![\"\"](\"https:\/\/newspack-berkeleyside-cityside.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Bill-Coffin.jpg\")
Long before the pandemic, the widespread adoption of craft coffee and the recent national coffee shop union drive, Bill Coffin was Employee Number One at the original Peet\u2019s Coffee<\/a> shop at Vine and Walnut streets in Berkeley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When Peet\u2019s opened<\/a> on April 1, 1966, the polio epidemic was the only national health event people talked about, the entire country was drinking Folger\u2019s Instant and there were no baristas, and hence no call for a workers\u2019 union<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But the country was on the verge of a coffee revolution, and Coffin was right there at its inception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peet\u2019s is widely credited with transforming the industry \u2014 after all, the three founders of Starbucks<\/a> learned much of their craft from founder Alfred Peet \u2014 but there\u2019s much more to it than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAlfred was a coffee evangelist,\u201d said Coffin, who lived three blocks from the first Peet\u2019s, which is still operating at 2124 Vine St., and started working there when he was just 15, just a few months after the store opened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe spent hours talking with customers, educating them about different blends. He served a free cup of coffee with every pound of coffee, and he deliberately made the coffee strong to get more flavor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n But changing peoples\u2019 minds \u2013 and palates \u2013 didn\u2019t happen overnight, said Coffin, who still lives in Berkeley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the beginning, the store was not busy, even on Saturdays. \u201cPeople were used to American coffee,\u201d he said. \u201cOne woman barely got through a cup of freshly brewed coffee and said to her husband, \u2018I can do better in my percolator at home,\u2019\u201d Coffin said. \u201cAlfred and I just looked at each other and laughed \u2013 after they left, of course.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even though the store struggled financially, Alfred Peet stuck to the highest standards, Coffin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Essentially Peet\u2019s\u2019 first barista, Coffin made sure a pot was brewed fresh every 20 minutes. Because business was so slow, many times he had to toss an entire pot at Peet\u2019s insistence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There were always two choices: French roast and one other blend of Peet\u2019s choosing, perhaps Colombian, mocha or the house blend, Coffin said. Peet\u2019s sold teas as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He learned about the job by word of mouth. \u201cMy parents\u2019 foodie neighbor told me this new store needed weekend help,\u201d and Coffin got his first job. Alfred Peet ran the store on his own during the week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the early days, Peet sold almost no coffee in the bean. Customers would make their choices and Peet would grind the coffee in the store. The current practice of people using a coffee shop as a place to work or hold meetings had not yet emerged; there was one counter with five or six stools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peetniks and foodies alike will appreciate that Coffin witnessed an historic moment: the naming of Major Dickason\u2019s Blend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Coffin, Peet worked with a frequent customer, a retired military gentleman, to develop the blend, tasting many combinations before settling on what was to become Peet\u2019s all-time bestseller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cKey Dickason and Alfred developed the blend together,\u201d Coffin said. \u201cAlfred told him, \u2018I am going to name it after you \u2013 Major Dickason\u2019s Blend.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dickason said, \u2018But I was a sergeant.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peet responded, \u2018You\u2019ve been promoted.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As time went by, Peet gradually introduced the concept of the coffee shop as a a place to meet others and hang out. And, as attitudes changed, \u201ccaffeine epiphanies were not uncommon,\u201d Coffin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPeople would come in and rave about the coffee,\u201d Coffin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Coffin worked at the Vine Street store from mid-1966 to early 1967, returning to work at Peet\u2019s then-Emeryville warehouse in the early and mid-1970s. During his second stint food luminary Narsai David was a regular customer with a special blend designed for him, similar to Viennese Blend, combining French roast and three other coffees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Coffin mixed the blend in the warehouse. On one occasion, one of the four coffees used in the mix wasn\u2019t available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAlfred substituted another coffee that was very like it \u2013 and Narsai caught it. It was one-fourth of the blend, but he knew the difference,\u201d Coffin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHe told us, \u2018It\u2019s still good, I\u2019m not going to send it back, but let\u2019s stick to the original blend in the future,\u2019\u201d Coffin said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Peet\u2019s\u2019 connection with Starbucks had already been established when Coffin began working in the warehouse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The three Starbucks founders<\/a>, Gerald Baldwin, Gordon Bowker and Zev Siegl, learned the roasting and blending aspects of the coffee business from Alfred Peet in the early 1970s. In the beginning, Peet provided them with training and roasted coffee beans<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen I was working in the warehouse, there was only one Starbucks in Seattle,\u201d Coffin said. \u201cWhen they couldn\u2019t get certain obscure coffees, like Indonesian or African, Alfred would send them 25 pounds of this, 35 pounds of that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The creators of Starbucks patterned their first Seattle store on Peet\u2019s, as well as a small company in Vancouver called Murchie\u2019s<\/a>, according to Colin Newell, editor of Victoria, British Columbia-based Coffeecrew.com<\/a>..<\/p>\n\n\n\n In 1979, Peet sold the company, which was re-sold several years later to Starbucks cofounder Baldwin, \u201cbut that was after my time,\u201d Coffin said. After a series of corporate mergers and acquisitions, Peet\u2019s is now part of JDE Peet\u2019s, a Dutch-American beverage conglomerate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOne of the most important things Peet\u2019s did \u2026was introduce the importance of the caf\u00e9 as a community meeting place, something that existed in London and Venice in the 1500s and 1600s, but not in the United States. \u2014 Colin Newell<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n After leaving Peet\u2019s, Coffin, now retired, worked as a professional drummer, then became a software product developer at companies including Sybase and WebLogic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both Peet\u2019s, now based in Emeryville, and Seattle-based Starbucks have grown tremendously, especially Starbucks, which has 35,000 stores worldwide and reported sales of $8.71 billion in the first quarter<\/a> of the fiscal year 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There have been many more changes since Coffin left. Three Peet\u2019s Coffee locations in Berkeley and Oakland recently filed petitions for union elections<\/a> in June. It remains to be seen how the union activities will play out, but according to an industry expert, one thing is for sure: due to the efforts of Alfred Peet and his successors, \u201cwe live in a time when we have the best coffee we\u2019ve ever had in the history of coffee consumption,\u201d said Newell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Echoing Coffin\u2019s comments, Newell said, \u201cOne of the most important things Peet\u2019s did is introduce a great quality of coffee, a selection of coffees people could develop a relationship with,\u201d as well as introducing the importance of the caf\u00e9 as a community meeting place, something that existed in London and Venice in the 1500s and 1600s, but not in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAlfred Peet brought something very special to Berkeley and San Francisco, creating a wave that is still rippling through time.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" When Peet\u2019s opened in 1966, the entire country was drinking Folger\u2019s Instant and there were no baristas, so no call for a workers\u2019 union. Bill Coffin was 15 when he started working there, and he recalls many pivotal moments. by\u00a0Janis Mara July 25, 2023 (oaklandside.org) Long before the pandemic, the… Continue reading A slow start with just two coffee choices<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/newspack-berkeleyside-cityside.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Original-Peets.jpg\")
How Major Dickason\u2019s Blend got its name<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/newspack-berkeleyside-cityside.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/03_17_20_shelter-33-720x480.jpg\")
Starbucks followed in Peet\u2019s footsteps<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n