Peet’s Coffee: History, Legacy, and Quality Perception Today

Published June 14, 2022 · Updated July 6, 2025

Peet’s Coffee: Following Grandfather of Specialty Coffee’s Legacy in a Changing Environment

Peet’s Coffee conjures up a sense of pioneering spirit, uncompromising quality, and great regard for the bean for many coffee enthusiasts. Founded in 1966 by Alfred Peet, this Berkeley, California institution is much considered as the starting point of the American specialty coffee movement. Still, like many well-known brands, Peet’s has gone through major changes over the decades that have resulted in growth as well as, for some loyalists, a felt change in its very essence.

Let’s explore Peet’s Coffee’s rich background, fundamental philosophy, and sophisticated reality today as a coffee specialist and trend observer using insights from its own story, historical data, and the honest voices of its loyal consumers.

Alfred Peet’s vision in the genesis of a coffee revolution

The story of Peet’s Coffee starts in the Netherlands, where Alfred Peet was born in 1920, not in America. Through Peet’s father’s company Peet was immersed in the wholesale coffee and tea trade, hence he acquired a refined palate and great interest for fine beverages. His trade was further honed by apprenticeships at London’s Twinings and tea tasting in Indonesia, especially his love of dark-roasted Indonesian coffee.

Alfred Peet was, to put it gently, disappointed with the dominant coffee culture in America when he arrived in San Francisco in 1955. He yearned to bring a higher standard, a true Big Bang of current craft coffee. Marking what many consider to be the real start of the coffee revolution in the United States, he opened his small coffee shop in Berkeley, California, on April 1, 1966.

Peet had a brilliantly basic yet revolutionary philosophy: freshness, quality, and a sensor-oriented approach to roasting. He was steadfast in his resolve to utilize only premium Arabica beans and used a precise roasting method intended to produce a dark, sweet, even roast. His aim was more than just to market coffee; he also wanted to enlighten American consumers about the great change that freshly roasted, carefully made coffee could bring. Peet first concentrated on selling roasted coffee beans, stressing the need of grinding fresh at home.

Milestones, Influence, and Growth

Beyond his Berkeley shop, Alfred Peet had a wide impact. In 1969, he worked with his buddy Key Dickason to produce what would become one of Peet’s most renowned products: the Major Dickason’s Blend, a celebration of their common quest of coffee excellence.

Peet’s history is perhaps at its most fascinating chapter with its early involvement in the narrative of another coffee behemoth. Alfred Peet famously coached three teenage entrepreneurs for their modest business: Starbucks in 1971, and supplied them roasted beans. Peet’s role as the real father of specialty coffee was confirmed by this mentoring. Although Peet’s stopped sending beans to Starbucks in 1973, advising them to establish their own roasting business, Alfred Peet’s legacy carried on as he personally mentored Jim Reynolds to be Starbucks’ first Roastmaster.

Peet started to broaden its physical presence as Peet grew. Its second store, which debuted in Menlo Park in 1971, was remembered by the 101 Blend, named for the road linking the two sites. Beyond its in-store presence, Peet’s set up authorized partnerships with stores at important university campuses including Stanford and UC Berkeley as well as at major transportation hubs. The firm debuted a roasting plant in Alameda in 2007 to satisfy increasing demand, then in 2018 followed by a second, larger facility in Suffolk, Virginia. By 2025, Peet’s bragged more than 250 retail locations in 13 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, even venturing abroad with a debut in Shanghai, China, in 2017.

Shifting Portfolio and Ownership

Alfred Peet finally sold his cherished company in 1979. Peet’s changed hands again in 1984 when Jerry Baldwin, one of the first Starbucks founders, purchased it and reengaged Jim Reynolds as second Roastmaster. On Nasdaq in 2001, the company went public, therefore completing a major milestone in its corporate development.

But the most significant change in ownership came in 2012 when JAB Holding Company, a potent German investment group, took Peet’s private for $977.6 million. This acquisition ushered Peet’s into a new phase by merging it into a bigger worldwide coffee business. Peet’s Coffee and Jacobs Douwe Egberts were combined in 2015 by JAB Holding to produce JDE Peet’s, hence furthering its coffee interests. Raising an astounding $2.5 billion, this merged company debuted on the Euronext Amsterdam stock market in 2020.

