuck’s, they’re not in the running.
I’m not really down on Starbuck’s, coffee just isn’t their thing. Some of their drinks, Frappuccinos etc, are pretty tasty. they just are not coffee. If you get there at the right time their pastries can be okay too.
I still like Peet’s, but there’s only so much employee posing I can handle… Yeah, we like your coffee, but working at Peet’s doesn’t make you some kind of Cool Beatnik Coffee-Jockey. Get over yourselves, get the orders right, and don’t act as if you’re doing me a big favor just by pouring my coffee.*
I’ve actually given up on all coffee places.
Bought a coffee roaster, bought some really good raw coffee beans online for about half the price they’re sold for in stores, and roast a few days’ worth in about 7 minutes. Repeat every few days… Works great, and a lot cheaper.
Funny, I haven’t been to either Peet’s or any other coffee place in about 3 months since I started roasting my own.
- Please note, I’m especially talking about the staff in Pasadena… Oh… and when I used to go to Peet’s in San Francisco… Wait, and Alameda… Oh, and Emeryville… and Berkeley… Oh yeah, and in West Hollywood… Damn, they really DO have attitude, don’t they?
I get my beans from sweet marias in Emeryville. They have good stuff, and I can stop by and pick up my order.
I’ve been roasting for many years. The results are at least as good as Peet’s, but you know that. 
Cool, they’re in Emeryville? That’s where I ordered from… I ordered some kind of “mess-o-beans” and got about 14 different kinds from them… But didn’t even notice where they’re located…
I think I should have them all used up by the time the Olympics start in London in 2012…
It’s times like these I miss the East Bay. Oh… I mean, Pasadena’s lovely tonight, isn’t it?
I gave each of my (grown) daughters a subscription to the custom roasted coffee from that site. They love it. It is very good. He roasts it right there in the shop and sends it out thye next day.
what coffee roaster do you use?
Peets in the 1980’s Bay Area was awesome. Heck, I still route international business trips through SFO just so I can get a cup of Peets, loaf of sourdough and hit the best airport bookstore in the world. But they don’t sell the Sulawesi in the airport. 
I use the Fresh Roast Plus - It’s small, but it’s been doing a great job so far.
That be not a problem:
http://www.peets.com/site/search.asp?search=Sulawesi
If they do ship to China.
Sweet Marias also ships roasted coffees.
I use a behmor, which works good. But the motor that turns the drum failed. They offered to fix it but I asked them to just send the motor. When will I learn.
I also have a freshroast plus I forgot about. I think I’ll drag it out and put it to work.
I like Peets, but sometimes they are just plain stupid. When you buy a pound of coffee you get a free cup of coffee with your purchase. I was with 2 others and together the three of us were buying three pounds of coffee (one pound each). They were busy so to make things easier I ordered all three pounds and paid for it. The guy would only give one cup of coffee. I argued with him how silly that was as the three of us were standing right there and ordering separately would not have cost us anything more.
He relented, but was a huge dick about it.
Oh and when told that one pound needed to be ground for a Bialetti, he growled at me that he doesn’t know what that is.
My response: You sell them. They are right over there.
Still clueless.
Other than that, I don’t really have any issues with Peets.
That’s what I’m talking about. When a local company spreads out, and the owner loses control (died, in this case), things just go downhill.