Alfred Peet Dies

Peet's two shops in Berkeley on Domingo (by my Mom's house) and on Vine (where I spent my summers) were where I learned how to drink coffee in my teenage days.

He immigrated to San Francisco in 1955 and eventually found a job in the coffee importing business of E. A. Johnson & Co. But all the coffee coming into San Francisco was relatively low quality Brazils and “Central Standard” Salvadors for the large local roasting companies Folgers, MJB, and Hills Brothers. This was frustrating to Mr. Peet because he remembered the great high altitude coffees from Costa Rica, Guatemala, and East Africa that his father used to buy. But there were no customers for them here, so he decided to do something about it.

He scoured the West Coast from Vancouver to Palo Alto looking for a suitable location for a high-quality coffee roastery before a friend told him that she knew the right place for him, right across the Bay in Berkeley. He installed a small roaster in the shop’s back room, and the revolution began.

As Peet’s in Berkeley flourished, Mr. Peet opened additional stores in Menlo Park (1971), on Piedmont Avenue in Oakland (1978), and another in Berkeley across from the Claremont Hotel (1980).

Alfred H. Peet, 1920-2007