cgod, any thoughts on this? Coffee seems to be going through a similar path of beer. Get big enough to get bought out by a multi-national player, or be a micro roaster/cafe that has no plans to expand at as fast a rate as the Blue Bottles and Intelligentsia's of the world. I'm surprised that JAB didn't buy, it looks like Nestle is trying to compete with JAB in the US market.
ooh. there goes blue bottle.
FWIW, I never really was a fan of their single origins. Always roasted a touch too light in my opinion. Blends were better; Three Africas is my favorite of theirs.
Gonna continue to support relatively local roasters like Verve, which has never let me down.
Actually, now that I think about it, Peet's coffee itself got better after buying Intelligentsia and Stumptown...