The Perfect Cup

Questions For Peet's Coffee: Tough Love

1. Why did you start putting lids on your vats?
2. Why do you jack up the temperature on your coffee now?
3. What happened to your training? (I do believe that "it takes people of character to make coffees of distinction." Let's extend the marketing message into your hiring discipline.)
4. Why haven't you fired the manager in Redwood City. She isn't friendly I can't get a good cup of Peet's there, the floor is extra dirty, the milk is always empty and there is exceptionally high employee churn.
5. Can you partner with a Wi-Fi provider?
6. When will you make your merchandise better?
7. Have you learned from Starbucks operational excellence?

Peet's Coffee On The Road

I drink my Peet's coffee religiously. When I go on the road, I will make sure I bring some freshly ground Peet's. (I used to bring a grinder and press pot too, but that became too messy.)  Last month, I was at the Soho Grand in New York, and they didn't have a drip machine. Thanks to some hot water I found and my trusty filters, I was in luck. 

Peet's Wins A Battle With Starbucks

Don't you love this?

The first Peet's Coffee & Tea store that Alfred Peet opened in 1966 just had a victory, where Starbucks, due to some "underperforming" (translate: people weren't buying enough of their nasty coffee or sugary drinks) shut down the Starbucks a blog away from the Peet's store.

Maybe their coffee just sucks...

Why Starbucks' sales have gone cold

By Will Smale Business reporter, BBC News The Starbucks logo dominates many city centres The coffee isn't tasting too sweet at Starbucks at the moment. Recently coming bottom in an independent UK taste test of the main coffee chains, the US giant has seen its sales fall in its main home market for the second quarter in succession. With its share price also having declined more than 40% over the past year, the Seattle company's founder, Howard Schultz, returned to the chief executive role last month to try to turn around the firm's fortunes. While Starbucks is undoubtedly being hit by the wider slowdown in consumer spending in the US, analysts say the problems at the company run much deeper. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7219458.stm ****************************

21 minutes again

Last night Dallas lost, TO cried on national TV and my daughter had her first birthday party. This morning I woke up had a cup of French Roast that I brewed myself. (Was a B at best.) After my workout, I went to Belmont Peet's and had another 21 minutes. Was scalding hot as they have put lids on their brew. This pisses me off as it doesn't help the taste and burns my mouth.

Was thinking about the CEO comment and decided to model it out with the #s provided. Here is what he said:

We're fundamentally different from other coffee shops. Our average sales for stores open at least three years are $1.3 million, which compares to about $1 million for a Starbucks. Of that, $500,000 comes from sales of whole bean coffee and tea. When you walk into our stores, you will find a bean counter with 32 bins of fresh beans, and we scoop to order. You can also order a beverage, which accounts for the other $800,000. We sell a lot more straight-up coffee than Starbucks does. We do have a blended cold drink line called Freddos, but we sell very few beverages in our stores that don't contain coffee. Our prices are about 10 percent higher than Starbucks.”

So then you get....

Drinks $740 per day per year

Beans $126 lbs. per day per year

740 drinks sold per day and 126 lbs of coffee sold per day. Makes sense. I also noticed yesterday that the price point in Safeway for Starbucks is $7.99, while Peet's is $10.99. Premium indeed. (I have heard that Starbucks ships a lesser quality to their supermarket channels.)

Peet's fans on TypePad

A Starbucks employee loving Peet's

http://brandautopsy.typepad.com/brand...

I’ve always admired Peet’s Coffee — even when I was a die-hard Starbucks marketer. On market trips to California I would always bring back a pound (or two) of Peet’s whole bean coffee. And every Christmas I would order Peet’s Holiday Blend to compare with Starbucks Christmas Blend.

21 minutes

NFL Playoffs are in the second week. Local player makes star, Tom Brady had a great game completing all his passes but two as the Pats beat the Jags. In Wisconsin, Favre played a game like he was still twenty something in the midst of a snowstorm and came out successful against Holmgren's Seahawks.

Today's cup was marginal at best. The blend was Costa Rican and I am convinced that there has been no training in the Redwood City Peet's. They have an inconsistent cup of Peet's. Normally, Peet's will create a fresh pot every 30 minutes, but rarely will the taste be exceptional unless you get it in the 24-27 minute range.  Today at 21 minutes it was not soo good.  For some reason, they can't brew their vats like the other Peet's. Alex, the manager at the Belmont Peet's does a great job at monitoring the water pressure, amount of grounds and the heat to help with the quality control. He cares about this and is a great example of what all the Peet's managers should do.

In the 80's, you didn't work at Peet's unless you were obsessed with the brewing process. Do you have the right water? Is it a burr grinder? Are you grinding the right fine/coarseness for the brewing method that you are using. I used to learn so much from listening to their barista's talk about "the perfect cup of coffee."

What sucks, is that now it is hit / miss. I will walk into the Peet's in some locations and see one vat at 3 minutes and one vat at 28 minutes - then I will ask for a coffee from the "fresh" pot. They will then serve me the 3 minute one and say, "we brew all our coffee fresh, every 30 minutes" like they have never even tried their product.  Sigh.

dear new 19 year old peet's employee,

please try your product and understand how the taste differs. please put down that sugary mocha that you were weaned on from starbucks where all the syrup hides the quality of the coffee.

then learn how to make the perfect cup.

trust me. you will like it. nothing is better then a perfect cup of peet's.

me

Peet's descriptions on their website

Another Peet's Fan writes about Peet's approach from their website

At Peet’s we take freshness seriously. It is only by roasting and shipping the same day that we can be sure that you enjoy the distinctive deep-roasted flavor of Peet’s. We call it “Roaster-to-Cup” freshness, and you can taste the difference. When you choose Home Delivery, we ship right to your home - it is the freshest of the fresh. It’s the apple right off the tree, the bread right out of the oven…you get the picture.

My favorite part of their website is when they say how to brew the perfect cup of coffee:

Water quality and temperature.
Start with freshly drawn, filtered cold water and bring to a boil. The best temperature for brewing coffee is between 195 F and 205 F. This can be reached by letting your kettle rest 30 seconds after coming to a boil.

Measure Carefully.
Making coffee is like following a recipe: the correct proportion of ingredients (in this case, coffee and water) is vital. We suggest using two heaping tablespoons of whole beans for each six ounces of water.

Grind Just Before Brewing.
Many coffee lovers have a coffee grinder somewhere in their kitchen. And there is no time like the present to use it. Grinding before brewing ensures the freshest coffee by releasing the flavors and aromas inside the coffee beans so they can be savored in your cup.

Brew Only What You Plan to Drink.
Freshly-roasted, freshly-brewed coffee should never sit around, but should be enjoyed as soon as possible. If coffee sits on a burner or is reheated, it will have a scorched taste and will lack the aromatic complexity of freshly-brewed coffee.

First post

I grew up in Menlo Park, CA and started drinking Peet's in high school. I would go into the local Peet's right next to Draeger's and get a cup of coffee. Not a latte, not a mocha (they started serving those drinks much later) but a cup of coffee.

Mmmm.

There is nothing better then that perfect cup of coffee.