His shop was selling coffee beans and loose tea, and unknowingly started the gourmet coffee movement in America.
It was not an espresso bar or a café, but simply a place whose irresistible aroma beckoned everyone in the neighborhood.
Peet decided he would roast the coffee beans in his Berkeley, California. Peet bought premium coffee beans and roasted them the same way they did in the old country, and thus the gourmet coffee movement in the United States was quietly born.
Customers would come into the shop, and Peet would offer them a cup of coffee while they waited for their beans to be roasted.
Customers enjoying and talking about the coffee created a relaxed community atmosphere that soon proved contagious.
Peet’s also sells coffee and tea though home delivery which over time has become a significant part of it business. In 1979, Alfred sold Peet’s and in 1984 the new owner sold Peet’s to Starbucks.
Early History of Peet’s Coffee and Tea
