Monday 10 September 2007

Alfred Peet Dies - The Leader of a Coffee Revolution

Last week, coffee legend Alfred Peet, creator of Peet's Coffee & Tea Inc., a forerunner to Starbucks Corp., has died at his home in Ashland, Oregon. He was 87.

Alfred Peet was a Dutch tea trader who started the gourmet coffee craze in the United States with his rich, darkly roasted, high-altitude beans and taught the trade to the founders of Starbucks and sold them their first year's supply.

2 comment(s):

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised no one did him in sooner, considering that he's largely responsible for the chain that killed off small coffee shops everywhere.

Anonymous said...

It wasn't a forerunner of Starbucks, it was a forerunner of Peets Coffee, which still has quite a presence in the US, including a huge one in the Bay Area (SF, East Bay etc.) and California...Starbucks is just a rip off bully success story!

I worked at an Oakland Peets for awhile....Carl