Did Gourmet Coffee Start with Alfred Peet?

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W W W . B U Y O R G A N I C C O F F E E . O R G
Did Gourmet Coffee Start
with Alfred Peet?

http://buyorganiccoffee.org/1587/did-gourmet-
coffee-start-with-alfred-peet/
Most of us of a certain age grew up
drinking mass produced ground coffee
such as Maxwell House or Folgers.

The concept of whole bean coffee
roasted and ground just before making
coffee did not exist.

At least it didn’t until Alfred Peet came
along. Did gourmet coffee start with
Alfred Peet?

Investor’s Business Daily writes that
Alfred Peet brewed a better cup of coffee
and folks flocked to his door.

Alfred Peet was convinced that
Americans would pay up for a better-
tasting cup of coffee. This was back in
the 1950s and ’60s - way before today’s
gourmet coffee shops.

He also saw hardly anyone willing to
travel the globe in search of excellent
coffee beans, teach the public how
premium-quality coffee should taste and
explain that with coffee beans, where
they’re grown matters.

So the Dutch-born expert in coffee and
tea made it his mission to serve an
excellent product that was priced at a
premium over the marketplace yet still
was affordable enough to enjoy
repeatedly.

Peet’s Coffee & Tea opened in Berkley,
CA in 1961 and grew to seven locations
by 1981.

Today the company has 283 outlets in
the USA and sells bags of gourmet
coffee in retail stores.

Many coffee entrepreneurs credit Alfred
Peet with inspiring them to sell gourmet
coffee.

Sourcing Great Coffee

Something that did not happen before
Alfred Peet came along was visiting
coffee plantations in search of high
quality coffee.

And the concepts of organic coffee,
shade grown coffee and fair trade coffee
followed naturally as consumers became
acquainted with Peet’s gourmet coffee.

The original motive behind fair trade
coffee was to develop coffee trade
relationships based on respect,
transparency, and dialogue between
producers and sellers.

The point is to guarantee fair prices to
small coffee growers who would
otherwise have no access to fair pricing.
At its heart fair trade coffee is an idea for
social betterment more so than a way to
make better coffee.

There is a “Fairtrade” coffee brand for
which coffee packers pay a fee a
“Fairtrade” logo and brand name. Coffee
carrying this name must come from an
associated cooperative.

In general cooperative only sell part of
their harvest as fair trade coffee because
of lack of demand.

It was Alfred Peet who first cut out the
middle man and visited coffee farms,
found the best product and paid a fair
price to the coffee grower.

At a time when a cup of coffee was just a
cup of coffee Alfred Peet introduced us
to the concept that coffee could be
special.

We recently asked what’s the point of
organic coffee? Alfred Peet taught us
that quality of coffee and sourcing are
important.

You do not lose any of the health
benefits of coffee when you drink health
organic coffee.

You get the same reduction of the
incidence of type II diabetes, various
kinds of cancer, Alzheimer’s and
Parkinson’s diseases and
depression/suicide by drinking organic
coffee as opposed to regular.

The point is that organic coffee
production is sustainable and better for
the earth.

Thank you, Mr. Peet.

Did Gourmet Coffee Start with Alfred Peet?

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Did Gourmet Coffee Start with Alfred Peet?