From Alexandria to Peet's Coffee and Teahouse: a move across the country

October 5, 10:20 PMBerkeley Coffeeshop ExaminerMaddy Burke

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Alexandria, Va., is absolutely teeming with cozy little coffeehouses - ones with clever names and under publicized espresso. In Alexandria an advocate is needed to commiserate with coffee lovers  and to lead casual drinkers over the edge...

Berkeley, Ca., on the other hand, lacks no such pied piper. That's where you will find me living these days.

In 1966, Netherlands native Alfred Peet opened a single store, on the corner of Walnut and Vine, in Berkeley and proceeded to roast coffee the way he had learned back home. Known to his followers (Peetnicks) as the "Grandfather of Specialty Coffee", Alfred and his entrepreneurship single-handedly changed the face of the American coffeehouse. Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegel, and Gordon Bowker (the original founders of a little place called Starbucks), knew Peet personally. They took their inspiration from Peet's success and bought their beans from his roaster for their first few years of business. Alfred Peet passed away in 2007 but Starbucks still honors a no-compete agreement in the Bay Area out of respect for the old friendship. Thanks to Peet Berkeley proudly claims itself "the birthplace of the coffeehouse" and few (Americans at least) stand to argue.

Berkeley residents do not need to be encouraged to appreciate their enormous offering of independent cafes. There are pastry shops with espresso machines; coffeehouse hole-in-the-walls; fancy ethnic cafes; austere, efficient coffee dispensing institutions; and aromatic roasters every way you turn, If anything Berkeley residents would suffer (if it were possible to 'suffer' something so delicious) coffeehouse overload - as the newest among them I plan to make sense of it all one cup at a time.

Note: You'll find me as the Berkeley Coffeeshop Examiner in the Oakland edition now.