Alfred H. Peet
- 87 years old
- Male
- Born Mar 10, 1920
- Died Aug 29, 2007
- United States
About
Peet
Mr. Peet, often called the “grandfather of specialty coffee,” started his business in Berkeley, Calif., in 1966, with a single retail coffee bean outlet that blossomed into a public company with 150 stores in 10 states.
He is credited with mentoring and inspiring a generation of coffee entrepreneurs, including the founders of Starbucks.
Mr. Peet was born in 1920 in Alkmaar, the Netherlands, where he learned the coffee trade while cleaning machinery and running errands at his father’s small coffee roastery. As a teenager, he moved to London and was an apprentice at Lipton’s Tea. He later traveled to Indonesia and worked as a tea taster, before immigrating to San Francisco in 1955.
“At the time, America had a reputation, internationally, as having coffee that tasted like dishwater,” said Jim Reynolds, a buyer and roaster at Peet’s since 1984 who holds the title roastmaster emeritus. “He was very frustrated. He knew good-quality coffee existed, but no one in the states was buying it. He looked at it as something of a crime.”
Friends and protégés described Mr. Peet as charming and witty, yet demanding and at times, rigid. Many believe it was Mr. Peet’s encyclopedic knowledge of coffees and teas that led to the company’s success.
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Robert Apr 04, 2012
My Brother and Alfred Peet...together
Kim Sep 07, 2007
Here is my story and my deep connection to Peets.
My beloved brother, Dr. Mark Williams (Rad/Oncologist in Macon, GA) introduced me to the real thing, Petes Coffee in 2000. He would send me deliveries of Peets for any and all occasions. Often if I mentioned I was having an especially bad day; I'd receive a special Peets delivery to my door via the UPS man! I could smell it as I got closer to my front door. Mark began ordering regular deliveries of Peets to his office, home and to anyone he met that enjoyed a good cup of coffee. I even had a Peets Poster mailed from CA to DC...had it framed and sent it to him in Georgia! Sadly on 5/19 of this year I rec'd a call that Mark had been in a terrible bicycling accident. He was riding his bike through Macon and hit a speed bump at a very fast rate of speed, fell and landed on his head. He was not wearing a bike helmet. Mark was declarred clinically brain damaged on 5/23 and died 6/3; 2 days before his 46th birthday. He left 3 children behind and 100's of faithful patients. The town has all mourned his passing along with us. When I called Petes to stop the weekly delivery of the coffee, I rec'd a beautiful note back from the staff at Petes,written to me, expressing their sadness for our loss. Unlike so many other companies that send a standard "we'll remove his name from our mailings". Petes is a cut above the rest. In cleaning out my brother's home I found a gift he had purchased for me and was obviously saving it for my birthday...a personalized Pete's mug with the endearing name he always called me typed on the front. It brings me tears and smiles each day when I look at. I hope Mark and Alfred are together sharing coffee and discussing many of the worlds problems. Between the two of them; I see great things happening for us in the future. My condolences to the staff; you truly lost an awesome man. Please keep his memory and ideas alive...Kim Williams
Posted by: Kimberly Williams | September 06, 2007 at 03:34 PM
Nis Strafford (Sep 27, 2008)