Alfred Peet was born in 1920 in the Netherlands, where his father ran a small coffee roasting shop using only the finest beans. Alfred learned the trade, and in 1955 he emigrated to San Francisco to work for a coffee and tea importer.

Once in the U.S., Peet was disappointed by the poor quality of American coffee, which he compared to the bland, rationed coffee from World War II. At the time, most Americans were drinking coffee brewed from freeze-dried beans.

“I came to the richest country in the world, so why are they drinking the lousiest coffee?” Peet asked.

Determined to teach people to appreciate the richness of a top-notch product, Peet opened a gourmet coffee and tea shop in Berkeley, California, in 1966. He sourced top-quality beans from high-altitude regions like Costa Rica and Guatemala and roasted each batch by hand in the back of his store.

Peet was known for being gruff, especially with women and children, though he got along well with most men. He was also uncomfortable with the Berkeley hipster crowd, although he appreciated the fact that some of his customers affectionately called themselves “Peetniks.”

 One day, three young men from Seattle—writer Gordon Bowker, English teacher Jerry Baldwin and history teacher Zev Siegl—visited Peet. Back home, Bowker frequently drove to Vancouver, British Columbia, to buy high-quality coffee beans from a specialty shop, and his roommates, Baldwin and Siegl, quickly came to appreciate the superior taste of the beans. Inspired by a cappuccino he had discovered in a Roman café, Bowker proposed the idea of opening a coffee shop in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. However, none of the 28-year-olds had business experience or any real knowledge of coffee beyond drinking it.

They approached Peet for guidance, and to their surprise, he welcomed them with open arms. Under Peet’s stern but effective mentoring, the trio learned quickly. Siegl later said, “He had a depth of knowledge of coffee that was unparalleled in this country. There was nobody in his league.” 

Peet even allowed them to copy the layout of his store and referred to the trio as the sons he never had.

In 1971, the three opened their shop in Pike Place Market, naming it Starbucks after the first mate in Moby-Dick. The storefront cost them $137.50 a month and they sold Peet’s coffee beans, tea and spices. Two years later, Peet convinced them to start their own roasting operation. They took his advice and expanded into serving high-quality drinks and food.

With the help of marketing expert Howard Schultz, Starbucks grew into a global coffee empire, now with more than 35,000 stores in 80 countries. All thanks to Alfred Peet’s dedication to great coffee—and a farewell to the days of “lousy” java!