The Coffee Visionary

This is the story of the life and work of Alfred Peet, the man behind the iconic West Coast coffee brand Peet’s Coffee, and how he led the revolution of specialty coffee in the United States

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“The coffee tells my story.” —Alfred Peet

At a time when most Americans drank coffee percolated from canned grounds, the son of a coffee roaster from a small town in the Netherlands laid the foundation for specialty coffee in the United States. When Alfred Peet opened Peet’s Coffee, Tea & Spices in Berkeley, California, in 1966, and started selling small batches of on-site, hand-roasted coffee beans, the renowned roastmaster had no way of knowing that he was brewing a coffee revolution and defining the coffee culture we know and love today.