About Peet's Coffee
Peet's Coffee traces back to a single storefront Alfred Peet opened at the corner of Vine and Walnut in Berkeley, California, on April 1, 1966. Peet had learned the coffee trade in his father's coffee and tea business in the Netherlands and as a tea taster in Indonesia, where he developed a lasting preference for richly, darkly roasted beans. He brought that sensory roasting approach to the US at a time when most American coffee was pre-ground and thin, and his shop became a training ground for the wider industry: he personally taught the trio who went on to found Starbucks how to roast and blend coffee before they opened their own first store.
The company still roasts out of a dedicated facility in Alameda, California, opened in 2007 and certified LEED Gold, one of the first coffee roasteries in the country to earn that designation. Peet's sourcing includes coffees carrying USDA Organic, Fair Trade Certified, Rainforest Alliance, and Smithsonian Bird Friendly certifications across parts of its lineup. On our own cupping table, its dark roasts consistently show the deep cocoa, syrupy body, and small-batch freshness that built the brand's reputation as the originator of American craft dark roasting.
Brand website: peets.com
What Peet's Coffee makes
Peet's Coffee's range runs wider than the products we review. The lines we know best from our own testing are marked with a star:
Major Dickason's Blend
Peet's original and best-known dark roast, whole bean and ground -- our pick for a rich, full-bodied cup — featured on Brew Gazette
Espresso Forte
bold, oily dark roast whole bean built for espresso and espresso martinis -- our pick for maximum-intensity shots — featured on Brew Gazette
Single-origin and organic roasts
lighter and organic-certified offerings sourced from Latin America, East Africa, and Indonesia
Single-serve pods
Keurig-compatible pods across several Peet's roast profiles
Cold brew concentrate
ready-to-brew cold format of Peet's darker roasts
Tea
loose-leaf and bagged tea, a holdover from the brand's original Peet's Coffee & Tea name
Why we recognized Peet's Coffee
The Brew Gazette Top Brand recognition isn't paid for and can't be applied for. We award it to the brands whose products consistently stand out in our hands-on category reviews. Peet's Coffee earned it on the strength of the products below, evaluated the same way every product on this site is: bought, brewed with daily, and judged on what lands in the cup.
Peet's Coffee products we rated highly
Peet's Coffee Major Dickason's Blend Dark Roast
Peet's original and most famous blend, and one of the most respected dark roasts in American coffee -- it set the template that the whole West Coast dark-roast movement followed, backed by thousands of reviews affirming it decades on. In our testing it delivered a full-bodied, complex cup layering deep cocoa, a smoky-sweet char, and a lingering syrupy finish, particularly strong through a French press or a robust drip where the oils and depth come through. Peet's also roasts in smaller, fresher batches than most supermarket brands, so the bag tastes livelier than a typical commodity dark roast.
Read the 10 Best Coffee Beans of 2026 guide →
Peet's Espresso Forte Dark Roast Whole Bean
One of the boldest 100%-Arabica dark roasts we tested, with smoky, bittersweet-chocolate intensity and a heavy, syrupy body that cuts cleanly through milk or a cocktail, which is why it's our top choice for espresso martinis. The generous 32-ounce bag brings the per-ounce cost down despite the specialty-roaster name, and Peet's roasts in smaller, fresher batches than the supermarket giants, so the depth in the cup reads as lively rather than flat.
Read the Best Coffee Beans for Espresso in 2026 (Q Grader Tested) guide →What earned Peet's Coffee the recognition
- A top pick in two separate BrewGazette roundups -- everyday coffee beans and beans for espresso -- covering both a full-bodied daily dark roast and a bold, martini-ready espresso roast.
- A genuine industry pedigree: founder Alfred Peet opened his first Berkeley storefront in 1966 and personally trained the founders of Starbucks in coffee roasting and blending before they opened their own first store.
- Roasts out of a dedicated Alameda, California facility certified LEED Gold, one of the first coffee roasteries in the country to earn that certification.
- Sourcing spans USDA Organic, Fair Trade Certified, Rainforest Alliance, and Smithsonian Bird Friendly certifications across parts of its lineup.
- On our own cupping table, Major Dickason's Blend and Espresso Forte both showed the deep cocoa, syrupy body, and small-batch freshness that built Peet's reputation as the originator of American craft dark roasting.