EMERYVILLE, Calif., Nov. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the year's highlights for customers and staff alike at Peet's Coffee & Tea is the unveiling of the year's holiday coffee and tea blends. Each year offers up different flavors, as Peet's buyers scour the globe for the unusual, the sublime, and the wildcard coffees that have rarely been tasted on these shores to come up with a mix of beans that are sold in limited batches this time of year. An heirloom coffee from the Indonesian island of Sulawesi is at the heart of Peet's 2005 Holiday Blend. The beans come from a part of the island accessible only by foot, where they grow on century-old trees with waist-thick trunks that Doug Welsh, vice president of coffee, said is one of the "rarest lots exclusively available to Peet's." Welsh described the heirloom Sulawesi coffee as "mildly sweet and balanced." It is blended with three other coffees from the Indo-Pacific and the finest estate Guatemala Antigua resulting in a luxurious blend with layers of flavor, dark chocolate character and a hint of spice. This year's Holiday Breakfast Blend tea features the finest black teas, including several second flush Darjeelings from the Himalayan foothills. For body and complexity, a blonde-tipped Yunnan is added along with a special reserve Keemun that work well together when the weather gets cold. "The resulting blend is a complex cup with incredibly nutty and sweet thickness infused with piney, toasty aroma," said Eliot Jordan, Peet's director of tea. Holiday and Decaffeinated Holiday Blend coffee as well as Holiday Blend Breakfast Blend tea are available to order through Dec. 28 or while supplies last at Peet's retail stores nationwide, online at http://www.peets.com/, by calling 1-800-999-2132 and at select grocery stores nationwide. Founded in Berkeley, Calif. in 1966, Peet's Coffee & Tea, Inc. is a specialty coffee roaster and marketer of fresh, deep-roasted whole bean coffee. Peet's fresh-roasted coffee, hand-selected tea and related items are sold in several distribution channels including grocery, home delivery, office and food service accounts and company-owned stores throughout the United States. For information about Peet's Coffee & Tea, Inc., visit http://www.peets.com/ or call 1-800-999-2132. Peet's Coffee & Tea, Inc. shares are traded under the symbol PEET. DATASOURCE: Peet's Coffee & Tea, Inc. CONTACT: Peet's Coffee & Tea, Inc., 800-999-2132 Web site: http://www.peets.com/

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