Major Dickason’s Blend: Peet’s Most Famous Coffee Blend
The story of how Major Dickason’s Blend came to be is really interesting and is a good summation of the quirkiness of Peet’s Coffee and Tea as a company.
According to the story (or legend, if you like it better that way, or better yet, Peet’s official website where this story is told), a former army officer named Key Dickason is the namesake of this blend of coffee. Dickason was a regular customer to the original Peet’s coffee shop in Berkeley, CA. Over time, Alfred Peet took notice of the man and eventually sought his services to help him make a new blend of coffee. The two men came up with what is now known as Major Dickason’s Blend (trademark), which is now one of the most popular and well-known brands in the Peet’s stable. If you want to read more source material to this short story, go to the official Peet’s site.
If you’ve never had Peet’s Coffee and you are the type of person who likes really good coffee, then I definitely recommend that you stop in at your local Peet’s and try it out. I’m pretty sure you will want to stick with it once you try it. Even if you don’t have a Peet’s location nearby, you can order the Major Dickason’s Blend online or find it in your local grocery store. This isn’t a hard sell or anything, since I have no affiliation with Peet’s beyond the fact that I go there every morning, but I do like to inform coffee lovers about Peets.
Since the original Peet’s Coffee & Tea opened in Berkeley in the ’60’s (see Wikipedia), Peet’s is most popular in California and the west coast. Of course San Francisco has its own famous location, which is one of the best known. Washington, Illinois, and Colorado also have some Peet’s Coffee and Tea stores.
You can get the Major Dickason’s Blend at some grocery store locations and generally if your store does carry Peet’s, then it should have this blend. This is actually the first blend that I bought in the store and made at home. In the beginning (I must have been about 16 or so), I didn’t like Peet’s Coffees since I felt they were too strong. But at the time, I was more into the sugary drinks, which is pretty common for younger coffee drinkers. You don’t find too many 16 year olds drinking black coffee out of a mug on their way to English class.
What Major Dickason’s Blend Tastes Like
Major Dickason’s Blend is strong, bold, and rich, but it is also smooth and mellow, which is what takes the bite out of the minor intensity of the coffee. If you like coffees that have a distinct coffee taste with a faint nuttiness, then this is a good blend for you to try. It is a very balanced coffee. In fact, if you look at the official website, there is a diagram that puts Dickason’s right in the middle, showing its very nice balance. Balance to me means a coffee is very drinkable. It means that even if you’re not the biggest coffee drinker in the world, you still may enjoy a cup of the “Major.”
A mixture of 5 different coffees, you can see how balance in the flavor and acidity is an important factor. The mixture also brings to life not only rich coffee flavors, but also flowery and almost sweet components. Overall, Major Dickason’s is probably one of my two favorite Peet’s Coffee blends.
I highly recommend it for people who want to brew the coffee in a machine or using a French Press. There truly is a magnificent aroma when you start to brew this blend. It’s the perfect complement to an early morning. And trust me, it will wake you up. Ten Hut!
Peet’s Arabian Mocha Java
If you like espresso roasts, another blend you may want to try is the Arabian Mocha Java, which is very full, satisfying, creamy, and has a distinct mocha flavor that meshes well with its dark roast flavor. It is also slightly bittersweet, which adds a little bit of complexity to the flavor. This is a blend that you won’t soon forget.
