Founded by Alfred Peet in 1966, Peet’s coffee changed the way Americans have been drinking coffee ever since.

Mr. Peet grew up in the Netherlands and worked at his father’s coffee wholesale and bean grindery where he developed a passion for coffee and tea.

In 1938, Mr. Peet began an apprenticeship with the tea company Twinnings. There, he worked as a tea master and became enamored with the richness of dark-roasted Indonesian coffee.

Mr. Peet then moved to San Francisco and was shocked to discover that American coffee was frequently poor quality. Peet’s website Quotes Mr. Peet as saying “I came to the richest country in the world, so why are they drinking the lousiest coffee?” Inspired to bring quality coffee to the public, Mr. Peet went on to open his first store in Berkley California “Peet’s Coffee, Tea & Spices” in 1966.¹

Originally, the first Peet’s store sold coffee by the bag rather than in the cups we expect from a Peet’s café today. Each bag of coffee was hand-roasted in small batches to ensure the quality Mr. Peet wanted to bring to the American coffee drinking experience.¹ Mr. Peet believed that freshness and flavor were integral to a great cup of coffee which is why, to this day, Peet’s only uses the highest-quality beans.

It wasn’t smooth sailing, right away, though. Mr. Peet’s first store rarely saw business, even on “busy” weekends. His first barista, Bill Coffin, recalls throwing away pots of coffee every 20 minutes at Mr. Peet’s request, so that each guest would have the freshest cup possible. Coffin also recalls Mr. Peet grinding beans to order since they rarely sold beans.² Eventually business would start to pick up as people became more familiar with the idea of fresh roast coffee instead of their daily instant brew. Mr. Peet never let go of his high standards, and it paid off.

Mr. Peet opened three more stores before selling his business to Sal Bonavita in 1979. Surprising for many people to learn is that in 1984 Jerry Baldwin, a Starbucks founder, bought the four Peet’s stores from Sal Bonavita! Baldwin and his Starbucks co-founders then sold Starbucks so they could focus all their efforts on Peet’s.

Mr. Peet is often referred to as the godfather of gourmet coffee in the United States and is considered the “Big Bang” of craft coffee drinks.¹