The untold truth of Peet's Coffee

When most people think about coffee chains in the United States, they probably think of Starbucks, which is the largest coffee chain in the U.S. and, in fact, the entire world.

But before Starbucks, before Dunkin' Donuts, before K-Cups, there was one coffee joint that started the American specialty coffee industry as we know it today: Peet's Coffee.

Started in California in 1966, Peet's served up a new kind of coffee to the American customer — fresh, dark-roasted coffee beans. It's the style now preferred at Starbucks and independent cafes alike, but it all started with Alfred Peet, a Dutch immigrant in the U.S. with a love for java and a dream.

Peet's Coffee remains a small but successful chain to this day, with about 240 locations in the United States, but its legacy looms large in the coffee world. Not only did the Peet's founder have a huge impact on the founders of Starbucks, but on pretty much all of the specialty coffee we drink today. So how did one man's dream of owning a coffee company in America change the way we appreciate and understand coffee? There's more to the story than you might expect.