How a Berkeley Coffee Shop Helped Shape Starbucks' Earliest Days

When Starbucks was just getting started, its founders needed someone to teach them how to make coffee properly. That person ran a small shop in Berkeley that has now expanded to hundreds of locations.

Before Starbucks became one of the most recognizable coffee brands in the world, its founders were trained by a man whose small Berkeley shop is now celebrating 60 years in the business.

Alfred Peet was a Dutch immigrant who came to America and noticed the country’s poor coffee quality. "I came to the richest country in the world, so why are they drinking the lousiest coffee?" he once said, according to his coffee shop’s website.

At the time, America was known for coffee that “tasted like dishwater,” longtime Peet’s roaster Jim Reynolds told The New York Times, and Peet wasn’t happy about that.

On April 1, 1966, Peet opened his first store near the University of California, Berkeley. There, he roasted high-quality beans, using a sensory roasting method, with a dark roast style. He was also known to minimize the distance between “the roaster and the customer.” It was Peet’s first shop, according to the brand, that “quietly ignited a revolution that forever changed the expectations of American coffee drinkers."

But Peet’s expertise would soon become the foundation from which the popular coffee brand Starbucks would be built.

In 1971, the founders of Starbucks approached Peet to seek guidance. After training them directly, he supplied their coffee beans for the first two years of the company’s business. Jerry Baldwin, Starbucks co-founder, admitted he will always be indebted to Peet for his help.

"He generously shared with us how to cup, to roast and to blend, and instilled his uncompromising standards," he told The New York Times, adding, "I'll always be in his debt."

But Peet's dedication to help didn’t end there. He also trained Reynolds to work as a roaster for Starbucks, encouraging the company to start roasting its own beans instead of relying on Peet’s supply. Reynolds later returned to Peet's in 1984.

Six decades after opening its first location, the coffee shop Peet's now has several hundred stores, with a big chunk of its locations in California — 206 to be exact, as well as other locations in the country. To this day, the company still hand-roasts its beans and tests its coffee three separate times before roasting.

The company has also made sustainability a big part of its business, partnering with nonprofit Enveritas to oversee its sourcing practices. Peet's has also expressed its commitment to the protection of "forests, watersheds, and livelihoods," as well as supporting small-scale producers and climate-resilient coffee plant research through World Coffee Research.

To mark their milestone 60th, Peet's sold their medium-sized coffee for 25 cents, the original price of their coffee in 1966, on September 29, National Coffee Day.

In a statement to People, Peet’s president, Stuart Heflin, reflected on their founder’s legacy: "Sixty years ago, Alfred Peet set out to make better coffee, and in doing so, he changed the way Americans thought about what a great cup could be. He never compromised on quality or craft. That same pioneering spirit is still at the heart of everything we do at Peet's."

Heflin announced a new initiative, Roasted for Originals, which celebrates the brand's origin story. "We're proud of our history, and we're just getting started," he said. "Over the coming months, people will see more from Peet's, and we can't wait to share what's next."