Quote Originally Posted by JimmyHAD View Post
I sometimes buy a pound of Pike Place Roast here in South FL. Sometimes their 'House Blend.' Always beans and I grind them myself. I like both of those blends well enough. I also buy Peets House Blend, or Major Dickinson's Blend. All of these are 'alright' but not really favorites in the true sense of the word. They are what works, at a price I can afford, rather that coffees I'd highly recommend.

Thirty years ago I was living in Montclair NJ and there was a place on Church St, or was it Avenue ....... called 'Beans,' where some upscale shops were. I fell in love with a blend called Mocha Java, which has nothing to do with chocolate BTW. I'm sometimes able to find MJ around here, always beans, I never buy ground coffee, but it doesn't seem to taste as good as I remember it back in the '80s.

As far as Starbucks modifying their blends to suit regional tastes ....... I find that difficult to believe. It seems to me that it would require more diversity in sorting it all out than it would be worth. I could see them pushing specific flavors, varieties in one local as opposed to another, but not varieties of the same blend, such as Pike Peak, from one region to another. Just IMHO.
Pike's is one of my favorites....I sometimes pick up a box or two for the Keurig or some grounds for my favorite way to make coffee....strong and in the percolator!