http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT
I'm sure we can remember his legacy well since it is such a vital part of our cycling performance. :)
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http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories...MPLATE=DEFAULT
I'm sure we can remember his legacy well since it is such a vital part of our cycling performance. :)
Pretty intersting writeup in our local paper:
Alfred Peet, 87, gourmet coffee pioneer
HIS PUSH FOR QUALITY HELPED USHER IN AGE OF STARBUCKS
By Blanca Torres
MediaNews
Article Launched: 09/01/2007 01:40:56 AM PDT
There was a time when most people were content drinking mediocre coffee. Cup by cup, Alfred Peet helped change that.
Peet, who founded Peet's Coffee and Tea and is considered a forefather of specialty coffee, died Wednesday at his home in Ashland, Ore. He was 87.
Peet, born in the Netherlands in 1920, learned the coffee business as a boy while helping with his father's small roastery. He later turned his appreciation for specially roasted beans into what became a national trend.
"He was an artist," said George Vukasin Sr., chief executive of Oakland-based Peerless Coffee, who met Peet in the 1970s while both men ran specialty coffee companies. "He was very particular on what he sold to his customers. He wanted the best."
Peet arrived in San Francisco in 1955 and took a job with a coffee bean importer. He noticed the absence of the specialty beans he knew from his childhood in Europe and decided to start his own business.
"Alfred knew about quality coffee, and it was really frustrating to him that nobody was roasting quality coffee," said Jim Reynolds, roastmaster emeritus for Peet's Coffee and Tea, whom Peet trained.
Peet's expertise was in finding the best quality beans and in artisan, European-style roasts that tended to be darker than the blended varieties common at the time.
Peet opened his first store on Vine Street in Berkeley in 1966. The store, just blocks from the
University of California-Berkeley, was one of the original businesses that made up North Berkeley's "gourmet ghetto," which is home to Alice Waters' Chez Panisse and the Cheese Board.
Peet went on to open other Peet's stores in Menlo Park, Oakland and a second site in Berkeley.
"He felt he could introduce Americans to quality coffee," Reynolds said. "Nobody understood that this was the beginning of a coffee revolution."
Peet became somewhat of a coffee industry celebrity at a time when few consumers had heard of specialty coffee.
"He was extremely helpful to people he thought had an appreciation for coffee," Reynolds said. "His reputation grew just by word of mouth."
Vukasin said he and Peet traded tips on finding brokers and different roasting techniques.
"I liked him," he said. "I like anybody who's in the biz and makes an effort to provide a quality product and be successful at it."
Peet also advised the founders of Seattle-based Starbucks Coffee, who came to Berkeley to meet him and learn about his business. He trained one of them to roast coffee and then sold them roasted beans when they opened their first store in 1971.
Peet retired from his business in 1983, but he continued to consult with roastmasters and coffee companies.
Peet's Coffee and Tea is now based in Oakland and is a public company operating 152 stores that generated $229 million in sales last year.
Peet is survived by a daughter, two grandchildren and a sister who lives in the Netherlands.
Visit peets.typepad.com to read a summary of Peet's life and post comments about his life.
....toasting the master with some italian roast....
(sniffle)