Peet's Coffee for True Coffee Lovers

Peet's Coffee and Tea shops serve up the best coffee blends in the nation, maybe even the world. When you walk into a Peet's Coffee location, you are walking into a realm of serious coffee drinkers. Sure, you can get all the same drinks you get at a Starbuck's, like Caffe Latte's, nonfat milk sugar free vanilla lattes (I get one once a month), but the bold coffees and espressos are what really make the Peet's Coffee experience.

If you haven't had Peet's Coffee before and want to, you can get the famous coffee blends in a local grocery store (possibly, depending on where you live), online at the website (always, no matter where you are), or at a Peet's physical location. The first Peet's opened in 1966 in Berkeley, CA, so there are quite a few shops in Northern California all the way down to Southern California. You can also find shops in Colorado, Washington, and Illinois. Anyone else has to buy the coffee from the website and have it shipped to them.

This is actually a good way to order your coffee and often it tastes better and is fresher than if you bought it in a local grocery store. Peet's coffees are rich, bold, and delicious. And there are many different blends for you to choose from. If you're just getting started with Peet's, you may want to start out with the Sumatra blend, which is a good overall tasting coffee and is not too intense. On the flip side, Peet's French roast coffee, which happens to be the most popular blend, is one of the darkest, boldest roasts. If you like coffee that you can taste, you cannot lose with Peet's.

Find a list of locations and read reviews of Peet's Coffee here.

If you like coffee with a bit of a chocolate taste, the Arabian Mocha Java is right up your alley. This blend has a buttery cocoa flavor that is perfectly understated and mixes well with the strong unmistakable "coffee" flavor. The Major Dickason's blend is one of the most popular and is a satisfying and mellow mix that will please anyone who takes a sip of it.

Maybe you're not a coffee drinker. If you're not, believe it or not, but Peet's also has its own line of teas, which are actually very high quality, delicious blends (most of them). One of the best tasting is the Holiday Breakfast blend, but you can also find great tasting Chai and green teas, both caffeinated and decaffeinated. The tea "pearls" are very well-known and pack a lot of flavor into a single cup of tea.

If you have a Peet's in your neighborhood and tend to bypass it on your way to Starbucks or Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, I highly recommend that you change course and just stop by at least one time. You owe it to yourself if you like good coffee. For those of you who live in San Francisco or in Westwood, Los Angeles, just keep driving by all the mediocre coffee shops and so-called coffee bars, and don't stop until you get to the real deal, which is Peet's Coffee and Tea. Did you know that Starbucks was based on the first Peet's coffee store? The guy who started Starbucks, Howard Schultz, even owned Peet's at one point.

Even if you don't have a Peet's in your town, which is most of the United States, you can still order from the website. This entire article is based on my own opinions. If you have anything to add about Peet's or want to let me know what your favorite coffee is, please leave a comment below.