Peet’s also became a means of strategic purchases under JAB’s umbrella in the specialized coffee and tea markets. Included in this were the acquisition of Mighty Leaf Tea (2014), Stumptown Coffee Roasters (2015), and a majority interest in Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea (2015), thereby greatly broadening its collection of premium brands.

Customer Perceptions in a New Era: The Bittersweet Symphony

Though JAB’s acquisition brought financial clout and growth prospects, it also caused anxiety among a portion of Peet’s most devoted customers. Particularly on sites like Reddit, online forums expose a pervasive feeling of disappointment and a supposedly lower quality, especially following the 2012 takeover.

Many decades-long clients moan that their preferred Peet’s coffee, especially the classic Major Dickason’s Blend, no longer has the same flavor. Complaints often mention sloppy roasting, a plainness in once-robust dark roasts, and a general lack of the artisanal craft and rich flavor initially characterizing Peet’s. Logistical adjustments, including the ending of bigger 3lb bags and a claimed deterioration in freshness, also raise worries; consumers observe older roast dates on certain bags.

Though some people still find particular Peet’s products acceptable or even good, especially their lighter/medium roasts or particular single-origin beans like the Ethiopian Super Natural mix, most believe the company, for many, has lost its original quality and distinct identity. The rise in corporate ownership favoring economies of scale and mass production over the careful, small-batch craftsmanship that was Alfred Peet’s signature is mostly to blame for this change. Alfred Peet himself died in 2007, only five years before the big ownership change, leaving his great legacy to reverberate throughout an industry he helped build.

In summary: A Legacy endures, but the trip keeps going.

Still a major brand in the worldwide coffee scene, Peet’s Coffee is evidence of Alfred Peet’s revolutionary vision. It brought informed coffee use to the United States and immediately impacted industry giants. Its path under new ownership, though, emphasizes the ongoing conflict between expansion, corporate consolidation, and the conservation of original brand philosophy. Though the legacy of the grandfather of specialty coffee lives on, many wonder: may the artisan spirit that defined Peet’s really flourish at scale or will it always be a treasured memory of coffee’s golden age? The answer, it seems, lies in every cup and the changing taste of its consumers.

References

Peet’s Coffee – Wikipedia

FAQs

What is Peet’s Coffee?

Established in Berkeley, California in 1966 by Alfred Peet, Peet’s Coffee is a specialty coffee company renowned for bringing darker roasted Arabica coffee to America.

Peet’s Coffee is important in the coffee business for what reasons?

Pioneering the specialty coffee movement in the U.S. and notably teaching the creators of Starbucks in their early years, Alfred Peet is well known as the grandfather of specialty coffee.

Who bought Peet’s Coffee in 2012?

In 2012, German investment firm JAB Holding Company bought Peet’s Coffee.

Since the acquisition, Peet’s Coffee has grown how?

Since the acquisition, Peet’s Coffee has opened roasting facilities in Alameda (2007) and Suffolk, Virginia (2018), grown overseas into Shanghai, China (2017), and expanded its retail presence to over 250 sites throughout 13 U.S. states and D.C. by 2025. Furthermore, in 2014 it bought Mighty Leaf Tea, 2015 saw Stumptown Coffee Roasters, and a majority interest in Intelligentsia Coffee & Tea in 2015.

Peet’s Coffee has unveiled what fresh items and services?

Peet’s provides freshly roasted beans, brewed coffee, espresso drinks, and bottled cold brew.

How has Peet’s Coffee reacted to the COVID-19 epidemic?

The given sources omit any information about how Peet’s Coffee reacted to the COVID-19 epidemic.

What recent events are connected to Peet’s Coffee?

Its merger with Jacobs Douwe Egberts to create JDE Peet’s in 2015, which went public on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange in 2020, is among recent events. Customer attitude also reflects recent worries about a perceived reduction in coffee quality and taste.