By Randal Hill
Guest Columnist

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

Alfred Peet opened a gourmet coffee and tea shop in Berkeley, Calif., in 1966. He trained three roommates from Seattle who started Starbucks and copied Peet’s store layout.

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

Once established in the USA, Peet found himself dismayed at the poor quality of American coffee and compared its bland taste to World War II-rationed java. (Back then, our everyday joe was traditionally brewed from freeze-dried beans.)

Determined to teach people to appreciate the richness of a top-notch product, Peet opened a gourmet coffee-and-tea shop in 1966 in Berkeley, Calif. Buying only top-quality beans from high-altitude areas of Costa Rica and Guatemala, Peet roasted everything by hand in the back of his store.

He was often gruff with his customers, getting along well with most men but having little patience with women and children. He was also ill-at-ease with the urban Berkeley hipsters, although he did appreciate that such consumers who frequented his shop sometimes called themselves “Peetniks.”

Eventually Peet was visited by three young guys from Seattle. Writer Gordon Bowker, English teacher Jerry Baldwin, and history teacher Zev Siegl were all roommates, but it was Bowker who lit the fire for what would become Starbucks when he serendipitously discovered a tasty espresso cappuccino drink at a café in Rome.

Back in Seattle, Bowker frequently drove to Vancouver, B.C., to buy high-quality coffee beans from a specialty shop. His roommates quickly came to appreciate the superior taste of what Bowker bought and, following one of those trips, Bowker proposed the idea of opening a coffee-bean store at Seattle’s touristy Pike Place Market.

However, a pair of problems tossed a metaphorical wet blanket over the scheme: None of the 28-year-olds had any business experience, and nobody knew anything about coffee beyond drinking it.

They approached Alfred Peet for guidance. Surprisingly, he welcomed them with open arms for training. At Peet’s shop, the Seattle trio proved to be quick learners under the stern Dutchman’s mentoring. (Siegl later declared, “He had a depth of knowledge of coffee that was unparalleled in this country. There was nobody in his league.”) Peet even allowed the Seattle threesome to copy his store’s layout. He later called them the sons he never had.

Back home, the trio chose Starbucks as their business name, after the first mate on the Pequod, Captain Ahab’s whaling ship in “Moby-Dick.” For $137.50 a month, the men rented a storefront in Pike Place Market in 1971 and sold Peet’s coffee beans, tea and spices.

Two years later, Peet convinced them to start their own roasting operation. They followed his advice and began offering high-quality drinks and food. Later, marketing whiz Howard Schultz convinced Starbucks to grow their successful operation to more than 35,000 stores in 80 countries.

And, all the while, saying goodbye to “lousy” java!