There's no better coffee out there than Peet's. And I'm FROM Seattle, home of Starbucks. I remember back in 1981 or so, 9th grade, we had a weekend field trip to downtown Seattle, and we met the teacher at the original Starbucks store across the street from the front of Pike Place Market. That was a full 10 years before pretty much anyone even knew what Starbucks was.
My problem with their coffee is that it is just too burned .... over-roasted. Peet's (which originally was combined with Starbucks -- they have a common history) is roasted much better, and lacks that "burnt" flavor that Starbucks has.
When I came to the East Coast I see this "Dunkin" all over the place.People rave about it !!
Has to be the worst coffee I've ever had. McDonalds McCafe is FAR better than Dunkin.
I can recall the salad days of Seattle and Portland when everyone had espresso carts at their businesses. I've been an espresso drinker long before it was considered fashionable, so whenever I visited these places back in the 80s and 90s I was always confused as to what the big deal was.
I used to have a customer near Boeing Field, and would typically stay at the Holiday Inn right down the street. Of course, they had an espresso cart outside near the lobby doors. As I was driving up Marginal Way to my customer's one morning, I reveled in the number of businesses that now offered espresso. It was like the signs you saw on Beverly Hillbillies or Green Acres where they had painted "and Espresso!" on every business. My absolute favorite was a salvage yard on Marginal Way that had a sign something to the effect of "Bob's Auto Salvage" with - "and Espresso!" hand painted on their sign. And sure enough, they had an espresso cart out front. Grab a hot latte while you're scrounging for that much needed part!
Starbucks was one of the few places at the time that I could buy whole beans already roasted. Whenever I visited Seattle or Portland I would go into a Starbucks store and ask to buy some whole beans. "Why we have half pound and one pound bags, sir, right there on the shelf."
"Nope. I want two 10 pound vacuum packed bags off your back shelves, please." (Look of confusion on barista's face.")
I would walk out with those two coffee smelling silver pillows under my arms and head right to the airport. They would go in the overhead with my other stuff and smell up the cabin for some time. Then I went to Italy and discovered Lavazza. Never looked back.
As for the Dunkin' Donuts, well, that's a New England/east coast cultural thing. Heck, they don't even make their donuts at the stores any more. I've never tried their coffee as I'm not a big coffee person anyway. I had a customer that was right next door to the Dunkin Donuts University in Braintree, MA, (Mack Boring and Parts) and we would get loads of fresh/free donuts from them whenever I was there to do training classes. The franchisees who were there bunked at the same hotel as I did and I would often see them around the bar in the evenings. I was told that you couldn't make money with one, you had to own two or more and then you were good. They also said that when the economy was bad they often did well, as Mom and Dad might not take the kids to McDonald's, but they would always stop on the way to work every morning to get a cup of coffee...
Dan
Wow was my esster toast good this mornimg! Even though I don’t have a fancy pants oven.
The laws are are a little grey when it comes to this stuff so generally it is thought pedestrians shouldn't be able to buy it and just vendors abuse the pricing- still selling it anyway but at extortionate markups.
That is sooooooooooo douche-bag. People who wear that are such TOOLS.
